When Cyclone Debbie devastated Megan Cannings’ north Queensland home in March of this year, the hardest part was the loss of her scissors.
Megan, a talented fashion designer who failed home economics in high school and “can’t read a pattern to save myself”, remembers finding a drawer full of water-damaged scissors and feeling “just totally at a loss”.
Cyclone Debbie ripped the roof of her small miner’s cottage near Prosperine, in the Whitsundays, ruining thousands of dollars worth of fabric and soaking the unique dress and skirt patterns she had created from scratch.
“All my dummies got thrown but most devastating of all were my scissors – any dressmaker out there knows how much we spend on scissors and we don’t just have one pair, we have lots,” Megan said.
“It took me a few days to even get into the house after the cyclone hit – the verandah had caved in and I couldn’t even see the front door – but when I did I was just sorting through everything going ‘Really? Is this really happening?'”
After several weeks of clean-up, Megan made the courageous decision to move to Sydney to continue working on a brand new collection she had promised both the Brisbane Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival in August and Canberra’s Fashfest in late September.
Megan is one of more than 40 designers showcasing collections at Fashfest this year, in a line-up that also includes New Zealand’s Trelise Cooper and new independent labels De Challie Haute Couture, Gabrielle Spencer Bridal, Gehrich and Thunder Thighs.
