A white knuckle ride

Topping the industry section of the bill at Melbourne's renowned fashion fiesta, the LMFF Business seminar gave attendees a warp speed survey of the global fashion industry's most pressing issues, as Belinda Smart discovered.

Sated by the sensual glitz and glamour of LMFF's parade schedule, the audience at the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival (LMFF) Business Seminar no doubt booked their tickets in anticipation of an analytical, thought-provoking session. They certainly got their money's worth.

The seminar presentations covered numerous themes, but what united them all was the sheer rapidity with which commerce and industry were changing.

Opening with a bang, British dynamo Sir George Cox – the man behind the previous UK Blair Government's Cox Review of Creativity in Business, released in 2005 - unleashed a stream of observations about the speed with which commerce, business and culture were changing.

Cox - an aerospace engineer by training and the current chair of the UK's Design Council – stressed the importance of technology, particularly the internet, in commerce, while also sounding a warning shot about China's place in the world.
China was now "opening design schools at a rate of knots", meaning the country would not remain the world's manufacturer for long, he said. The only way to compete in this new world order was to continually innovate and encourage the best creative talents into business.

Educational institutions needed to adapt to this approach, and the time-worn belief that business and creativity were segmented disciplines should be ditched in favour of a more holistic approach.

Meanwhile Wendy Liebmann, founder of New York consultancy WSL Strategic Retail, continued the theme of rapid change.

"People are always saying 'think outside the box'. Well, I'm here to tell you that 'Guess what? There is no box'".
Plummeting stock markets in the US had given rise to new needs for shoppers in the US and the rest of the world, Liebmann said.

"The overwhelming feeling [for consumers] at the moment is 'I can't control the big things like fuel prices and carbon emissions but I can control the little things'."

Consumers were increasingly looking for value in their products, as well as a sense of personal experience, Liebman said. The emergence of 'Slow Design' in the form of initiatives such as Project Alabama - a collective that recycled used fabrics to make unique patchwork textiles - was one example of this trend.

Personalised experience was now also attainable through technology. "New generation shoppers have grown up 'without a box'. Young women walk into a store, take pictures of the prom dresses being sold, upload the ones they're like to Myspace, get their friends to vote on them, edit their selection, compare prices for the best buy and then order the dress online. Bricks and mortar are no longer relevant to retail."

Recently launched US green retailer Nau operated a 'webfront', in other words a retail store front that acted as a showcase for products that could then be purchased online.

"You go to the webfront, select what you like and then order it from a terminal, and it's then shipped to your home; it's all about carbon footprint reduction."

The rapidity of the fashion cycle had also affected journalist Dana Thomas' area of interest – the corruption of the luxury goods market. Referring to research for her recently released book Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Lustre, Thomas revealed some facts that would freeze the blood of even the most hardened fake-luxury junkies.

"Counterfeit luxury goods have been associated with organisations such as [Columbian terrorist organisation] FARC and [Lebanon-based paramilitary organisation] Hezbollah," she said, while funding for the 2004 al-Qaeda inspired Madrid train bombings had also been linked to the sale of counterfeit goods.

With big name luxury brands under increasing pressure to return shareholder value, the past decade had seen the majority focus on spreading their brand to the widest possible audience; meaning consumers - bombarded with the luxury message – were "under educated about quality but over educated about brands," Thomas concluded.

The LMFF Business Seminar – which also featured a presentation from retail design guru Kenneth Walker and a talk by UK fashion doyenne Zandra Rhodes - gave a business edge to a week of parades, whose highlights included scores of high-end labels at the L'Oréal Paris Runway shows. Among these were Camilla & Marc, Jayson Brunsdon, Marnie Skillings, Anna Thomas, Martin Grant, Yeojin Bae, Arabella Ramsay, Ob?s, Aurelio Costarella, Nevenka, Karen Walker, Zambesi, Bettina Liano, Alpha 60, Material Boy and Shakuhachi.

The week – which also offered a host of forums, exhibitions and cultural events – also comprised LMFF Fashion Collection Shows featuring – among others - Lisa Ho, Just Jeans and Mini Me, as well as mobile Pop Up catwalks showcasing an array of brands, from Bonds and Dotti to Armani Exchange.

By Belinda Smart