FDS Team

Andrea Cainero

Head of School

Andrea’s career in fashion started when she was 17 years old. Completing qualifications in both Apparel Manufacturing and Fashion Design at East Sydney Technical College, where she graduated as Student of the Year, Andrea went on to pursue a career in fashion and costume design.  

Having run her own fashion label and costume design and styling business, she is most well known for her work for flamboyant electro pop duo Empire of the Sun, whom she collaborated with on designing and making costumes for their first two albums. She has since gone on to complete Post Grad studies in Cross Disciplinary Art and Design and is now also an award winning milliner. 

She has an eye for detail and brings a flexibility of design solutions to her classes, believing in the collaborative approach to design in various disciplines. She appreciates the impact that FDS has on many students’ career journeys, valuing the transformative power of education to the individual.  

Laura Washington

Head of School

After obtaining her degree in Physiotherapy and working as a sports physiotherapist for five years, Laura had a career switch and commenced studying  Fashion Design at East Sydney Technical College.

Laura has  had a diverse career, working in both the fashion and interior industries as a fashion designer, design consultant, costume standby, costume buyer, and fashion and interior stylist. For many years Laura  supported LGA's in both the Northern Beaches and Central Coast with op shop tours and education around conscious buying, recycling and mending. In 2013, she started her own interior styling and staging company and also began lecturing at The Fashion Design Studio.

She is currently pursuing her Masters in Cross-Disciplinary Design,  as well as her own creative textile practise focused on sustainable practice, and her passion for education motivates Laura  to provide the best platform for young designers. Laura's desire is to  share her expertise in innovative and conceptual design solutions, whilst having an umbrella of sustainability at front of mind.

She is currently on the executive committee for The Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutions ( IFFTI), and the global sharing of educational resources and information supports her work.

Laura is also on the educators working group committee, and reserach committee for the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion and Textiles which is a partnership between Tafe NSW and UTS. Laura co-wrote and co-delivered the first course for the Centre, 'Intro to Fashion Sustainability".
Laura  firmly believes education empowers and helps individuals grow, and  advocates for both VET and Higher Education learning models. 

Alex Zehntner

Design

Alex is a senior design lecturer with professional experience in fashion design, branding and event management. Completing fashion and design study at the East Sydney Technical College and the College of Fine Arts, at the University of NSW.

Alex has extensive experience working with leading Australian fashion companies such as Tarocash, Myers, David Jones and Sportsgirl.  A move toward branding has allowed him to work with some of Australia's most dynamic production companies and all the major Australian Networks (7, 9, 10, ABC & SBS). He has Art Directed television shows since 2005, including Australian Princess, Beauty and the Geek and Australia's Next Top Model.

Alex has mentored and nurtured the talent of some of Australia’s top up and coming designers including Dion Lee, Karla Spetic, and Michael Lo Sordo

Narelle Jordan

Textile Design

Narelle is a textile design lecturer and subject area lead for the surface textiles elective stream in the Bachelor of Fashion Design. Narelle is a practicing textile designer specialising in hand screen-printed, hand dyed and manipulated techniques for fashion fabrics. Narelle graduated with an honours degree in Fashion & Textile Design from UTS and postgraduate qualifications from the Textiles Workshop at the Australian National University where she undertook extensive research into specialised screen printing processes. With over twenty years of experience, Narelle offers students a broad range of innovative and experimental skills in fashion print design and surface decoration.

Raquel Mazzina

Illustration & Fashion Design

Raquel teaches illustration and design and is a specialist teacher in life drawing. Raquel graduated from East Sydney Technical College and worked as a fashion designer prior to furthering her education in the field of Fine Arts, studying at The National Art School, Darlinghurst (Bachelor of Fine Arts 1999).

Raquel is an active practicing artist whose work is housed in private collections both nationally and internationally and exhibited across Australia.   She has received numerous awards for her work including the National Art School Paris residency.   

She has taught over the past 2 decades in the fields of Fashion Design and Fine arts in the areas of design, drawing and painting at The Fashion Design Studio, Enmore Design Centre, St. George (Sydney Institute TAFE) and The National Art School

Valeska Dominguez

Design

Valeska is an award-winning designer across multiple design disciplines which include architecture, jewellery, graphic and fashion design. 

Valeska has been a professional designer for over 25 years in industry and is currently studying a Master of Design at UNSW.

Having graduated from FDS as a mature-aged student in 2018 - and selected to showcase her collection at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 'Innovators' parade - Valeska went on to win the 2019 TAFE NSW Creative and Design Ideation Student of the Year. 

With a passion for design, and a love of learning, Valeska now dedicates her time to teaching, sharing her multi-disciplinary design experience and enthusiasm with students as they become the next generation of designers out of Australia's premier fashion institution.

Ameli TAnchitsa

Design Communication & Illustration

Ameli was a co-founder of MAD CORTES, a multi-award winning Australian Fashion Label 2000-2008.  He joined the FDS team in 2008. Having training in both Visual Arts and Computer Graphics, Ameli explores the space where technical precision meets creative visualisation and where two fields complement each other in context of fashion design process. 

linkedin.com/in/amelitanchitsa

Holly Siles

Illustration & Fashion Design

Bachelor Fashion & Textile Design Sydney College of the Arts [now UTS], where she won two national ‘Designer of the Year’ competitions and one runner up award. 

Holly worked in fashion industry as a designer for total of 18 years in a variety of sections within the industry; crossing over from directional daywear, where she was nominated as a finalist in FIA Awards for both daywear and evening wear categories before moving into product development in daywear and then into customised clothing with private clients. 

This broad range of experience has enabled Holly to bring a breadth and depth of knowledge to the classroom as a teacher of fashion design and illustration.

During her period as a teacher she has won The Premier Scholarship Award, for best teaching practices, which enabled her to spend 5 weeks in New York studying at Fashion Institute of New York, updating her skills in CAD & live fashion drawing, colour theory, history of fashion in the renowned FIT Fashion Museum accessing the archives and visiting Parsons New School of Design and fashion studios of industry icons such as; Ralph Lauren, Theory, Helmut Lang and Alice and Olivi.

Kam Wong

Technical Assistant

As Technical Assistant – Design I am responsible for liaising with the teachers to organise & prepare all the equipment & materials needed for class practical work according to the course requirements.  I look after the sewing, cutting and pressing equipment so that it is available for use by students, and I establish and maintain the procedures for the safe use of the equipment.  Several time a year I work with the student and staff to organise and run the fashion parades and certificate presentation events.  When time allows, I complete research into the uses of new equipment and the handling of innovative fabrics and accessories.

LITSa Angelakos

Pattern Making

Litsa has worked in the fashion industry for more than 15 years. Her experience throughout the fashion world is as a patternmaker working for major companies such as Apparel Group (Sports Fashion), Bonds, Depict and Trackmaster. 

Litsa has been teaching since 2002 with The Fashion Design Studio department at TAFE NSW, and now also with Fashion Technology. Her industry extensive experience is applied to the realisation component in both the VET and Higher Education programs with respect to patternmaking, fitting, garment construction, fabric cutting, and grading. 

Litsa values the ability to watch students grow over the years of studying and knowing that she has contributed in a meaningful way with their learnings. 

Eleanor Keene

Fashion History and Culture

Eleanor Keene is a Fashion and Dress Historian and Valuer. In recent years she has spread her time between valuing fashion and textile donations to National Museum collections as a Cultural Gifts Valuer and working with The National Trust of NSW with their related collections. 

In 2022 she started a new path, lecturing in Fashion History and Culture at The Fashion Design Studio, Tafe NSW. Eleanor continues to work on Cultural Gift Valuations in fashion, primarily with the National Gallery of Victoria.

 Eleanor originally trained in the cut and construction of period costume for film and television. After completing a two year internship with the Powerhouse Museum Sydney, she travelled to England to obtain her  Master’s Degree in the History of Textiles and Dress. Eleanor then went on to head the Costume and Textile Department for Bonhams UK auction houses, putting together specialist sales and valuing national collections. Eleanor returned to Sydney at the beginning of 2010 where she has been enjoying the diverse roles self-employment has brought her way.

 Eleanor has written for a number of publications on textile and dress subjects. She is a key contributor to 'Vintage Made' Magazine.

Tracey Willis

CLO3D Designer

Tracey’s Journey in the Australian Fashion Industry began with graduating from East Sydney Technical college in 1982. During her comprehensive 40-year career, she has collaborated with. some of Australia’s most admired labels, including Carla Zampatti, Zimmerman, Camilla, and Alex Perry. She has created many notable pieces for runway, red carpet, and stage – both in Australia and abroad.

She has dressed many well-known figures in her career, including Bianca Jagger, Miranda Kerr, J Lo and Beyonce.

Tracey is a Master Patternmaker with hands-on, practical experience in the Australian Industry. She has worked with all dimensions of the pattern craft; flat manual, draping, digital and now 3D. She has worked in and managed Design Rooms in Australia, India, and Vietnam. She has had the opportunity to teach internationally within various factories, design houses and sample rooms. Mentoring and

Imparting on students her detailed skill-set is displayed clearly in her teaching. She values the collaboration between student and teacher and applauds their successes, both big and small.

In recent years, she has successfully incorporated her master craft and design expertise in the field of 3D Technology. The (relatively new to Australia) 3D technology, is not only captivating the world of fashion, but also proving a support and develop sustainability within the industry. Practically, Tracey combines her extensive industry experience and the innovative world of 3D with the designers of the future.

Millicent Gilbert

Design

Millicent has worked in all aspects of the fashion industry throughout her career. With design skills in fashion, accessories, graphics, marketing and retail she has worked in New York with brands showing at NYFW, developed product ranges for fashion start-ups and major chains, designed corporate uniforms culminating in the launch of her own brand.

Responsible for all aspects of design, production and supply chain, Millicent also managed the international expansion into USA and Europe and showing in Pure London and Pret a Porter Paris. With a Master of Design from UNSW, Millicent believes that every student has the ability to be successful within their own discipline through the power of education and with her knowledge and skills she delights in sharing her experience with the nest generation of Australia's leading fashion designers.