Just like the iron ore she grew up surrounded by in Australia's north-west, Kym Ellery is one of Australia's most successful exports. Now the aspiring Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest of fashion is getting ready to spread her wings to the City of Angels.
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Before the fashion designer, who launched her label Ellery eight years ago, relocates to the United States she will officially open this year's Fashion Week Australia at Carriageworks on Sunday, with an exclusive performance by the Australian Ballet's top dancers.
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"Having the intelligent, athletic and beautiful dancers from the ballet involved was important to show and celebrate how intertwined fashion, the arts and culture in this country are."
The former stylist for Russh magazine now splits her time between Sydney and Paris, where she shows four collections a year after being invited by the Federation Francaise de la Couture du Pret-a-Porter des Couturiers and Createurs de Mode to show as part of the official off-schedule for newcomers last year. She is only the third Australian to do so, following Collette Dinnigan and Martin Grant.
But Los Angeles is where she sees herself in order to develop the Ellery brand and to enjoy the gap year she never experienced.
"My partner [pro surfer Luke Stedman] and I have talked about it for some time. I started my brand when I was 23 and I didn't have that trip away like most young people do around that age. So living in LA will be something new for me personally."
Not that the renowned party girl will have a lot of time to imbibe the Chateau Marmont culture - she works as hard as she plays and the red carpets of Hollywood are beckoning.
"We do amazing business there. We are going to set up an atelier and a design room and hopefully have the majority of my team move out there at some stage.
"The Oscars would be an incredible red carpet to be a part of, so too would be getting to dress someone for something like Cannes or the Met Ball. Couture is a while off though. We'll set up a showroom and office in Paris but right now we're designing four collections a year, a new one every three months, between 80 to 90 styles," she said.
She has reworked the Fashion Week showcase, which was shown in Paris in March, for the Australian customer. The looks that will come down the catwalk, which feature her signature exaggerated flare pants and the bell-shaped blouses customers like Lara Bingle and supermodel Karlie Kloss have come to love, will be on sale in Myer and David Jones in May.
