Every month Ragtrader pairs RMIT fashion students with established designers for a professional advice session. In this edition, RMIT graduate Georgia Havekotte asks sydney designer Camilla Franks about the real world.
What experience do you believe is necessary for a graduate to have at the start of their career?
This sounds really bad, but I don’t think it’s all about experience. For me, I just jumped straight in there, so I think it’s more about having that really strong work ethic. I love that Nike saying ‘Just do it’, because it’s like that - you’ve got to be a workaholic. But I think it’s really important to have mentors that guide you. That’s what I did when I was starting out - I surrounded myself with people that had done it before, but it’s also important to have such qualities as being outgoing, creative, passionate, motivated, entrepreneurial and not afraid to challenge comfort zones, be good at networking and take a few risks. Starting a label is always hard, so that in itself is taking a risk. Also, I think internships are fantastic. A lot of people go into design or starting a label with a lot of naivety, thinking that it’s all about design, but at the end of the day, it’s a business. So it’s important to be business savvy.
How long did you work before you started your own label?
I actually didn’t work before starting my label. However, I think that’s quite rare, and I started my career very differently to most people. I started as a producer, I used to produce music video clips and commercials and travel around the world doing that, then I threw myself into full-time acting training and it was through that that I used to design my own costumes and this gave me a passion for designing. When I realised that there wasn’t enough money in acting or enough work, I threw myself into designing, and that’s how my label began. So it wasn’t planned and it was very organic. I’m not saying necessarily that’s the right or the wrong thing, but that was my path. In saying that, I do think that both my acting training and my experience in producing gave me the tools that helped me in starting my own label. Acting gave me the confidence to be able to get up there and sell a collection and promote the label, while my history with producing helped me with working to set timelines and being more disciplined. So together these things made it easier for me to be able to launch the label. But if I look back now, I wish I had done a few internships because I think it would have made my life a bit easier. I would love to have gone and sat in each different department within a fashion label, to work out how it all works together, how they wok as a team, how to read the different reports and analysises, etc. So in a way I wish I could have done that, but somehow I fumbled my way through it and it turned out okay.
What do you think the most important thing is to be successful in the Australian market? Is it design or business ‘know how’?
Look, I think talent is always key, but I also believe it is very important to be business savvy. At the end of the day, as much as fashion is creative, it’s also a business. It would be great if it was 90 per cent designing and 10 per cent running a business, but unfortunately, it’s just not. Obviously, you’ve got to have a great product, you’ve got to have talent, but 90 per cent of the time you’re running a business. Also, if you spend your whole time designing, the areas that really suffer are all the other departments, such as finance, production - the inner logistics.
Do you see the Australian market changing in the future? And if so, how?
Yes. I think retail has been pushed recently because of the economy and because of online business being readily available. But I think sometimes that’s a positive thing – for example, people creating that real experience within a retail environment has come to the forefront now, so we are now making a critical business plan for us to make sure we create a beautiful experience when our consumers walk through our retail doors, rather than it just being a shop. So I think that’s one change you can really see in the Australian market – designers taking a lot more care with their retail stores, being the face and creating that fantastic DNA that the label is about and making sure that their consumers have an incredible experience. At the same time, I think consumers are becoming more savvy about quality and pricing and product uniqueness, so it’s important for us as designers to always keep these aspects in mind when designing new collections.
What is the best advice you can give to graduates starting in the industry now?
Just do it - like the Nike slogan. Just get in there and do it. Whether that means throwing yourself into as many internships as possible, networking, etc, just try and learn and get stuck in there. Also, I think it’s important not to go in there all starry-eyed, thinking it’s all about being creative and designing – you have to be realistic and realise it’s about running a business and you’re going to have to work hard. If you think it’s easy, you’re going to have a hard reality check, because it is seven days a week, 24/7, days start early, midnight finishes. Because of that also, it is so important if you’re going to start a label to look after yourself and nurture yourself, which is something I always keep in mind.
Georgia Havekotte is a Melbourne-based fashion designer that has studied in both Fashion and Textile design at RMIT. She is currently gaining experience from such companies as Body by Dainy Sawatzy and Maggie T. Georgia has recently been awarded the Textile Institute Student Design Award, which will take her to the American Paris Fashion Academy in July 2012 to learn about couture techniques.
Plaything Womenswear Collection S/S 2011.
Stalker Menswear Collection A/W 2010 and 2011 collections.