Esteemed fashion journalist Colin McDowell today hosted the first Australian Fashion Chamber (AFC) training seminar in partnership with The Woolmark Company and the University of Technology Sydney.
The theme of the seminar was 'The Importance of a Strong Design Signature' and the panel of Australian designers included: Camilla Freeman-Topper (of Camilla+Marc), Emma Mulholland, and Josh Goot, in addition to AFC director Alison Veness-McGourty.
Here's a snapshot of what went down:
On the future for Australian fashion designers:
“The West is running out of steam. This means that designers in Australia and other places, like Brazil, now have a great opportunity to shine.”
- Colin McDowell.
“I predict the new drive in fashion will be menswear. There's an overkill situation happening in womenswear.”
- Colin McDowell.
“It's a multi-billion dollar industry with little support from the government at the moment, but that's something we [the AFC] are hoping to change. Edwina McCann [AFC chairman and editor of Vogue Australia] recently flew down to Canberra to have a meeting with Julia Bishop on that matter.”
- Alison Veness-McGourty.
“There are discussions going on between the AFC and key designers, to try and move it [Fashion Week] to later in the year, to try and persuade more international buyers to come.”
- Alison Veness-McGourty.
Behind-the-scenes of their labels:
“Believing your own hype is a problem a lot of designers face. Personally, I think we were victim to that in our early days.”
- Josh Goot.
“When Marc and I first started, we spent 95 per cent of our time in the car, going around and visiting pattern makers, cutters, etc. The car was basically our office.”
- Camilla Freeman-Topper.
“I don't spend much time designing any more unfortunately. We actually employed someone, a graduate of UTS, to assist with the design process - because the workload was becoming too much.”
- Josh Goot.
On the financial challenges:
“It's difficult to find people to go out on a limb for you. I got the money to start my label from different family members, and haven't had to take out a huge loan at the bank just yet, but I'm now looking at that.”
- Emma Mullholland
“Banks don't take risks anymore. I've had a horrible time with the banks - I don't like talking to them at all.”
- Josh Goot.