
Coast Gold Sequin Dress
ROWS of cult-like abstracts angle in advanced of the stage, bedeviled by the august movement afore them. Rhythmic sounds answer beyond the plains. The aroma of acrid diaphoresis and adulterous substances pervades the accessible air.
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Musical festivals are absolutely an advance to the senses.
No one knows this bigger than adolescent Sunshine Coast artist Anthea Nasteski.
With aggravate and cilia in tow, Anthea creates bespoke "costume-style" anniversary apparel that appeal attention, alike amidst the acoustic afflict of Falls Anniversary and Burning Man.
Model Georgia Boutcher. Manuel Freudenmann
Anthea designs favour cobweb and lycra, with agilely hand-beaded embellishments and the blink that alone a Swarovski diamante can emit.
Glittery Bowies and bogie scales beautify the chest; apparent zippers run bottomward the crotch; coloured tassels and gold chains array from bound silhouettes.
To say Anthea's pieces are risqué is an understatement.
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"It's not absolutely for the faint-hearted," she says.
"It's article that bodies would acquire to acquire a assertive bulk of aplomb to wear. It's art added than anything."
Model Georgia Boutcher. Manuel Freudenmann
In the see-and-be-seen ability of music festivals, the focus is on the who, what and wear. Serial festival-goers transform accessible fields into runways fit for Instagram. While bohemian looks were already the norm, new trends are consistently across-the-board the anniversary arena - article that alike the B-grade celebrity attendees cannot ignore.
Anthea awash pieces to Olympic basketballer Liz Cambage and Kyle Sandliand's adherent Imogen Anthony to enhance their anniversary attendances. However, it hasn't consistently been star-studded (or should that be star-sequined?) success for Anthea.
Anthea never envisioned that architecture was activity to be her career path. At 18, she had never acclimated a bed-making machine.
On a whim, she anticipation she would "give it a go", and anon afterwards she was enrolled in the Applied Appearance and Architecture advance at her bounded TAFE. Her end-of-year activity alleged for a appearance appearance and conceivably in a clear-sighted moment, Anthea chose to architecture a alternative of swimsuits.
["305.55"]After her posts on Facebook evoked an overwhelmingly absolute response, Anthea set to assignment authoritative bikinis and abounding pieces to order. This bound acquired into beachy bralettes, playsuits and dresses with a focus on lace.
"I started accomplishing things I anticipation bodies would wear," she says.
But her affection wasn't in it.
"I knew what my appearance was but I didn't apperceive anyone who would abrasion it. I didn't like the appearance of accouterment I was selling. It wasn't satisfying."
Seemingly overnight, Anthea absitively to acknowledgment to her instincts, designing "city affected streetwear". Time passed, as did the lace.
Her experience, her accepting of failure, lends itself to her bigger allotment of admonition for added adolescent designers or entrepreneurs: "Maintain your objectives. Don't comedy to your surroundings. My designs got bigger because I admired what I was accomplishing more."
Away from the anarchy of the music festival, in the accustomed ambience of her home studio, Anthea stretches out on her bed. Her baby frame, which stands a accomplished arch beneath than the models she dresses, is swallowed by her queen-sized bed and its loud adhesive blooming cushions.
["305.55"]The face of Frida Kahlo peeks out from abaft her shoulder. She rests her arch adjoin the approach of her hand, her long, amber beard bottomward through her fingers. In polyester tracksuit pants and a loose, tie-dyed shirt, her accoutrements is a far cry from her usual, self-described "weird" style.
To attending at her, in this accidental environment, no one would apprehend her to aftermath alien apparel that advertise beyond anniversary fields. And again she speaks - her acrid Australian emphasis biting the air. She acutely goes at a actor words a minute, endlessly alone to breathe afore continuing.
"It's so adamantine to accomplish art into a bartering product, but it's aloof so account it," she says. "It feels naïve sitting there beading, alive that it's not activity to accompany any actual apple change..."
She trails off, her fingers axis in the air as admitting aggravating to backbone the appropriate words.
"...But it's cool, man."
At times, Anthea's appearance knowledge, business acumen and accord could fool anyone into cerebration she was earlier than her 22 years. At others, her faculty of archness is a admonition of aloof how adolescent she is to acquire accomplished such success. Yet, admitting actuality the architect of a acknowledged appearance brand, with about 5000 Instagram devotees, Anthea charcoal humble.
"Even admitting I'm in the business and I'm alive and I'm authoritative money from it, I'm still a student, I'm still an apprentice, because I acquire to advance my abilities every day," she says.
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Before scurrying off to yoga, Anthea offers one aftermost fair of wisdom: "If you're activity to do annihilation creative, you acquire to apprentice to adulation failure, or to acquire failure, because you abort added than you succeed. But back you do accomplish ..."
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