Fashion is a capitalist industry, where sales-equals-dollars-equals-success-equals-survival, but tonight the dollars made from the sales of designer gowns didn't return to the designers' pockets - instead, they went to Telethon.

A Perth fundraising institution that garners millions of dollars for ill children at Princess Margaret Hospital, Telethon joined forces with Perth Fashion Festival this year to hold the Red Dress Parade and add more funds to its very worthwhile cause.

The idea was simple, but brilliant - select 14 WA designers, ask them to create 14 fabulous red gowns, convince 14 Perth '-celebrities' (and we use that term rather loosely) to wear them, then auction them off with the proceeds going to Telethon.

Some designers let their imaginations run wild with many of the specially made gowns bearing thousand-dollar price tags if they were to be sold retail. Although there were no guidelines for the gowns, there were definite themes that appeared throughout the parade. Lengthy, silken designs featured prominently, as did voluminous bow detailing and jewelled, cinched-in waists.

Opening the show was PFF Ambassador Annmarie Carpenter in a Ruth Tarvydas frock, which didn't quite have the show-stopping appeal of that dress Rebecca Twigley donned a couple of years ago. Apparently valued at $7,000, it went for a mere $800 in a hesitant bidding contest that kick-started the auction.

Standouts included dresses from Merge designers Lisa Chau (of Zanthus) and Renata Pinto (sheMajesty), who presented the shortest and sweetest frocks of the night. Miss Universe Australia runner-up Leah Fuhrmann (pictured) did superb justice to Chau's tiny and busty offering, while new mum Emma Milner, who had given birth just two weeks prior, was glowing in Pinto's baby-doll dress.

Couturiers Celestial Campbell, of label Celestial Tenielle, and Donna Tobin produced the most luxurious, spectacular, floor-sweeping gowns, with Campbell's selling for $1,050 and Tobin's fetching $2,500. However, both were sold for prices well below their retail worth.

'Home and Away' starlet and 'Dancing with the Stars' victor Ada Nicodemou concluded the auction in a sexy, sassy design from Melanie Greensmith, who has dressed many celebrities (and we don't use that term loosely) in her Wheels & Dollbaby wares. In one of the more rare auctions of the night, Ada's star power encouraged a flurry of bids on the frock, which eventually sold for well over the retail price at $1,000. Her diamond earrings were also up for auction and sold for a bargain $1,500.

And so the creations constructed from metres of fine fabric raised $11,500 for Telethon, with an extra $8,500 to be added to that amount after PFF organisers pledged a minimum of $20,000 would be donated to the worthy cause.

Annmarie Carpenter dressed by Ruth Tarvydas, $800
Louise Momber dressed by Galleria Couture, $850
Patti Chong dressed by Breathless, $250
Deborah Kennedy dressed by Love in Tokyo, $400
Natalie Bonjolo dressed by Nevenka, $400
Pippa Hood dressed by Celestial Tenielle, $1,050
Leah Fuhrmann dressed by Zanthus, $450
Bree Maddox dressed by Joveeba, $600
Emma Milner dressed by sheMajesty, $500
Hannah Fell dressed by Aurelio Costarella, $800
Michelle Guy dressed by Donna Tobin Couture, $2,500
Kodie Blay dressed by Essence of Australia, passed in
Benazir Surtees dressed by Katya, $400
Ada Nicodemou dressed by Wheels & Dollbaby, $1,000

* Photograph by Woody Forte.