Aussie designer Rebecca Vallance takes on the fashion world

Rebecca Vallance’s eponymous label has secured stockists around the globe, with big focus on US, UK and Europe. Also, don’t miss the latest on Australian Fashion Week.

Rebecca Vallance has achieved global domination.

The Australian designer’s eponymous label, which she launched in London 11 years ago, has secured stockists in multiple locations across the globe, with big focuses on US, UK and Europe.

And as of this year, the mother-of-two has achieved a first and is represented on three levels of the prestigious Neiman Marcus stores with her bridal, ready-to-wear and swim collections. While some designers shut up shop during the Covid pandemic, Vallance has bucked the trend.

“We have been in the US now for 11 years and we are busier than we have ever been, especially globally,” she said.

Designer Rebecca Vallance. Picture: Supplied

Vallance becoming a main player internationally in its market area was a feat she made it clear she hoped to achieve from the outset.

“I always wanted it to be a global brand,” she said.

“The business has doubled in size in the past year, international has gone to a whole other level and online is up 100 per cent.”

Just this week she also opened the doors to her Flagship Chadstone store. While Vallance is not a formally trained designer, she has a business degree which many say is the secret to her success.

Australian fashion icon fights back from brink of disaster

With a new chief executive, a trusty head of design with a proven track record, a recent focus on apparel and a new Sydney store, Oroton is hoping 2022 will be its year.

The 84-year-old brand, which was placed in receivership in 2017 and purchased by former board member Will Vicars, has been reinvigorated and the industry is taking notice.

With plans to open a new bricks and mortar store beside Zimmermann at premium shopping precinct The Intersection in Paddington and a fashion week show slated for Tuesday, Oroton chief Jennifer Child says this year will be a game-changer for the label.

“I am so excited about this,” Child said. “There has been buzz going on. And what we are showing at Fashion Week is really exciting. The colour, the freshness … it’s optimistic
and bright.”

Oroton creative director Sophie Holt. Image supplied.

And while Oroton seems to have overcome the hurdles of 2017, Child said they still had much to achieve.

“Retail is a hard game,” she said. “It is a trading business, you always have to be on your toes and watching trends and reacting to them.”

Which is why the company has thrown the majority of their energy behind their apparel range, which didn’t exist until 2019. Sophie Holt, former creative director of Country Road, was enlisted to create the apparel offering.

And in just four short years she’s done just that, with Oroton fast becoming a favourite of A-listers.

“I was asked to reinvent and re-energise the brand from the inside out,” Holt said. “While it was a tremendous honour, it was also a huge challenge and one I am constantly motivated by.”

I KNOW MUM WILL BE THERE WITH US

Afterpay Australian Fashion Week kicks off on Monday with leading designer Bianca Spender kicking off the schedule.

It will be the first show for Spender since the untimely death of her mother, late designer Carla Zampatti who passed in April last year.

Spender, known by those in the industry as the “Queen of drape”, kicked off her fashion journey while working with her mother in 2004, before founding her own label in 2009.

While the mother and daughter were both fiercely independent, those close to the pair say they were each other’s biggest supporters and Spender would notice her mother’s absence this week.

Spender yesterday told Saturday Confidential she would be presenting her collection on-site at Carriageworks on the Carla Zampatti Runway, named in tribute after her late-mother.

Bianca Spender with her mother Carla Zampatti who died in 2021.

“I had been thinking a lot about the concept of optimism through the pain when I was designing the range and I think this is applicable to so many people off the back of the turbulence of the past two years,” she said.

“In the lead-up to the show it’s been really special to be able to feel her presence, rather than the absence. I know she will be there with us all.”

As for who’s set to attend this week, it’s yet to be seen whether AAFW 2022 will be a more industry focused-event this year, or whether reality TV stars and influencers will take front-row seats.

While the usual ‘fash pack’ including Phoebe Burgess, Nadia Fairfax, Montarna Pitt, Kate Waterhouse, Elle Ferguson, Ellie Golsalves, Francesca Hung, Anna Heinrich, Simone Holtznagel, Nikki Phillips and Ksenija Lukich are expected to attend, Confidential can reveal Imogen Anthony along with MAFS contestants Carolina Santos, Olivia Frazer and Domenica Calarco will also be in the crowd. Let’s hope they’re on their best behaviour.

For the first time, organisers IMG and AAFW have announced ‘The Experience’ – a series of runways, events and activations that are open to the public.

BIGENI DOES IT HIS WAY

He’s the humble Aussie designer doing things his own way. Gary Bigeni doesn’t do lookbooks, won’t shoot campaigns, releases collections on his terms and focuses on plus-size and gender-neutral designs.

“All those things are very stressful things on a small brand, so I eliminate all of that and play my own game,” Bigeni said. “I will release collections every couple of months when I feel inspired.”

Having been around for a very respectable 19 years, Bigeni has seen more than a few local labels go into administration.

More often than not, they have attempted to expand too quickly and Bigeni has learnt from their mistakes.

Australian designer Gary Bigeni.

While the beloved designer admits he isn’t a “mega brand”, he does turn over an attractive profit and plans on being in the game for the long haul.

“I know I am not a huge brand, but I feel like I am running a successful brand,” said Bigeni, who will show his threads at Afterpay Australian Fashion Week on Monday.

“I feel like this is because I have been realistic about my choices and options.

“I am a small, independent brand and have been since day one and nothing has changed.”

Bigeni, who has experienced his fair share of battles having been diagnosed with stage four non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2017, has a healthy perspective on the industry and has never let ego get in way.

“My illness has made me realise what is important in life,” he said. “At the end of the day, we are making clothes. Let’s just have fun.

“When I was in hospital I continued designing and being creative and around fabrics and colour. It is in my blood and I had to keep doing that while I was getting treatment.

“I didn’t want to feel sorry for myself, so I put my mind into my designing.”

Bigeni, who has taken five years away from fashion week, hopes his upcoming show will give his brand a boost.

“I want it to be celebration of me coming back and celebrating my new direction and celebrating all these things I am passionate about,” he said. “I am hoping after showing at fashion week I can gain a bit more exposure.”