Newdegate Machinery Field Days fashion parade showcases the best of music and musicals as well as designs

Movies and musicals was the theme of this year’s Dyson Jones Fashion Parade, with the modelling of beautiful clothing also peppered with dancing and acrobatics. A key highlight of the Newdegate Machinery Field Days each year, the parade aims to showcase the best in fashion from big-name brands and local stores across the Wheatbelt and Great Southern — and also to put on a great show. A shimmering disco wall set the perfect scene for the parade, which showcased designs from Australian Wool Innovation, R.M. Williams, Swoolly by Scanlan and the Williams Woolshed, as well as Esperance-based Wild Posse and Lake Grace store Sand N Salt. Each year, Perth-based company Vibe Events sends a troupe of models and dancers to visit the Field Days to put on a show for crowds in the Family Interest Display Pavilion. As well as modelling, the performers completed quick costume changes and took to the stage for a range of dances and acrobatics unlike anything normally seen in Newdegate. Songs featured included Footloose by Kenny Loggins, Cinema Italiano from the 2009 movie Nine, and We Go Together from Grease. Vibe Events director Michaela Perrozzi said the group had been attending the Field Days since 2019, and loved the chance to perform in front of a country crowd. Fashion parade organiser Michelle Garlick, who took on the role four years ago, said the theme was always a collaboration between volunteers and Ms Perrozzi, with a big focus on set design and creating an “entertaining show”. “The parade gives a good opportunity for both women and men to see what is current and available in stores,” she said. “It also creates a great environment for stallholders. It attracts people to the pavilion and shows off the designs on offer … and a lot of stallholders say it directly brings sales.” Now in her fourth year co-ordinating the parade, Ms Garlick said she could not do it without her fellow volunteers and stage design experts Emily Gilmour and Skadi McDonald who put in a “huge effort” to make sure the stage looked as good as possible.