Sage, a designer women's apparel boutique just off Lincoln Road in South Beach is the creation of owner Susana Callau, by virtue of her love for Australian designer clothing and her retail savvy.

From an early age, Callau understood the importance of beauty as a force in the world around us. She was able to see that beauty could be recognized in a kind gesture, a smile, or a child's innocence. She also understood that beauty could also be expressed through art in many forms including music, paintings and fashion.

Sage is décorated with Venetian stucco walls and wood flooring all painted a deep ochre. Wrought iron fixtures grace the 500 square foot boutique and the lighting is dramatic and theatrical. The dressing room is a movable structure enclosed in a flowing plush crimson curtain. Red area carpets and accents (matching the dressing room curtain) complete this jewel box that is at once functional and luxurious.

The store carries a diverse selection of top Australian designer apparel and accessories that have not been available previously in South Florida. Australian fashion is renowned for its hip silhouettes, superb natural fabrics, fashion forward designs and artistic intensity.

The demand today for Australian fashion outside its home market owes much to the international recognition created by Mercedes-Benz Australian Fashion Week (MAFW), held in Sydney each May. This event showcases the nation's top designer collections and a range of fashion-related products and accessories to international buyers and fashion media.

The fashion and accessories imported from Australia that create Sage's product mix were selected based upon the quality of design, innovation and fabrication. Australia's recent fashion industry boom can be attributed to designer access to quality raw materials including Australia's fine wool and cotton; a high level of technical innovation - in computer-aided design and manufacturing, marking and grading systems, and "quick response" production systems; a strong base of creative talent in fashion and lifestyle product design; and Sydney, which recently joined the ranks as one of the world's greatest cities.

Sage Featured Designers 

Akira   (coming Spring 2004)
Designs radiate tragility with special focus on detail. The fabrics resonate with individualism as they incorporate handcrafting. Beauty with function is the result.

Alannah Hill
Get in touch with your girlie side with Alannah Hill's savvy take on ultra feminine clothes, which are made with fabrics that float and colors that startle. It comes as no surprise to discover that Hill ran away to work at Ashton's Circus when she was 15, because her glamorous clothes always raise a smile.

Christina Fitzgerald
Internationally recognized as Australia's leading manicurist, Christina Fitzgerald has drawn upon 20 years of manicuring experience and personally formulated her luxurious nail polishes.

Leona Edmiston
The shape of a woman has always been the inspiration for Leona Edmiston. Her days with Peter Morrissey, when they created the sexy label Morrissey Edmiston, are far behind her, and now she's content to create beautiful dresses that flatter the female form.

Lisa Ho
Her inspiration may be vintage textiles but Lisa Ho's clothes should never be placed in mothballs. Fans, such as Hollywood belles Nicole Kidman, Sarah Wynter and Naomi Watts, know that ultra-feminine designs influenced by the past can have a big impact on the present. Ho's gorgeous dresses are made for a special occasion and offers empowering looks that would home in any era.

Nicola Finetti   (coming Spring 2004)
Born in Italy, mother Yugoslavian, father Italian. Finetti studied architecture in Rome, lived in Italy, Argentina and now Australia. He sees his life experience as forming part of the influences on his style and creative direction, finding strong inspiration in contrasts such as ?north-south, white-black, raw-defined, edgy-romantic, cold-warm, constraint-freedom.? All of these contradictions are expressed in his designs, surprising us from season to season and giving his creations the power to take the breath away with sensual modern form.

Money Penny Collection   (handbags by Olga Berg)
Based in Melbourne, Olga Berg accessories were born in 1983 when Polish immigrant Olga Lippman founded her own wholesaling company, Fashion Coordinates. The Olga Berg brand came to life six years ago with a successful range of evening bags, and now includes day bags, shawls and scarves, wallets, shoes and belts.

Olga Berg accessories are designed in Australia by Kelly Barnes. Kelly likes to use high-quality materials that allow the fashion-savvy girl to achieve the latest look without burning a hole in the wallet.

Third Millennium
Third Millennium's trademark style is whimsical, romantic and feminine. Naomi Watts is a huge fan of this ethereal line.

Scanlan and Theodore
The essence of Melbourne cool is elegant captured by the clothes of Scanlon and Theodore. The company's unerring attention to detail and tailoring remain at the fashion forefront. Their pants have a cult following among women who like to cut a striking figure.

Wayne Cooper
Wayne Cooper is one of Australia's leading fashion designers, creating sophisticated designs with edge for both women and men with his labels WAYNE and WAYNE COOPER. The rock 'n' roll sense of fun - spirited, cheeky, irreverent and romantic - that defined Cooper's original label BRAVE influences all his designs, from the most daring to the most strictly tailored.

Zimmermann
Take one talented fashion designer, add an older sister with a business sense, blend in an understanding of the Australian lifestyle, and you have Zimmermann, one of Australia's most successful and directional labels. Eclectic color, beautiful fabric, glowing skin ? Nicky and Simone Zimmermann have created the perfect recipe for success. The appeal of Zimmermann has been far-reaching, as it is a label that encapsulates the definitive Australian girl - a modern beauty who likes to work hard, play harder and look great along the way.

Zambesi   (coming Spring 2004)  
Zambesi's enduring appeal is a tribute to designer Elisabeth Findlay's progressive originality and seductive signature style. Zambesi's enigmatic quality springs from Findlay's play with contradiction. Evocative vintage meets sleek modernity and enjoys the irony of the contrast. Elisabeth Findlay juxtaposes exquisite fabrics and sensual textures to create the irresistible. By applying intricate detail to tailored, sculptural form Zambesi conjures the unexpected, marrying clean-cut, masculine separates with ephemeral, feminine layers. Zambesi collections flow from Findlay's instinctive appreciation of women's desire to dress beautifully, while evolving their individual sense of style. Zambesi is not about trends or high- concept or "best-sellers". Zambesi is an alchemy: one part intellectual to one part emotional, and catalyzed by a desire for perfection.

Sage
1665 Michigan Avenue
Miami Beach
305.538.2242

Sunday - Thursday: Noon to 8:00 p.m.
Friday & Saturday: Noon to 10:00 p.m.