Stacey Isaac on conquering the world to achieve a dream.
After three intensive years I was lucky enough to get a scholarship in my final year to study my Master of Fashion at L’accademia Italiana in Florence, Italy. It was a wonderful experience and during my study I met a lovely Italian boy and decided I wanted to continue living in Europe. However, almost to the day of ending my year in Florence, I received a phone call from Australia from the head stylist at Channel Nine. I had worked for her on a short film at Fox studios as part of work experience while at Whitehouse Institute of Design. It had been a four day job, working 16 hours a days without a lunch break. This led to her asking me to work for her part time in the wardrobe department at Channel Nine, while I finished my studies. I learnt a lot from this woman, who was a single mum and an absolute professional, with endless amounts of energy. She really became a mentor for me. It seemed my tireless efforts and late nights had paid off and I was now being highly recommended for a fantastic job in menswear product development back in Sydney. It was more money than I could have dreamt of — having just finished university — and it seemed like fate. So despite my desire to stay in Europe I thought it would be crazy not to accept the offer and within a few weeks I was back in my hometown starting a new job. Looking back it was an incredibly difficult decision to make and took a lot of strength to leave; I was in love and happy, but I didn’t want the opportunity to pass.
Read more of Stacey’s story and see some of her fantastic fashion designs in Overcoat Issue Three: Dreams.
