Veronika Midor’s new label Chusette.
It was the hunt for appropriate work socks that drove Veronika Midor to launch her Australian fashion label, Chusette. As an international stylist, first working in her native Russia before expanding to clients in Europe, Asia and Australia, Midor needed guidance when it came to the design elements of her future brand.
Upon moving to Australia with her husband, Midor enrolled in LCI Melbourne’s Bachelor of Design Arts: Fashion & Costume Design program, and that’s when her creative ambitions ramped up. ‘When we moved to Australia I fell in love with many local designers. They’re very talented,’ Midor told ArtsHub.
Working with teachers and collaborating with fellow students helped her discover her aesthetic. ‘The training at LCI Melbourne helped me to plan and implement my creation. In Adryan Scicluna’s class I learnt how to work with colour and with mood boards.
‘This is very important with socks – you need to understand colour. We have a lot of friends who wear funny patterns, very bright pinks or on the other hand you have little option in white, black or navy,’ she said.
With direction from her teachers at LCI Melbourne, Midor envisioned her method of design to reflect couture designs as seen on the runways of New York, Milan and Paris.
‘My point of difference is that my socks are very professional – you just can’t use these funny patterns in the high-end fashion arena.’
Designer Veronika Midor. Image supplied.
LCI Melbourne’s focus on design and entrepreneurial skills
By teaching students to blend design and entrepreneurial skills, LCI Melbourne enables future designers to turn their creative ideas into tangible products.
Adryan Scicluna, Fashion Coordinator at LCI Melbourne, said: ‘We work with the students’ creative concepts, the ideas that have been sitting in their heads, and develop that into a garment. We work on how they derive their ideas and how they contextualise their work. We encourage students to have a relationship with their creativity.’
Scicluna explained that creating fashion is unlike other disciplines. ‘The only thing that stays uniform is the pattern making,’ he said.
The uniqueness of style, method and mode of creating garments leads to distinctive constructions by each student. ‘It’s their own individual perspective,’ he said.
Students who enroll in the LCI Melbourne Bachelor of Design Arts: Fashion & Costume Design course will learn about applied design processes, fabric manipulation and handling, design briefs and trend forecasts. They will also gain an understanding of commercial manufacturing, logistics and distribution, insights into marketing, and learn the importance of branding.
Ensuring students develop lasting careers is a priority at LCI Melbourne with entrepreneurial and business skills developed throughout the course.
Midor acknowledged the connections LCI Melbourne enabled her to make. ‘If I hired special companies for all these works that I learned to do myself at LCI Melbourne, it would have been very expensive. Very often, it’s the size of large investments that discourages talented designers in opening their own business. At LCI Melbourne I met a lot of talented people who agreed to help me with photos and videos for the brand. This also saved me a lot.’
Midor is currently half-way through her Bachelor studies and is looking forward to the next trimester at LCI Melbourne, where she will attend subjects on business promotion and business communication.
‘I want to say thank you to everyone who helped me realise my dream – to have my own brand in the fashion industry,’ she concluded.
To learn more about LCI Melbourne’s Bachelor of Design Arts majoring in Fashion & Costume Design, visit: lcimelbourne.edu.au/fashion-design-major
