Melbourne celebrity Fashion Designer Aron Katona is back for the 2022 PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival. For over a decade Aron has been showcasing and supporting emerging designers as part of the Melbourne Fashion Festival ARTZ program, directed by Aron and partner Ejaz Ahamed.
As new generation designers look to break into the Fashion Industry, the MFF ARTZ program is recognised as the perfect platform, to not only showcase collections, but also be introduced to cross-pollinating fields such as Art and entertainment with like-minded people to network with.
This year Aron Katona along with emerging designers from across Melbourne will showcase at the exclusive Grand Hyatt Melbourne on March 11th at 7.30 pm. https://melbournefashionfestival.com.au/event/artz
Melbourne My Style gets up close and personal with Aron Katona prior to Fridays’ Runway.
Interview
How excited are you to be part of the MFF program this year?
Overwhelmed with happiness and relief to have the freedom to create again and, to be a part of the MFF program this year after the happenings of the last 2 years. I can’t wait to celebrate freedom, creativity, and passion with all the designers and creatives at the festival.
What does the Fashion Festival bring to Melbourne and yourself?
The Fashion Festival brings awareness to just how important the fashion industry is to Melbourne and Australia. Clothes are the nuts and bolts of how we present ourselves to the outside world and a reflection of how we feel because we live our lives in clothing. No one celebrates that better than Melbourne in the extravagant and edgy runways they produce. The festival always challenges me to push my creative thinking to the limits and produce garments and looks I would not normally do. It brings hope, excitement, and a promise of change for the better.
You have supported emerging designers for over a decade as part of the ARTZ program. Please tell us what the ARTZ program brings to the festival and why it’s so important to the industry?
I am so lucky because I have had my partner Ejaz Ahamed on the same page as me with the ARTZ program from day one. The main goal was to offer emerging and established designers, poets, and creatives a platform where they can either launch, develop or maximise their product and creativity to hopefully better their prospects and gain further recognition. The ARTZ program aims at bringing just that to the festival. A safe incubator for creatives to better their prospects.
What can we expect to see from AK this year? Please tell us about the creative ideas behind this collection?
I designed my new collection and print ATLANTIS in the last lockdown. We are lightyears away from it now, but at the time I felt no place in the world was safe. Things got very dark in Melbourne, and I remember pretending that Atlantis did exist somewhere at the bottom of the ocean ( maybe it does). It was the last safe bastion for humanity, and it was created for us to escape the atrocities on land by mermaids and the creatures of the Ocean.
The Mermaids represent transition and change, and I drew them in the fetal shape they’re in, to show their fragility while clutching the seashell in their hand.
I hope people will like my new collection it’s always interesting to see how people will respond at Melbourne Fashion Festival.
How were the fabrics and colours chosen?
All of the colours were inspired by the ocean so lots of reflective shades of blue. Perspex material stitched onto velvet, aqua sequins, and a print on scuba material featuring mermaids, seashells, and jewels.
I wanted to choose colours that were associated with replenishment or evoked a refreshing feel to the viewer after everything we had been through in Melbourne, not just in 2020 but in 2021.
I wanted to include the image of the mermaids to hopefully remind people that there is still a lot of magic left in the world.
What is your favourite piece in this collection?
It’s so hard to decide because I enjoyed making every single piece in the collection. If I had to pick it would be a tie between the live seashell and Swarovski Crystal draped piece, I created for Real Housewives of Melbourne star Anjali Rao and of course the mermaid print because I’m a sucker for mermaids and jewels which Real Housewives of Melbourne darling Cherry Dipietrantonio will be wearing.
Words by Aron Katona Written by Melinda Sullivan. https://melbournemystyle.com/2021/03/15/the-untold-story-of-melbourne-designer-aron-katona-as-he-presents-his-collection-atomiq-at-this-years-melbourne-fashion-festivals-artz-program/
CREDITS
DESIGNER – Aron Katona
PHOTOGRAPHER – Greg Desiatov
CREATIVE STYLIST – Tamarra McNaught Tito Style
HEAD HMUA STYLIST – Simone Clarke
SHOES – Dolci Firme
JEWELLERY – Fashion Mode
LOCATION – Grand Hyatt
HMUA – @themakeuphubofgippsland @beautybydylann
SPONSORS: @melbournemystyle, @waverleyparkdental
For more information please visit http://www.aron-katona.com/
