PROFILES + Bethany Joy

Bethany Joy

Australia

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Bethany Joy

Collection:

For this collection I was inspired by the artist Johann-Jakob Hauswirth's wonderful paper collages, which are both decorative and graphic, and very beautiful.

I designed the two prints in "Paper Hearts" myself from some sketches I drew.

Photography by Abe Bastoli (Creative Photo Images) Hair and make-up by George Dellicompagni (Francesco Group)

Philosophy:

Bethany Joy is romance, elegance, intrigue and modernity - fractured concepts sewn together to form fashion evocative of nostalgic glamour yet continually fresh. Women who wear Bethany Joy adore the feeling of silk, stunning design details and flattering cuts in their evening and cocktailwear. Bethany Joy designs are luxurious, and for women who like a little mystery in their life.

Bethany Joy is very feminine, yet modern. It's a label for women who love design, art and luxury. I put alot of thought into the design process, and love working with flattering but always interesting cuts.

All Bethany Joy designs are produced in Australia.

Bio:

23 year old designer Bethany Joy Monsted has had a life long love affair with drawing and design. Stumbling upon a worn costume book of her mother’s sparked her interest in fashion. “I was just so intrigued by that book, all of its beautifully detailed fashion llustrations. I wondered why people didn’t wear gorgeous clothing like that in modern times. I was 12 years old and wanted to be running around in embroidered corsets!”

Launching her luxurious womenswear label Bethany Joy in 2007, she draws inspiration from art, the perfection of nature and the notion of what a thoroughly modern lady wears.

Bethany finished her Certificate II: Design Visualisation for Fashion at the Whitehouse Institute of Design during her High School Certificate. She completed her fashion studies in 2005 at KvB Institute of Technology with her BA for Visual Communication majoring in Fashion Design, receiving High Distinctions for her graduating cocktail wear range, topping not only the fashion course, but all graduating students from photography, film production, interior and graphic design. Bethany won the Institute Medal at graduation.

Products

Ladies Fashion:
Dresses
Skirts
Tops
Formal Dresses
Pants
Jackets

All my designs are lined in pure silk, and have been designed and produced in Australia.

Stockists

(Coming Soon To Princess Fashion House)

Labels/Brands stocked

Bethany Joy

Special Offers

WEDNESDAY 15TH AUGUST

On an evening of art, music and fashion at the coveted Ruby Rabbit, luxury label Bethany Joy debuted in fashion parade style.

Designer Bethany Joy Monsted showed her label’s “Paper Hearts” Spring-Summer 07/08 collection to great response from a full house of culture lovers.

Ten looks where on show from the new designer, featuring cocktailwear to evening gowns – all displaying the signature Bethany Joy look… feminine and striking with flattering cuts that highlight the feminine form. “It was a really exciting night! It was great to be involved in Fashique, to show my designs to a new audience,” said Bethany.

Francesco Group hair stylist George Dellicompagni styled the Bethany Joy models’ hair with great finesse. The gorgeous up-dos complemented the elegance of clothing to perfection.

Napoleon Perdis make-up artists finished the look with their delicate cosmetic application.

Other Information

Interview With Bethany Joy:

Australia Teenage Fashion Awards »TFW talk with fashion designer Bethany Joy
‘Two Flat Whites’ talk with one of the hottest new fashion designers in Australia, Bethany Joy. Her fashion is a celebration of beauty, artistic vision, luxury and femininity - fashion evocative of nostalgic glamour yet continually fresh. Mixing graphic shapes with beautiful fabrics to create evening and cocktailwear women crave.

If you sign an autograph what do you write? And where do you call home?

My full name (Bethany Joy Monsted) in my loopy, curvy running writing - I’ve been doing it for so long I think I’ve forgotten how to print!

Home is Sydney, but I did live in QLD for a few years, which was an interesting experience. I love Sydney though, so many of my family and friends are here and I really enjoy the cultural scene here too - there is always something interesting to go and see.

In your own words, what do you do?

I am a fashion designer. I design very feminine, sophisticated and interesting evening and cocktail wear, which I adore. I started my label Bethany Joy this year, so I suppose I am a business owner and entrepreneur as well! If I where to put what I do into my own words though, I would have to say, “I work hard at what I love!”

Childhood Memories:

TV Show - The Dream Stone, My Little Ponies, The Trapdoor and Art Attack

Hobby - drawing, drawing, drawing!

Food - I used to love those sweet cup cakes with the little rice paper cartoons you would stick on top of the wet icing my Mum used to make for parties… so cute!

Fear - Spiders. Big spiders.

People - I never had hundreds of friends when I was growing up. That never interested me, but I did have very close friends. Most of who I am still close friends with now. Family has also always been very important to me. My parents and brothers from day one have been such a huge support and inspiration… and often a great form of entertainment as well - everyone is so creative. Everyone is into their own blend of the arts, music, film, dance, design, writing and acting - so there was (and is!) always something interesting going on.

Defining moment - Realising I could actually draw at age 7 when everyone else was still enjoying the art of stick figures. I was amazed!

Schooling memories, chore or cherished?

I was never raised to believe that my school years would be “the best years of my life” or anything like that. At the Monsted household it was all about getting to where you really wanted to be. School was simply a stepping stone to college, which in turn was a stepping stone to my label.

From the hours of 9am to 5pm, what do you get up too?

It varies alot depending on the time of year. At the moment I am working on my Autumn/Winter 08 collection which means alot of fabric sourcing and trips to the
city which is fun.

Where can people see your work?

Online at my website www.bethanyjoy.com.au or on my myspace at www.myspace.com/bethanyjoyfashion. Come have a peek!

For love or money?

Definitely love. Money will come if you follow your passion and work hard. I really adore design; I can’t imagine my life without it.

What future endeavors are in the pipeline?

Well, I just held a fashion parade last week at the Ruby Rabbit for a monthly event called Fashique… so now I am thinking about next season, and what sort of way I can display my work to the world.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Doing just as I am now, only on a larger scale. My goal is to export Bethany Joy to the best boutiques world wide. I’d love to have a few talented people on my pay roll by then as well. That would be fabulous.



If you could invite 3 people to chat over coffee, who would they be & why?

That’s a hard one! I think if I could ask anyone I would have to say Gabrielle Chanel (who founded, of course, the amazing House of Chanel. What amazes me more though than even her innate sense of style is that she did everything she did in a time when women where not expected to enter into the business or the fashion world at all).

Claude Monet (I adore his art! So so beautiful! I nearly fainted when I saw his works in Canberra about five years ago in an exhibition - they where that breathtaking. Would love to pick his brain, find out more about him and his concept of beauty) and Audrey Hepburn, just because!

Coffee or Tea?

Tea, but not black! A lovely pot of peppermint tea or a cup of chai latte totally makes my day…

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