Recent design graduate, Elle Simpas, will have the chance to study in one of the world’s fashion capitals, after taking out second place in an international fashion competition.

The 21 year-old, who graduated from the Kangan Institute Centre of Fashion in Richmond last month, is thrilled to have won a one month scholarship at the Paris American Academy (PAA) for July next year.

The competition, run by the Institute of Textiles Apparel Association (ITAA) and PAA, required students to design garments based around the theme of ‘Avatar’.

“It was a totally open theme and wasn’t just about the film, it could be your own interpretation of it,” Ms Simpas explains. “My inspiration was to do a representation of myself, I drew inspiration from my physical features and I manipulated the features I possess in the real world to represent a person in an avatar world, like a second identity.”

Ms Simpas’ final garment, a two-toned woollen coat with her ‘avatar’ design screen-printed onto the fabric and nails accessorising the lapel, was one of the top ten designs paraded for a panel of judges at the ITAA’s conference in Montreal, earlier this year.

The Kangan Institute’s Centre of Fashion millinery teacher, Melissa Jackson, told Neos Kosmos that Kangan submitted five students for the competition, with two making it to the final rounds.

“There were applicants from the world over, it was a good competition in terms of preparing the students to be more professional and presenting themselves,” Ms Jackson said.