Under the guidance of Renato Palmi, a well-known researcher, author and development specialist in the fashion and apparel industry from the research house The ReDress Consultancy-South Africa the designs captivated the PE audience of a few hundred.

The designs were of such high quality that a number of the invited guests indicated an interest in wanting to buy the garments and a local PE boutique owner wishes to carry the Linea students' designs in his shop. In a speech given at the event, Palmi said that the students were only given two weeks to conceptualise and make the garments in accordance to the theme, which was "Bollywoodto Hollywood." Palmi said that the quality of the garments shown at the event was "evidence that the next generation of South African fashion design students will no doubt bring developmental strength to an industry sector that has suffered from cheap imports.

"It is important for fashion design students to focus on commercial clothing and not on the artistic fashion designs we see at fashion weeks.

Commercial, wearable good quality clothing is vital to the sustainability of our fashion industry," said Palmi.

Palmi is working on a number of other projects with students from Linea

The ReDress Consultancy-South Africa

www.redressconsultancy.com