Designer Jaime Lee Major teams with TV's Kelly Cutrone to take US fashion by storm Jaime Lee Major's creations will feature in the Americas Next Top Model final, thanks to a meeting with the shows judge, fashion PR guru Kelly Cutrone. WA designer Jaime Lee Major is set to take the US by storm with the help of one of Americas most influential fashion gurus  Americas Next Top Model judge Kelly Cutrone. MELENIE AMBROSE talks to Major ahead of her opening show for next months Perth Fashion Festival. JAIME Lee Major was five when she got her first creative break. As a Bull Creek pre-primary student, the pint-sized Picasso's imaginative artwork caught the attention of her teacher, Miss Johnsen. The pair had already bonded over glitter wands and all things magical. But on seeing Major's doodlings, Miss Johnsen asked her to design a business card for the teacher's after-hours alter-ego as a retail fairy princess and children's party organiser. "It was a pink card with a black line drawing," Major recalls. I never did stick figures. I went straight to flesh," she laughs, running fingers through her flame-red hair, offering a flash of a Hello Kitty tattoo on her hand. Today, Major is still doing "flesh," but now she embellishes it with silk tulle, hypercolour prints, beads and Swarovski crystals. As a result she's been the talk of Tinseltown, been featured in Vanity Fair and Vogue Italia, and has dressed savvy songstresses and reality stars. Next, in a huge coup for an Australian designer, her creations will feature in the America's Next Top Model final, thanks to a meeting with the show's judge, fashion PR guru Kelly Cutrone. Jaime Lee Major, right, with America's Next Top Model judge Kelly Cutrone. Instagram picture: caption reads Rolling with my homie @kellycutrone Source: PerthNow Cutrone was so impressed with Major's flair and drive, she pledged to help launch the label in the US, building the brand "off the backs of the world's most celebrated and gorgeous women." It's the break Major has been waiting for. Just three years ago, she made her debut at the Perth Fashion Festival with models stalking the catwalk in pink, full-body, latex alien suits. The va-va-voom moment even caught the attention of New York magazine The Cut, which enthused, "Lucha Libre fighters meet Power Rangers meet earlier "90s Barbie, with alien eyes and Madonna circa Blonde Ambition hair." Major gives credit for her creative uniqueness to her freethinking mother, Jayne, who let her children forge their own paths. "My mum never put any expectations on us," Major says. She looked for our strengths and guided us in that direction. Behind the scenes at a Jaime Lee Major fashion show. As she grew up, Major delighted in dance, drama, music and art. A graduate of the Johnny Young Talent School, she developed an early affinity with costumes. But it was art that really inspired her. At night in bed, Major would be under her doona, drawing like mad. "It was a way of communication," she explains. And it was a diversion from a testosterone-filled home. Dad John was an amateur racing car driver and car salesman, later working with Kim Ledger (Heath Ledger's father) importing rotary car engines. Brother Pete drives speedsters at Barbagallo Raceway in Wanneroo. Meanwhile, Jayne, a social worker, would be busy with crafts - knitting, pottery - with her daughter at her feet scribbling away. "Whenever she drew a person, she would always draw the dress first and then the body," Jayne recalls. Today, all of Major's passions collide. When I put on a show, I get to combine all my loves: set design, costume, choreography, music and lighting. I have the perfect career for me because I get to do all those amazing things. But it's been a hard slog for the self-taught seamstress, whose tailor-made creations sell for anything from $6000 to $25,000. Jaime Lee Major's designs been featured in Vanity Fair and Vogue Italia. Picture: Justin Smith. "Money is always the struggle," says Marcia Ball, Major's brand manager. We have broken every single rule in the history of fashion editorial by not having a stockist, but people see the magic and just get onboard. Ball met Major five years ago and instantly hit it off. Major was finishing a Central TAFE course in Fashion and Textile Design and dabbling in applying her artwork on to fabric to create her now famous luminous effects. A backyard photo shoot of her early work caught Ball's eye. "It was bizarre, theatrical and avant-garde," says Ball, who blogged about it on Style Voyeur. "I thought, "Oh my God, this girl is on to something."" Over the years, to support her artistic career, Major has worked as a "door bitch" at a bar and in a shoe shop, all the while "beading (fabric) at the counter like a very naughty employee." She can thank Wendy Marshall at Elle boutique in Nedlands for selling one of her first creations, leather-look leggings, and fashion photographer Thom Kerr for his "hypercolour campaign" that catapulted her work on to the desks of Vanity Fair in UK, IN*TANDEM in New York and STM locally. Home-grown devotees of the label include Sonia Kruger, X Factor's Samantha Jade and Sarah De Bono from The Voice. And when singer Kimbra wore a Jaime Lee gown on her Parklife tour, Major's website went into meltdown with more than 5000 emails of interest. "I guess girls really respond to that fairytale thing," Major says. When they try on a dress their whole personality changes. They're basically wearing a fairy dress for adults. For the 2011 ARIAs, Kimbra donned two custom-made show-stoppers - a gold lace fishtail dress with hand-beaded Swarovski crystals, and a lilac and gold party frock. For chanteuse and designer alike, it was a night to remember. The world was dazzled as Kimbra won Best Female Artist and Single of the Year. Kimbra wears a Jaime Lee Major design while performing at Parklife. In February, Major got an even bigger break with Kimbra wearing an ethereal bling-popping number to the Grammys in Los Angeles. The silk tulle gown, embellished with more than 2kg of freshwater pearls, caught the attention of powerful celebrity stylists and made it on to the front page of the LA Times and New York Times. But not everyone was enamoured with Kimbra's princess dress. Fashion Police host Joan Rivers described it as the most "tragic thing to happen to the Grammys since they found Whitney Houston in the bathtub." Major can see the plus side: "It was a good thing when she said: "Jaime Lee Major Mistake." Until then, no one knew my name - it certainly raised my profile in America. Taking notice was one of the most influential fashion publicists on the planet - Kelly Cutrone, the founder of People's Revolution, which represents clients such as Vivienne Westwood and Valentino. Cutrone invited the Perth designer to her Hollywood villa. "She was amazing - a hoot, a million miles a minute," Major says. "I took a mint-coloured gown along to show her and she was like, "Wow! I love your work and I am going to help you."" Cutrone tells STM of the first time she met Major: "I saw her as she was - a struggling gifted young woman, who had only her intuition and good strong legs to carry her there. But I also saw her as a 60-year-old woman, full of success, and we were drinking tea in her castle remembering the younger days when we met. Cutrone invited Major to feature seven of her archival "fun" frocks on this year's finale of America's Next Top Model, which is expected to air on FOX8 in Australia in October. It was an experience Major will never forget. I met all the contestants and got to see how a show of that scale is put together. It was amazing being part of the live audience," she says. Tyra (Banks - the host) really puts it on for the show. She was teaching us all how to "Smize" (smiling with your mouth and eyes) and "tooch" (curving your back to emphasise your butt)." After the show, Major whipped out her iPhone to show Johnny Wujek, Katy Perry's stylist, some of her designs. "He was like, "Oh my God! Oh my God! Can I take this for Katy? I love this! Let's work together for Katy with custom pieces."" Banks was also impressed, asking to take home a black embellished gown. The star now joins other US fans of the label including Kardashian sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, who donned Jaime Lee show-stoppers for an Elle shoot. Major's LA experience was a much-needed boost after a failed attempt earlier this year to raise $150,000 via crowdfunding on social media to get to Paris Couture Week. "Kelly told me, "Don't do Paris, don't be ridiculous. Do America, celebrity . . . New York!,"" says Major. According to Cutrone, Major is "made for the American market as her pieces scream red carpet." In October, Major will travel to the Big Apple to show off some of "her babies" (dresses) to the who's who of the fashion and entertainment world under the mentorship of Cutrone. For now, though, Bali is home. There, she can afford to employ a team of four staff - an assistant, seamstress and two beaders to create her "interactive works of art." To make ends meet, she has also been working as head designer with clothing brands in Kerobokan. Downtime is spent relaxing in Major's "tree house," an apartment surrounded by a trees. So where does she see herself in 10 years time? "In 10 years, I'll be 35," she says. I'd hope to be included in the members of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture and have expanded into ready-to-wear, perfume and accessories. Maybe I will have upgraded my tree house by then, too! Jaime Lee will open Fashion Paramount at the WA Museum on September 12 at 6.30pm. Tickets from $75 +bf from Oztix.com.au from Tuesday. Meet major After the Jaime Lee couture collection is shown on the PFF runway, it will head straight to Claremont Quarter for Jaime Lee Live. On Friday, September 13, from 10am to 6pm, there will be a live photo shoot of her latest collection, Light Magic, in which the fashion and textile designer will team with an international photographer and model. Dresses from the shoot will be on display all weekend. On Sunday, September 15, Major will host a Q&A in which the public, design students and fans can learn her secrets to success. For more information, log on to www.claremontquarter.com.au.