Gone Bush

Where have I been? Why the howling silence? Thank you for all of your anxious enquiries, well at least the one from my mum who was mystified that there could be any place on the planet unreachable by the ‘interweb’, as she calls it. And she’s never even been to Bundoora.

Actually I’ve been on what I understand is called a ‘road trip’, in the outback, up north, to the ‘top end’. Imagine it: a 4WD, a tiny tent, 100s of square miles of unexplorable bush, plunge pools, and no Wi-Fi. Agreed there were rocks, crocs and blocks across the track, burning trees (well one anyway) and other such obstacles to be worked around, but when faced with the awesome might of nature I did what every Pom explorer ought to do – made a nice cup of earl grey tea and took in the view.

Normal service resumed the next week after a VCE Retreat, a graduation ceremony in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, and the other pleasures of PVC-life. And just enough web access to tune in and hear that RMIT had shot up 100 places on QS rankings in social sciences – go GUSS!

Gaga for Ripping Yarns

What a night, well an early evening actually. Three members of RMIT Council were invited to behold the stunning spectacle that is the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week Emerging Runway. Not the new landing strip at Tullamarine but the highlight of the fashion year – 25 collections of yarns parading with the highest of professionalism and aplomb at the Melbourne Town Hall.

I must admit I am to Fashion what Agent Orange was to Plant Life, so my knowledge is nascent, but by any standards this was an impressive show of talent. It proved right what’s being heralded across the globe about the quality of our fashion and textile design. That same quality was recognised last week in the inaugural ‘Global Fashion School Rankings’ which evaluated schools on three dimensions – Global Influence, Learning Experience, and Long-term Value. And guess what, my hunch was right: RMIT F&T was ranked in the Top Ten globally. Not once, but twice – 9^th in the world for our undergraduate courses and 6^th in the world for our MA. A fantastic result! Never mind the width feel the quality.

Apart from the frocks and suits, the other highlight was meeting Nixi Killick, pictured in the left of the picture with her friend Danny, with some short guy in the middle (I must get some decent shoes). An RMIT Fashion Design alumnus, Nixi has been dressing Lady Gaga for the past year. And I don’t mean helping her put her jacket on, I mean designing her costumes. She’s also been awarded a Business College Enterprise award to set up a studio, and she’s been chosen to fly over to Berlin to create the closing night of the City Fashion Show!

And ‘Ripping Yarns’? Well this is one of the contenders for the new F&T School Blog. Fabulous title, but they’ve got an even better one locked in I hear. Watch this space, or should I say, watch this runway.