Sonya Mefaddi, founder and director of Fashion Palette, is about to boldly take the Australian fashion industry to a place it’s never been before. In May, Fashion Palette will take over the Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour, in an event to inspire and educate upcoming designers.

“Fashion Palette is about providing a platform like no other for the Australian fashion community,” Mefaddi tells AXN. “An opportunity to learn and be inspired from within by some of the world’s most leading fashion figures.”

Mefaddi’s background as a graphic designer led her to many industry conferences, and it was there the idea that became Fashion Palette was born. “There’s so many ways out there for graphic designers to come together and share ideas and stuff,” she says. “But as a person that loved fashion, that wasn’t there.

“With [Sydney] Fashion Week you need to be invited; it’s not really open to the public. It’s quite exclusive and if you don’t know someone, you don’t get to attend.”

Fashion Palette won’t recreate Fashion Week, instead “it’s about going to an event and soaking up the knowledge of international and Australian fashion figures, soaking up the ideas, and walking away inspired to become the next big thing in Australian fashion.”

Hosted by former MTV presenter Ruby Rose, speakers include Peter Morrissey, Mimco, Alpha60, Jessie Hall, Bowie, Arturo Elena, Style Hunter, Insight, and Daniel Herman. Prior to the talks, a runway show will serve as an entrée to the designers’ garments. The Fashion Palette Excellence Awards will reward emerging Australian designers for outstanding vision and achievement. And an all-glam VIP party will close the event, giving aspiring designers a chance to network in the industry.

An international drawcard is Switzerland-based women’s wear and lingerie designer, Daniel Herman, who represents freshness and innovation. He uses a laser to make intricate and delicate cuts on techno-fabrics, resulting in garments that look cellophane-paper fragile but are tough enough for everyday wear. His designs can be summed up in a word: eye-catching.

Melbourne brother-sister duo Alpha60 (aka Alex and Georgie Cleary) give retro geeks liquid dreams with their designs inspired by pop culture icons (early 90s gay pinup boy River Phoenix features on some garments). Their influences include Buffalo 66, The Ice Storm, La Haine, Twin Peaks, and Jean-Luc Gofard’s 1965 cult classic, Alphaville.

Mefaddi’s passionate belief in the event’s importance comes from her own experience. “From my perspective, as a graphic designer I was always on the lookout for what others are doing in the industry to get inspired by them to make their ideas my own,” she muses.

Another way she did this was by taking ideas from events she liked and tweaking them for her Fashion Palette vision. At her graphic design conferences, she found she always wanted to know the designer’s creative processes and how they made it in the industry. She’d ask: if I was in the audience, what would I want to know?

For Mefaddi, behind the glamour of Fashion Palette is two years of tireless work. For the first year and a half, she would work on developing the event from 7pm until midnight after her full-time job, including the painstaking task of developing relationships and contacts. And given that Mefaddi had no money at this point, she did everything herself.

But all her hard work will pay off come May, when she leads the charge to launch the fashion industry to the next frontier.

Fashion Palette, Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour from May 1 – 2. For details go online at www.fashionpalette.com.au