Blast from the past: 1991 grad collection

While digging around in the shed in last month’s cleanup, I found a box containing some of the pieces from my graduation collection from fashion college. I was 18-nearly-19 when I graduated with an “Advanced Certificate in Pattern Technology” and my three-piece collection was called Cycle into Streetwear.

The header picture in this blog post is the sketch that appeared in the souvenir booklet at our graduation (I’ve since scanned it and coloured it in). The skirt and coat were in satin, and the other pieces including the bags were nylon lycra.

As this blog is here to educate and entertain, I thought it would be fun to give you a show and tell.

There was also supposed to be yellow footed tights and a navy short sleeved top, but I didn’t see them in there.

The yellow satin swing coat is the only piece I can model for you.

Taking these photos, I found I couldn’t stop smiling! Whether it was the happy colour, the memories or just the incredible shoulder pads I can’t say!

Fashion parades are expensive; our class fund raised for months delivering phone books for Telecom, spending weekends walking along the street next to a trailer of phone books and tossing them into driveways.

I remember the night of the fashion parade. I sat in the audience with my parents, feeling so nervous I couldn’t talk. I watched everyone else’s garments being paraded with a tight, tense feeling in my tummy. Suddenly mine came on in a swish of yellow satin and audience cheers and all my anxious notions evaporated!

Unfortunately, not one photo exists of the garments at the fashion parade. I didn’t own a camera and in those pre-internet, pre-mobile phone days we didn’t take photos of everything. However, I remembered that the parade had been video taped. Our college kept the videos in their library and you could view them if you wanted to (our teacher had shown us the previous year’s parade so we could get an idea of how it would go).

The college has since closed, but what happened to their library and archive?

I thought it might have been transferred to Adelaide TAFE college which now runs fashion studies. I phoned their library to ask and the librarian said: What year? 1991? That’s a long way back!…not sure if we have that far back…just checking the catalogue now…no, not here, but there’s another librarian here who specializes in fashion who might know – I’ll get her to check and call you back.

The fashion librarian called, and said that the library didn’t have the tapes in their archive, but one of the teachers who’d been at the previous campus had some of the grad parades (still on VHS video tape?). Unfortunately he only has 1989, 1990 and 1992! Gah! But if 1991 turns up they’ll give me a call.

Cheers!