Annie Liao is a Year 11 student at Radford College in ACT. In 2016, when she was in year 10, Annie was the winner of the Wool4School design competition. Wool4School is a yearly design competition wherein students from years 7-12 studying Design or Technology can submit a design. Since 2012, over 40,000 students have been involved.

Source: Wool4School

Source: Wool4School

The outfit is meant to be worn by a musician on stage (so can be relatively theatrical) and can include 1-4 items. It must include a wool accessory. This competition seeks to put wool into the minds of young designers, supporting Australia’s wool industry by supporting young designers.

There are different specifications for different year levels but all the entries must include illustrations and annotations of their designs. The students are not required to make their design, just submit one. The prize for the Year 10 winner is to have their design made by an Australian fashion designer!

Each year there is a theme and last years was ‘Sport‘. Annie decided to make an equestrian-themed design, meant to be worn by the Australian equestrian team. She took inspiration from Australia as well as the Olympic colours. She stated that she wanted her design to be something she would ‘wear herself’ if she was a competitor.

 

annie liao entry

Annie’s entry, Source: Radford College

‘I (also) wanted something colourful that would make the Australian team stand out. So there are symbols in the design that represent different Australian things. The colours for example, you can see them in cockatoos in Australia,’ Annie said.

Katrina Wheaton, one of the judges said, ‘the overall presentation of Annie’s entry was excellent. Her mood board strongly reflected the Aussie team spirit as well as the mood and elegance of her chosen sport. Her final outfit echoed the inspiration shown in her mood board. She demonstrated a fresh and fluid fashion illustration style and her designs were clearly annotated highlighting just the key aspects without ‘over’ annotating. Annie’s Wool4School entry was well conceived with each aspect of the criteria met to a very high standard. She clearly understands how wool can work within many designs.’

wool4school annie liao with design

Source: Wool4School

As if that wasn’t enough, Annie also won the Simpson prize for her essay on Gallipoli, meaning that she will get an all-expenses-paid trip there to speak at the ANZAC day service.

The Exodus Wear team would love to congratulate Annie on her outstanding achievements in 2016 and beautiful design. We’re very much inspired and uplifted by the amount of young talent out there. We hope to see more designs from Annie Liao in the future- perhaps even on the runway! If you’re interested in entering the Wool4School competition this year, you can check out their website: wool4school.com. You can also see the previous years’ entries.

The prize for the year 12 winner is a scholarship to the Whitehouse Institute of Design, so if you’re in year 12 and are passionate about following this career path, definitely look into it! We might even see you working here, one day.

Good luck!