SYDNEY– Australian designer Aurelio Costarella has died at age 60 after a recent diagnosis with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare brain disorder that also claimed the life of his sister Gracie, it was revealed Saturday. 

Western Australia’s most successful designer, Perth-born Costarella made a name for himself with his embellished demi-couture eveningwear that often featured delicate vintage fabrics. 

A stalwart of the Australian Fashion Week schedule for a number of years, he took his collection to New York Fashion Week in September 2006 and showed there for four seasons. At his peak he was selling to Barneys New York, Harvey Nichols, Henri Bendel and Villa Moda, with 100 stockists in Australia, including the David Jones department store chain. His designs were worn by names including Queen Mary of Denmark, Cate Blanchett, Charlize Theron, Rihanna, Geri Halliwell and Dita Von Teese. 

In 2017, citing the difficult retail economy and mental health struggles, he shuttered his business to focus on art.

Entirely self-taught, Costarella first began experimenting with clothing during his second year of architectural studies at Perth’s Curtin University, eventually finding a stockist in Perth boutique Crème Soda. His success there lead him to eventually abandon his studies and pursue fashion full-time in 1983. 

Eventually investing in, and later acquiring, Crème Soda, from 1987 he opened a series of boutiques, including his first store under the name Ray Costarella in 1991 on Perth’s Bayview Terrace in Claremont and later Sydney’s Strand Arcade.

But according to Australian Fashion Week founder Simon Lock, now the chief executive officer of fashion technology company The Ordre Group, it was while designing a label called Milk for Adelaide boutique Miss Gladys Sym Choon later that decade that Costarella  first came to his attention.

“His unique point of view secured him a debut at Fashion Week in Next Gen [the event’s emerging designer group showcase],” said Lock.

“He then became his true self as Aurelio Costarella [by adopting his full Christian name Aurelio] and settled into [becoming] a refined couturier. His well documented struggles with mental health in some senses made his creations even more special. He was a gentleman, a sweet soul and creative visionary,” he added.

In March 2007, in a bid to raise funds to accelerate the business into international markets, Costarella’s company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, debuting at a loss.  It was delisted in 2009.

In 2016, he was inducted into the Design Institute of Australia Hall of Fame and his work is housed in the collections of Australian galleries such as The Powerhouse Ultimo, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Western Australian Museum, which staged a 30-year career retrospective of Costarella’s work in 2013. 

Costarella became an ambassador for Lifeline Australia and was an advocate for mental health. In the flood of tributes that are rolling in on his Instagram page, he is also being remembered as a generous mentor to young designers. 

“Australia has lost a brilliant creator who touched the lives of so many. Aurelio was Perth’s gift to the world” said Network 10 news anchor Narelda Jacobs. Echoed Sydney fashion publicist Adriana Glass, “We were so blessed to have Aurelio in our world. An immense loss, an even greater legacy.”