BY SAT News Desk
MELBOURNE, 27 JANUARY: capitaliseTennis met its match today (Friday 27th January) when fashion took to the court at Australia’s biggest annual sporting event, the Australian Open, to help launch Australia’s largest fashion event, set to run from March 1-19.
Melbourne’s standing as Australia’s home of major events was further consolidated as the Australian Open and Melbourne’s most renowned fashion event came to capitalize on the city’s global reputation as the ‘Sports and Style capital’, encouraging both domestic and international tourism.
With the world’s eyes firmly fixed on Melbourne, the iconic Rod Laver Arena played host to 16 styled models, all “runway ready” and sporting a preview of the upcoming Fashion Festival’s trends featuring Australia’s most celebrated designers including Thurley, Bianca Spender, Dion Lee, LIFEwithBIRD, Jack London and Camilla and Marc.
Visit Victoria CEO, Peter Bingeman said: “Visit Victoria has played a leading role in highlighting this state’s prolific event calendar and helping Major Events partner and cross promote to achieve greater profile and commercial results globally.”
Melbourne Fashion Festival Ltd. CEO, Graeme Lewsey, said: “Fashion defines Melbourne and our creative culture is being recognised and appreciated around the world. And so is our talent for staging Major Events in Victoria and delivering memorable experiences for everyone to enjoy. We are extremely honoured to have been invited to showcase some our incredible Australian designers to a global audience on centre court today, and this is just a teaser of what’s set to take over Australia’s fashion and design capital from 1-19 March”.
Tennis Australia Commercial Director Richard Heaselgrave said: “At the Australian Open this year we’ve combined the incredible on-court action with the best Melbourne has to offer in terms of music and food, and now we’ve added fashion to the mix, truly creating a Glam Slam experience.”
“Melbourne is known as Australia’s most stylish city and we’re delighted to help launch the fashion festival in March, effectively handing over the major events baton.”
– Text & photos supplied by Tennis Australia.