Telethon 2025: Little Telethon stars get styled by Karrinyup Shopping Centre fashion guru ahead of big weekend
Forget Cinderella and Prince Charming; There are new royals in town stealing hearts, wearing sparkly prom dresses and stylish suits.
Little Telethon stars Jordan Blair (9), Xavier Summers (8), Izzy Miller (5) and Paige McIllree (8) managed to take the dress-up game to a whole new level at Karrinyup Shopping Center under the guidance of their very own fashion fairy stylist Natalie Dignam.
From sequined dresses to velvet suit jackets, top hats and even designer bags, the fashion palace (aka Karrinyup) rolled out the red carpet for the little legends.
Paige and Izzy returned in princess dresses and sparkly heels, while Jordan and Xavier opted for less sparkle, but there was no shortage of style in their royal looks.
For the past two weeks, Ms. Dignam has waved her magic wand to help each of the young stars prepare for their big moment in Telethon stardom.
Ms Dignam, who admitted she is not usually the emotional type, said it “brought her to tears”.
“The first one was Jordan, who was really into his music, and he was a casual, cool guy, so we went for a dinner blazer with some chinos, a shirt, and some white sneakers,” he said.
“The second little star, Xavier, really wanted to wear a top hat, and I think the best thing to pair with a top hat is a tuxedo, so he chose a really cool navy blue tuxedo.
“Paige absolutely fell in love, it was literally love at first sight, with a bright blue crystal tulle dress that was literally ripped… in about five seconds when she walked into the room she locked eyes with that dress and said this is it, this is what I want and so she tried it on.
“She had a gorgeous little sparkly denim jacket to go with it and some tiny heels… It was the kind of experience that everyone hopes to have when you see the person you love and it fit like a glove and all the stars aligned because she was the only one left in the center.
“The last of the Telethon stars, Izzy, loves pink, purples and sparkle, so she chose a purple tiered dress.
“She opened the curtain and said I love her and she had this big smile on her face and she started twirling around and I actually cried, like she looked so excited and she was just really beautiful.”
Paige told her mom, Natalie McIllree, that getting in style was the “best day of her life.”
“He loved it,” Ms. McIllree said.
“She was presented with about 10 different costume options and she focused on one beautiful, big blue dress and didn’t even look at the others, so the stylist tailored it to her personality, never taking her eyes off the dress.”
Ms McIllree said Paige had looked at her dress every day since she got it and dreamed of the moment she would wear it again.
“Her dress is huge…it’s a dress, it’s bigger and fancier and uglier than any other outfit she’s ever owned; in this dress she feels like a real princess instead of just dressing like a princess, she really feels like one,” she said.
“She told me she wants to wear it all weekend, but I’m not sure that will be possible. It’s a very heavy dress and I’m not sure how she’ll manage it, but she wants to wear it all the time.”
“I haven’t let him put it back on yet, but it’s hanging where he can see it every day.”
Ms. Dignam said each rehearsal was like “watching the children in a dream.”
“Little kids don’t dress fancy, they don’t need to be dressed to the nines in normal day-to-day life, and they were all just like with their eyes open and smiling big, they were really excited and happy when they saw themselves and what they were wearing,” she said.
“The girls were twirling around and you could see the boys were feeling really cool and really comfortable.
“It was like living a fantasy for them, which is my interpretation of how they were feeling at that moment.”
You can catch little Telethon stars wearing their chosen outfits by watching Channel 7 throughout the 26-hour event.
