Round one to Sydney

And so first blood has been drawn.
Ever since global marketing supremo IMG Fashion announced plans to take over the running of the biannual frock fest Australian Fashion Week (AFW) last October I have been anxiously waiting to see how it long it would take to flex its muscles.
Finally I can welcome an uninterrupted sleep.
As you would undoubtedly have heard Simon Lock, the head honcho of IMG in this neck of the woods, has made the none-too-popular decision to bring the Melbourne edition of the event he founded - and traditionally staged in October - forward by six weeks to early September.
On the face of it this shouldn't be a problem. IMG's event: IMG's choice.
But where it gets sticky is the fact the city's fashion calendar is already full to chocka at that time of the year, with industry trade fair Fashion Exposed and the Melbourne City Council-run Motorola Melbourne Spring Fashion Week (MMSFW) already dominating proceedings.
Unsurprisingly, the move has not exactly been met with open arms by the council, some of whose members have broken rank to speak out publicly against the decision.
Designers too, both established and emerging, are nervously shuffling in their chiffon, claiming the change in date leaves them little time to get together key autumn/winter collections to showcase at the event. To date Fashion Exposed organisers have remained quiet.
For his part, Lock claims the decision is a sound - read strategic - one. While the short notice was "regrettable but unavoidable", Lock says AFW's old slot was too late in the year and staged at a time when buyers had already emptied their wallets elsewhere.
Denying accusations of a hidden agenda, Lock reckons staging the three events in unison is a good thing, potentially generating an enormous amount of media buzz around the city's fashion scene.
But just supposing, for one tantalising moment, the rumour about IMG wanting to purchase MMSFW is true.
IMG could certainly do worse than hitch its caboose to the event's publicly-backed bandwagon.
Up against its hugely popular Sydney edition, Melbourne AFW has been lagging seriously behind - barely drawing a glance from international media and struggling to get a good hearing from their domestic counterparts.
While it is understood the economic impact of retail spend from last year's MMSFW totalled around $4.9 million, the perceived notion of AFW - run by a private company - is that all its revenue goes into the pockets of its organisers.
And by welcoming members of the public to the event MMSFW has the public credibility which AFW - a trade-only event - has struggled to find.
Aside from all that it is also a good fit.
Motorola is the principal sponsor of MMSFW and has been touted as a potential contender to take over the spot vacated by Mercedes last month as naming rights sponsor for AFW - thereby allowing IMG to retain its popular MAFW acronym.
Not a bad investment for IMG to make then.
But while from where we're standing it appears Lock makes all the decision - this is definitely not a case of the tail wagging the dog leaving the question begging: what will IMG out of the bag next?

Pull quote: "This is hardly a case of the tail wagging the dog."