How Ginger & Smart duo Genevieve and Alexandra Smart are breaking all the rules
Genevieve and Alexandra Smart tell Kelly Baker why their fashion philosophy turns the tables on tradition.
Mosman
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When it comes to women and fashion there are countless rules. Blue and green should never be seen. White should not be worn in winter. If you’re over 40 you may no longer wear anything above the knee. End of story.
Lace is for after-dark, leather is for the exceptionally thin. Suits are not to be paired with sneakers - oh and redheads can not wear bright colours. Ever.
These so-called rules rankle fashion designer Genevieve Smart, especially that last one, which is personal. Obviously.
Genevieve, who makes up half of the design house Ginger & Smart is adamant. As far as she’s concerned women, all women, ought to wear whatever they want - whenever they want.
“As long as they’re choosing clothes they love, clothes that make them feel good, clothes they enjoy, well, that’s all that matters,” she declares, flicking her elegant wrist and in one snappy gesture effectively dismissing all of those pesky style restrictions.
It’s a brief, but definitive movement and one that says so much about this woman and who she is. Genevieve is creative. No surprise there. She’s a fashion designer after all. She’s also passionate, sophisticated, well-spoken and beautifully-mannered. All of this is immediately obvious to anyone who crosses her path.
But what takes a little longer to discover is that underneath those perfectly articulated vowels and incredibly put-together outfits, there’s a distinct hint of rebelliousness. As per above, it’s not that she doesn’t know the rules - she’s just not willing to follow them. And, she’s the last person to suggest anyone else should either.
“Women don’t need to be given directions when it comes to what they wear,” she says frankly.
“Actually, women don’t need rules … at all.”
That mix of design genius and refusal to do what she’s told, or what’s ‘expected’ of her, (as both a woman and a creative), is a magical blend that makes Genevieve intoxicating to be around and more importantly, on a professional level anyway, a deeply talented fashion pro - her sister Alexandra too.
Of course Genevieve and Alexandra aren’t just sisters - they’re also business partners and their homegrown fashion label has been dressing women in fashion-forward, elegantly flattering pieces since 2002, with Genevieve holding the role of Creative Director and Alexandra that of Managing Director.
The brand burst onto the scene after Neutral Bay local Alexandra, then a respected magazine editor, and Genevieve, Avalon resident and a long-time designer for a raft of high-end fashion labels, decided to toss in their steady (and at that time secure) jobs and instead join forces.
“We were both working and putting all of our passion and time into working for other people,” explains Genevieve.
“I had been designing for different brands for years.
“And Alexandra was editing and doing very well but we kept talking about what we could do together. We were always thinking ‘why not pool our skills and passions and work for ourselves’?
“We had not yet had children but we knew as women we wanted to have families and work too.
“We felt that being self-employed would make managing that easier and so we thought we’d create a business together.”
And this is exactly what they did. Within months of musing, Ginger & Smart launched. The line was met with immediate applause and the fashion house has been going strong ever since.
Each seasonal collection has been warmly embraced by women who, like the Smart sisters, want to look stylish and fashionable yet dress in pieces that fit and flatter, rather than slavishly adhere to current trends, whatever they may be.
The brand’s latest collection, dubbed Sanguine, hits stores this month. The concept behind it is, just like the very definition of the word, now is the time to be optimistic, to remain positive despite our gloomy Covid predicament. The range itself is all classic lines and art-like draping and not one bit ‘on trend’: meaning you will not find any neon or ‘underboob’ cut-outs here.
The label has many high profile fans including comedian Celeste Barber, model Tanja Gacic, fashion influencer Tash Sefton and countless eastern suburbs women about town. Ginger & Smart is also a firm favourite of Jenny Morrison, wife of Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Fashion experts also adore both the women and their creations.
“Their understanding of colour and print is, for me, what sets them apart from the rest of the fashion pack,” says fashion commentator and fashion editor at The Australian Glynis Traill-Nash.
“Even when they are in line with seasonal trends, they always manage to choose shades that are a little ‘outside’.
“And their colour mixing is extraordinary, often combining really unusual or incongruous shades that in anyone else’s hands would be jarring, but in theirs sing in perfect harmony.
“That, and their ability to create almost universally flattering cuts that always tend towards elegance, have seen them become a go-to for so many women.
And no-one does a bold floral print like these guys.”
The fact their clothing is favoured by women who appreciate timeless style, as opposed to the social media crowd, does not surprise the sisters particularly.
“We’ve never aspired to trends,” explains Genevieve.
“We’ve always been about personal style … about discovering what you love and making it work for you.”
This philosophy is something Alexandra and Genevieve embraced very early on, largely due to their mother, the undeniably stylish Ingrid DeBurgh.
DeBurgh was a book editor and she schooled Alexandra and Genevieve from babyhood.
“She was very creative and also collected vintage clothes,” explains Genevieve.
“She had an incredible collection of silk blouses and a real thing for beautiful fabrics … cottons, wools, silks … she would show them to us, tell us how incredible they could look and feel. She was all about quality.
“She taught us quality is what counts and we learned that from very early on. She would never have followed a so-called trend, nor encouraged us to do so.”
Both women have absorbed and embraced their mother’s philosophy and accordingly, apply it to their creations each and every season. They believe in carefully crafted items that one can keep forever and are adamantly anti ‘fast-fashion’.
In that way they’re breaking yet another rule, but it comes as no surprise really. Alexandra is firm when she tells me; “We break every rule whether we are meaning to or not.”
As she speaks she leans over to adjust a book on the crowded shelves that line the walls of the brand’s head office in the city’s east.
Despite being a working office, the Ginger & Smart atelier is every bit as stylish as the brand’s boutiques, currently housed in the fashion hubs of The Strand Arcade in the city, and Glenmore Road, Paddington.
The brand is also stocked at David Jones in the city and Bondi Junction.
The books Alexandra is adjusting belonged to her parents and she and Genevieve love having them close by. It works to remind them of their deeply creative and inspirational upbringing, plus their mother and father who they both adored.
Their father, Richard Smart, was a book publisher and the women, then just little girls, often trailed along to work where the were encouraged to thumb through pages of manuscripts and even provide real-time feedback and criticism. They both recall declaring Blinky Bill a definitive winner for example.
“We were encouraged to give our opinions,” says Alexandra.
“And we were always surrounded by interesting people - artists and writers,” Genevieve chimes in. Recently, when looking for inspiration, they finagled a dusty book about cricket from the shelves only to open it and discover a hand-written note to their dad. It was from cricket great Don Bradman.
They’re not sports fans in particular, but the women loved everything about this discovery from the long looping cursive font to the heartfelt message of thanks to their father. This is partially because they are, in some ways anyway, less purveyors of fashion and more creators of art, and accordingly, are in the habit of finding inspiration anywhere and everywhere, from the mundane to the extraordinary.
Who knows? Perhaps there will be an old-school cricket-inspired collection some time down the track? Whatever comes next, you can be assured it will be made of glorious fabrics in stunning colours and that there will be something that bewitches any woman who wants to wear fashion that makes her look and feel delicious.
“Fashion should make you feel wonderful,” says Genevieve.
“It should be fun, playful and expressive. But it should never be dictated to you. Instead, wear pieces that bring you joy.”
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