Before Rebecca Vallance was a designer, when she was growing up in Ballarat, she worked in retail. Just 13 years old, the young Vallance lied about her age to get a job at Cotton On, then a small business run by Nigel and Tania Austin.

“Work was all I ever wanted to do,” she says from the bridal dressing suite in her brand’s new Sydney flagship in the Strand Arcade. It’s a sumptuous and sunlit corner of the boutique where women will drink champagne as they find their wedding dress.