Our Alumni Community

Interview with former DSC student Gregory Amore - Class of 2006

Favourite memory about Doncaster Secondary College:

I have so many fond memories of high school, most of which involve a funny anecdote involving a teacher so I will refrain from mentioning those. I was the only student in my year to take VCE dance which had a two-part examination, the practical portion of the exam was performed externally, however, the written component was to be performed at college. As I was the only student I was scheduled to take the exam with the maths calculus kids, all of which were convinced and freaking out that I was going to leg warmer up, press play on my boom box and start the routine from flash dance in the middle of their exam (I kept the joke going up until 5 min before) Memories of Doncaster are not only filled with stories like these but of caring and guiding teachers and amazing friends who made the experience for me personally an enjoyable and irreplaceable one.

Since finishing Year 12 I have:

After graduating from Doncaster I spent the next three consecutive years competing for a Bachelor of Design-Fashion. During my time in university I was awarded Design student of the year twice and student of the year in my final term, I also completed a summer internship with Australian fashion label Zimmermann. These achievements, in turn, helped my final collection to be shortlisted for LMMF National Graduate showcase and become a National finalist in the Alex Perry Apprentice competition. After coming runner up in the apprentice competition, I entered the fashion future graduate competition in which I placed first and was awarded a placement at the Dutch fashion house Viktor & Rolf. Leaving only five days after graduation I purchased a ticket to the Netherlands with a twelve-month return date and I relocated to Amsterdam to start the three-month internship, three turned to six and six turned to nine and I was almost at the end of my trip. I wanted to make the most of my remaining time in Europe so decided to visit and stay with some Australian friends in London and undertake a small internship with Mary Katrantzou, a London based fashion house. After completing four weeks (the max a graduate was able to do under UK law at the time) I was offered a freelance contract and a month later offered a job as Junior womenswear designer. I was with the fashion house for a total of six years, working my way up through the ranks from Junior designer to womenswear designer to senior designer and finally Head of Design. During these years I had some amazing experiences and visited some amazing places. Highlights include working in Germany for a collaboration with Adidas, bespoke for Cate Blanchette, visiting New York for the Met ball and for collaboration with Victoria Secret, bespoke for Beyonce, just to name a few.

Do you have any advice you’d like to share with current DSC students? 

It’s okay if you don’t know what you want to study or do after year 12. I had no idea what I was getting myself into after my year 12 exams. I believe it’s very important to be in a field you enjoy and being in a good positive environment that suits you. There’s no such thing as ‘it’s too late to change’ or ‘I’m too old to change careers’. It’s better to wake up every day looking forward to starting your day than waking up every day convincing yourself you might be sick and should call in ‘sick’. I really enjoy what I do now and because of this, I have the mental and physical capacity to do things I enjoy outside of work and after work such as being an SES volunteer. If you find something is not working, take a break and try work out why it’s not working. Good luck and hope you enjoy your time at Donny!!

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