Fashion and culture will be on display at the Milbi Festival’s closing event to officially launch the turtle season with award winning and highly acclaimed Taribelang Bunda fashion designers, the Marnock Sisters, Elizabeth and Lee-Ann Marnock, leading a fashion showcase.
The local sisters will host the Fashions By The Sea parade which forms just one part of the entertainment on offer for the free Milbi at Mon Repos event.
Live music and refreshments as well as educational information on the conservation of turtles will also be provided at the free event.
Elizabeth and Lee-Ann have worked with Bundaberg artists who have designed the fabric to be used in the fashion parade and which reflect connection to land, sea and culture.
Lee-Ann said the opportunity to work with local artists to design a number of fashion items was a great opportunity.
“We have worked with local artists to give them the opportunity to expand on their art,” she said.
“We have taken their designs and printed it onto material, all of which has been done here in Queensland.
“People of all ages will be modelling as part of the fashion show with some of them being the artists who have designed the fabrics.”
“Whenever we have put on fashion parades people are pretty amazed as it includes choreography, and a lot of training behind the scenes, so it is not just your normal fashion parade.”
It’s not the first fashion show the Marnock sisters will deliver, first inspired to develop the concept to offer support and a creative outlet to Indigenous youth.
“The fashion parades we organise have come about as we saw there was a high suicide rate within the Indigenous and First Nations youth, so Elizabeth and I planned a strategy to help with confidence and self-esteem and not to bottle it up,” she said.
“We have been doing this since 1996 and what we found is that a lot of the children have lots of fun and begin to open up and talk about different things within their lives.
“We encourage them to overcome obstacles throughout their life, in a positive manner, implementing life skills.”
The Milbi at Mon Repos event, including the Fashions By The Sea parade, is on Sunday 6 November from 2 pm until 5 pm.
The Mon Repos turtle centre will be open from 9 am until 5 pm on the day, with activities, tours and film screenings on all day.
Find out more about the event in the program here.
The Marnock Sisters Cultural & Creative Industries Ltd acknowledges the provision of the Festivals Australia Grant by the Australian Government represented by the Office for the Arts, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications for the “Fashions By The Sea” Project.
If you or someone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
