Festival organisers launched the 2011 calendar, which includes more than 40 events, the majority of which will be free for the public to attend. Tourism Minister Kim Hames and Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said the State Government was proud to support the fashion festival. “The Perth Fashion Festival has grown to become one of the most vibrant and exciting features of Western Australia’s diverse events calendar,” Dr Hames said.
“Each year the event is eagerly anticipated by the fashion industry and the public alike, and it never fails to deliver, with each festival more spectacular than the last.” Dr Hames said in the past four years, festival attendance had almost tripled from 15,000 people in 2007 to 44,355 last year.
“The festival brings a great buzz to our city, showcases our talented designers to the world through a global television audience and promotes Perth and WA as an exciting and extraordinary place to visit,” he said.
Mr Day said the 2011 festival would feature some important firsts such as new initiatives for designers and a new cultural venue at the WA Museum.
“The WA Museum’s historic Hackett Hall provides an ideal venue for Western Australia’s contemporary fashion design to take centre stage,” Mr Day said.
“This year’s festival will also host its first buyers’ event, providing WA designers an opportunity to market and sell their collections to local and national retailers.”
Mr Day said new Designer Capsule events would feature smaller groups of designers in intimate showcases which gave the public more access to fashion runway shows.

City.Mobi

Also in Australia today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to Perth.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

Perth.mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.