2015: Chantelle Lucyl Tarola

Bachelor of Design (Fashion) (Honours) student Chantelle Lucyl Tarola used her Milan-Melbourne Exchange Program Scholarship experience to immerse herself in the European fashion industry and explore her potential.

“This scholarship has improved my design practise, and helped me think like a global leader and refine my work with a professional approach that I will develop throughout my graduate year towards my final collection. The experience has also mentally and physically prepared me to immerse myself into the European fashion industry, which is what I wanted to understand and achieve prior to the Scholarship.

“The course work at NABA in Milan is heavily based on theory and history, and my mentors in Milan work in the fashion industry as well as teach. I have a broader understanding of trend forecasting and developed the ability to break down the fundamentals of design in order to understand and evaluate the background behind the work. This has opened up my potential to understand and realise the final process of a full range collection in Europe.

“The scholarship has given me the confidence to recognise opportunities among my peers and work together as a team to maximise the full potential in a project. I have developed my skills to communicate with clear direction to non-English speaking students and people. This push to understand each other has made me aware of how important it is to be patient, to listen and to empathise with the other person. Not only at school but outside of school, I have really opened myself up to learning from others even if we are both speaking different languages.

“It has also given me opportunities to network and meet global leaders around the world. I definitely have a broader knowledge of the expectations of the industry standard in Europe.”