Sydney will soon join the ranks of London, New York, Paris and Milan in celebrating its fashion heritage, with a permanent landmark to be unveiled at Sydney shopping precinct The Intersection in Paddington tonight.
The founder of Australia Fashion Week, Simon Lock, will join property developer Theo Onisforou to launch the ‘Australian Walk of Style’ at The Intersection via a launch event on Oxford Street from 6.30pm.
The initiative, created by Onisforou with the support of Paddington Chamber of Commerce and Woollahra Municipal Council, will see five of the country’s most prolific designers immortalised in brass plaques along Oxford Street and dubbed the Australian Walk of Style.
The project which has been years in the making, aims to honour iconic designers who have shaped the Australian fashion industry and earned critical acclaim in their own country and overseas.
Local designers Collette Dinnigan, Akira Isogawa, co-founder of Sass & Bide Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton, the late Mark Keighery, and the late R.M. Williams will be the first creatives to feature on the Australian Walk of Style, with a further two designers to be receive plaques each year in biannual celebrations. A total of 11 plaques are planned over the next five years.
Onisforou said the event was created to inspire and encourage designers and inject new life into the Paddington boutique strip, which has recently been plagued by poor trading conditions and slow customer traffic.
“The inspiration for the Australian Walk of Style is simple; it is recognition that Australian fashion has a past, a present and a future. We should celebrate the past, support the present and encourage the future,” he said.
“It is never the wrong time to launch an initiative like the Australian Walk of Style [and] ultimately I believe Australian fashion really emerged in Paddington starting in the 1960’s, so we are celebrating 50 years of the importance of Australian fashion as an industry in Australia. Paddington also represents true Australian fashion as a consequence of the absence of “fashion type” fashion that one finds in a mall.”
Australian Fashion Week founder and 2010 fashion laureate Simon Lock will also fly in directly from the Middle East, where he currently orchestrates Dubai Fashion Week, to officially open the 'Australian Walk of Style'. Simon has been affiliated with the Walk of Style since its inception and is also responsible for the wording on each of the inaugural plaques.
The Intersection, in Sydney’s suburb of Paddington is home to many of Australia’s best-known designer labels, including Scanlan & Theodore, Sass & Bide, Zimmerman, Alannah Hill, Ksubi, and Kirrily Johnston. The area is owned by property developer and proponent of the Australian Walk of Style Theo Onisforou.