2014 Winner: Georgia Alice Currie – Georgia Alice
Photo – Sam Lee
Georgia Alice Currie, founder of New Zealand fashion brand Georgia Alice, has been awarded the $10,000 DHL Express Fashion Export Scholarship for 2014, establishing herself as New Zealand’s top emerging fashion exporter.
Designed to identify New Zealand’s hottest up-and-coming fashion exporters, the DHL Express Fashion Export Scholarship assists emerging designers in achieving international growth. The scholarship paves the way for Georgia Alice to make a huge impact on the global fashion scene.
Georgia Alice Currie was born in Christchurch and after a brief stint at ballet school in Sydney, made the move to fashion through a development programme at Australian department store David Jones. After returning to Christchurch to train in fashion at Christchurch Polytechnic, she eventually set up her own label in Auckland in 2012.
Currie has seen her business go from strength to strength, including features in Australian Vogue, Australian Elle, Russh, Oyster and on international blog The Man Repeller. Currie’s business strategy has a strong focus on online, including targeting bloggers and implementing an Instagram campaign with fashion photographer Steve Tilley that featured polaroid shots of her garments. She also worked with international model Valentina Ruby on her third collection, Battenburg. Now in her fifth season, Currie boasts 24 stockists worldwide, including New York and LA.
Georgia Currie says: “I am beyond thrilled to have been awarded the DHL Express Fashion Export Scholarship. Georgia Alice currently has stockists throughout Australasia and North America, and over the next 12 months with the amazing additional support from DHL, Georgia Alice will be able to confidently continue to export and maintain growth internationally. I am overwhelmed that my brand has been selected and so excited for the future. A huge thank you to the judges who saw the potential in my brand, and of course to every girl out there wearing Georgia Alice.”
The scholarship has become an early identifier of young talent in New Zealand, with previous winners such as Stolen Girlfriends Club, Lonely Hearts, twentysevennames and I Love Ugly going on to significant international recognition.