Spinning in a new direction

Finally the lame duck that is Rosemount Australian Fashion Week (RAFW) Transeasonal Collections has been put out of its misery. And some would argue not a moment too soon.

For those not in the know, transeasonal is the much less hyped autumn/winter alternative to IMG Asia Pacific's crowning glory, RAFW spring/summer.

Historically staged in Melbourne around September, it managed to see off most of the delegates it was designed to attract - among them domestic and international buyers, most designers and almost all fashion press - before limply being moved to Sydney in a last ditch attempt to locate a pulse. But it was not to be and with last year's event barely raising a glimpse of interest from anyone it appeared the funeral march was nearing its final chorus.

For its part IMG's slant on the death was that the beleaguered transeasonal collections will "no longer take the same format". The organisation says there is still life in transeasonal because - despite the fact there will be no central venue or infrastructure to support the event - designers will still be offered the opportunity to take part in an "official schedule" for a small fee.

I don't know who it was that administered the final, fatal bullet to transeasonal - owner IMG, event founder Simon Lock or principal sponsor Rosemount - and quite frankly I don't give a continental.

What does concern me is what event organisers have come up with to replace it. And what a wonderful replacement it is shaping up to be.

Renamed the Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival (RSFF), the five-day event will follow along a similar vein to Victoria's L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival and Queensland's Mercedes Benz Fashion Festival by promoting the city's fashion, retail and tourism sectors. Armed with the full support as well as a fist full of dollars from the NSW Government, the event will be much more retail driven with many events free to the public.

Highlights, of which there are many, include RAFW review collection shows, a fashion arena which features guest appearances and workshops, and a retail walk that will encourage consumers to move between the runway shows and consumer incentives hosted by retailers. It will be capped off with the presentation of the award set up to recognise outstanding achievement in the local fashion industry, the Australian Fashion Laureate.

A festival of this nature, which attracts buy in from all parts of the industry, is exactly what Sydney needs and congratulations must go to IMG and the NSW government for recognising this.

IMG listened when their exhibitors told them the RAFW trade area, known as the Source, was not working and they sought and continue to seek improvements.

And while it may have taken a lot of prodding, eventually they listened in the case of transeasonal too.
The cynic in me suggests Lock and his team's unfailing belief in AFW's own immortality, together with their reluctance to shed light on what names have already signed up for the event, suggests some would-be participants may not be as enamoured in the project as the IMG publicity machine might have suggested.

But the bigger part of me, the optimist, really, really wants to believe.

By Tracey  McEldowney