Kym Ellery, Third Australian Fashion Designer To Be Invited To Show In Paris

Kym Ellery started her line with a $5,000 loan from her rig-driving father. She began developing her line at night, when she was only 22, while also working as a market director at "Russh Magazine" in Australia. Ellery stayed at "Russh" for four years. Her line is now stocked in stores across Australia, Paris, Moscow, London, New York, The Middle East and China.

Ellery was born in Perth but raised in the town of Karratha, a rural North West Australian town. Growing up Ellery regularly created art with her mother who was an artist herself and she cites her mother as her biggest influence. Her mother taught her how to sew when she was only eight years old.

After many long nights and countless hours, her self-titled line "Ellery" was officially launched in Sydney in 2007. This same year, with the help of her publisher at "Russh", she debuted her line at Australian Fashion Week. Her work was good enough to grab the attention of the group that controls Paris Fashion Week and she was invited to showcase her talents there. Ellery is one of the only three Australian designers to have ever been invited to show in Paris Fashion Week.

Recently Ellery moved to Paris in order to further develop her line. She has also partnered with Specsavers on two ranges of glasses. Her glasses range includes both eyeglasses as well as prescription sunglasses. Her latest glasses collection went on sale this August and is priced from $199 for two pairs.

Ellery came under fire last November when she used animal fur in some of her designs. After criticism from animal lovers and activists on all of her social media pages she made an announcement that by the end of June 2017 she would stop using fur in her line.

By Kristen Catalano