Iconic Australian designer Jenny Kee is awarded the Australian Fashion Laureate and Italian fashion designers Dolce and Gabbana are sentenced to a 20 month prison sentence for tax evasion. RESCU gives you latest in breaking fashion news;
Iconic Australian Designer Jenny Kee Honoured
Australain fashion designer Jenny Kee was awarded the Australian Fashion Laureate last night by the IMG, owners of Australian Fashion Week, and presented by The Weekend and Australian Magazine.
The award, now in its sixth year, is an industry-voted acknowledgement of excellence on fashion.
The designer, known for her colourful and eclectic designs, emerged as a fashion force in the 1970s, where her clothes were instrumental in bringing Australian design to the attention of the international community, as well as in developing a distinct Australian style identity. The designer’s colourful graphic prints, featuring images of Australiana offered a fresh perspective, and an alternative to the trends of Paris and New York. A knitted jumper featuring kangarooos and koala’s was famously worn by a pregnant Princess Diana.
Kee, 66 said of the honour; “I’ve always felt a little like an outsider in how I work and what I do because art and fashion was a hard thing to meld way back then.” The designer still feels inspired by Australian culture and landscape, stating “I feel honoured that the Australian fashion world still loves what I do 40 years on!”
Also nominated for the Australian Fashion Laureate were design duo Heidi Middleton and Sarah Jane Clarke from Sass & Bide and Nicky and Simone Zimmermann from Zimmermann.
Dolce and Gabbana Sentenced for Tax Evasion
Fashion design duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were handed a 20-month suspended prison sentence, plus a heavy fine on Wednesday for hiding hundreds of millions of euros from the Italian tax authorities. The designers, who have made a name for themselves designing sexy dresses for famous celebrities such as Kylie Minogue, Madonna and Kate Moss, and are known for enjoying a lifestyle as glamorous as the rich and famous clients that they dress.
The case began in 2008 after the global financial crisis hit, when Italian authorities tried to crack down on tax evasion. But out of all the cases, the Dolce and Gabanna inquiry is one of the very few high-profile cases to come to trial.
The designers were not present in court in Milan, but will lodge an appeal against their conviction on charges that they have always denied. The prosecutor had originally asked for a two and half year jail term, but instead the designers will have to pay 500,000 euros ($713,003!) as a first instalment of a fine could possibly reach 10 million euros ($14,270,047).
A spokesman for the Dolce and Gabanna company has declined to make an immediate comment. The designers themselves have always maintained their innocence, their only reaction to the ruling was a tweet by Gabbana of the branch of a citrus tree, a symbol of Sicily, which is the duo’s signature.
A strand #freedolceandgabbana has recently appeared on Twitter.
