SYMPHONIC music isn’t normally associated with high-end fashion, but the Canberra Symphony Orchestra is about to change that with an imaginative fundraising initiative.

Not content with mounting this week’s ActewAGL Llewellyn concert “Cello” featuring conductor Stanley Dodds and cellist Umberto Clerici, the CSO has got together with Australian fashion’s best-known recycler, Yahav Ron. He’ll be bringing a selection of his collection to Canberra in several large trunks, the contents of which have rarely been seen before, part of the proceeds from sales will be donated by Yahav to support the CSO’s Education and Community Engagement programs.

“Paris ’99” is the name of Yahav Ron’s Melbourne-based business, through which he sells pre-loved international designer fashion sourced from women who buy exclusive well-made clothing items, often to wear them only once.

Ron has become known for combining environmental sensibilities with his own love of design, and says: “There are too many ‘bad’ clothes in the world, by which I mean cheap and designed to not last.”

In his view, textile waste is a terrible thing, so his aim is to focus on “the best clothes in the world, which are really designed to last longer than most people, live”.

In a fundraising project for the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, which includes free styling sessions for groups of up to four people in a high-end room at Hotel Hotel for over four days in late May, Ron will have racks of his private collection to try and to purchase.

Tantalisingly, the CSO tells us “he has also been known to provide a delicious snack and accompanying drink for refreshments”.

Try-on sessions with Yahav Ron, Thursday, May 25, Friday, May 26, Saturday, May 27 and Sunday, May 28. Free, but spaces are limited, so registration is essential to 6247 9191 or to tim.langford@cso.org.au

ActewAGL Llewellyn concert “Cello”. At Llewellyn Hall, May 17 and 18. Bookings to cso.org.au