In the Wednesday English Conversation class, teachers Maureen, David, and Wendy told to us about the big Melbourne Cup event, because yesterday,7 November, 2023 was the day of the Melbourne Cup. This is a public holiday in Victoria and a major event in Australia. On this day, people will dress up and go to see the horse racing, place bets, and gather with friends to eat, drink, and have fun.
I remembered that in 1995, when I was a student studying Fashion Design at the National Art School, I participated in the Royal Randwick Racecourse
Fashion student competition. My winning designs were worn by an international fashion model and appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.
After that, I worked in the Nelson Leong Fashion Studio and gained more work experience. When I graduated, I started work there as a design assistant. This company was a famous brand at the time and my boss was the fashion designer for Annita Keating, the former wife of Paul Keating, former Prime Minister of Australia in 1990’s.
We also attended the Fashion week in Sydney. The company owned three fashion stores in QVB, when it was at its peak, which I witnessed at that time. Later, when I became pregnant it was not convenient for me to work in the workshop so I quit my job and stayed home to look after my family and raise my children. Time flies so fast, more than twenty years have passed and this has become history.
When people immigrate to Australia, they work here, study and live in harmonious communities and share every detail of life together. Especially when they can speak English or learn and improve their English, teachers and students can understand each other. How joyful!
Diane Zeng