IT’S not every day that celebrities find their way to Sunraysia, but Mildura had a brush with fame, glitz and glam recently when reality TV star and model Leah Johnsen stepped out on to the runway at Mildura Airport.
Leah, who is turning heads as a contestant on Channel Seven’s Instant Hotel, made a fly-in, fly-out visit to shoot a new campaign for Mildura-born designers Bianca and Bridgett Roccisano.
The Roccisano sisters are no strangers to having celebrities wear their designs, with glamour-queens including Roxy Jacenko, Natalie Bassingthwaite, Bec Judd and Rozalia Russian frequently donning their designs.
But perhaps the most star-studded event the dynamic duo have added their resume so far was the wedding of Carlton captain Marc Murphy to Jessie Habermann in 2016.
“We had been dressing Jessie and Marc for three years prior to their wedding. When we were asked to help style their wedding we were thrilled!” Bianca says.
“We planned and styled the entire event – everything from helping to design the bride’s two wedding gowns, bridesmaids and groomsmen outfits, to planning the decor.
“One of the highlights of our career was having Vogue publish our work on the wedding; it was an incredible experience and a life-long dream for us!”
The Melbourne stylists said Mildura was an “obvious choice” as location to shoot their newest campaign – A Weekend Away in the Country.
“We chose Mildura as the location because we wanted to shoot in the town where we grew up, where we spend a lot of time designing our collections and drawing inspiration,” Bianca says.
“We wanted this shoot to have meaning and Mildura, being our hometown, means a lot to both of us.
“The day was crazy busy, Leah is in the middle of doing promotion for Instant Hotel, so we could only have her here for just under 24 hours.”
The girls are known for making waves in the fashion industry with their celeb styling and unique combination of femininity, sophistication and minimalism.
Despite success in Australia and abroad, the girls haven’t forgotten their roots in Mildura and they say that the fashion scene in their hometown is impressive.
“There are a lot of very stylish women who really take pride in their fashion in Mildura,” Bianca says.
“We think it’s fabulous that fashion back home is growing. When we were growing up, there was limited places to shop in Mildura, which forced you to head to the city to shop.
“Nowadays, Mildura is home to some of the biggest labels in Australian fashion, so hopefully it continues to grow and keep up with demand from the locals.”
