BRISBANE: Many young designers are failing to establish sustainable businesses after getting too much attention too early in their careers, Vogue editor-in-chief Kirstie Clements has warned.
Speaking at the V Australian Fashion Forum, staged as part of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival (MBFF) in Brisbane this morning (August 25), Clements said the biggest key to developing successful brands for trend driven markets was employing a strong vision and sticking with it.
"At the end of the day you have to remember who is the end user. You have to stay true to the product."
Clements said many young Australian designers fall over at the first hurdle because they get too much press, too quickly.
"You can get too much thrown at you and that means you stay at a particular level. It's too much too soon and they don't learn. They have to go back to who they are designing for, 'who is she and what does she want?'"
Clements said she believed it was good for young designers embarking on their careers to head overseas for further training and expose themselves to other methodologies.
She cited high-end womenswear brands Sass & Bide and Carla Zampatti as being among those who had successfully adopted solid business foundations while still boasting originality in their offering.
"Sass and Bide have a vision. They know who their customer is and they dress like them. And even though you see change come through the collections, you know what their signature is."
Clements said designers also needed to ensure their product quality was also up to scratch with those who didn't subjected to "criticism by omission".
"Some Australian designers fall into the trap of thinking that because they're an Australian designer they should be in Australian Vogue. The first thing we do is turn the garment inside out [to see how it's constructed]."
Fellow panellist, model and Project Runway Australia host Kristy Hinze said young designers needed to remember that as well as being creative, they also needed to be commercial.
"It's important to know that if you're going to make money you're going to need to the able to do a diffusion line and put it into the market."
The breakfast forum kicked off day three of MBFF with the highlights of today's schedule being a group show featuring DogStar, Daniel Alexander, Mother Maria, Zaicek, Maiocchi, Pistols at Dawn and La La Luxe.
A second group show taking place later tonight features Nicola Finetti, Kirrily Johnston, Pink Mint and Lisa Ho.