Australian Fashion Week: eastern suburbs most iconic designers
As Australian Fashion Week draws to a close we look to the epicentre of this country’s talent to bring you the 8 designer icons of Sydney’s east.
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When you live in the eastern suburbs of Sydney it’s pretty much fashion week every week.
Afterpay Australian Fashion Week is in full swing and we’ve taken the opportunity to reflect on just how many of our country’s most celebrated designers come from the eastern suburbs.
Here are eight of our favourites – and you won’t believe how many of them started out at the Paddington Markets.
Camilla and Marc
Bellevue Hill siblings Camilla Freeman-Topper and Marc Freeman have achieved worldwide recognition for their sophisticated label.
Fans include the likes of Kirsten Dunst, Kristen Stewart, Rose Byrne and Kate Bosworth.
But their international following truly soared when Meghan Markle donned one of their $699 Marguerite blazers shortly before her wedding to Prince Harry.
The duo launched their first collection at Fashion Week in 2003.
Since then they’ve added a swimwear range, the more affordably priced C & M line and launched flagship stores in Paddington and Bondi Junction as well as further afield.
More recently the duo has concentrated on their new charity initiative Ovaries. Talk About Them.
When Camilla was just 11 and Marc 13 they lost their mum Pam to ovarian cancer.
They’re selling a range of hoodies with a bold plan to raise enough money to get early detection tests to clinical trials.
Carla Zampatti
The late, great Woollahra designer had a runway named in her honour earlier this week in a nod to the incredible contribution she’s made to Aussie fashion.
The Italian born designer immigrated to Sydney in 1950 and by 1965 she’d launched her first collection.
Her first boutique opened in 1972 in Surry Hills and she soon expanded to swimwear, perfume and sunglasses ranges.
She was designing her timeless pieces right up until her death at age 78 after which she was granted a state funeral.
Zampatti pieces have been worn by the likes of Denmark’s Princess Mary, Dame Quentin Bryce, Julia Gillard, Julie Bishop, Delta Goodrem, Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett.
Ms Zampatti’s legacy lives on in her daughter Bianca Spender who is a talented designer in her own right.
P.E Nation
Are you even an eastern suburbs mum or Instagram influencer if you don’t own P.E Nation active wear which has never seen the inside of a gym?
Bondi social darling Pip Edwards and her partner Claire Tregoning created the label which stands out even in the saturated eastern suburbs athleisure market.
After launching in 2016, the “street meets sportswear” label soon expanded into snow gear, accessories, denim and a ‘basics’ range.
Edwards and Tregoning met when they were both working for fellow eastern suburbs fashion powerhouse Sass and Bide.
The label is stocked in more than 250 retailers worldwide.
Edwards boasts 175,000 Instagram followers who she treats to daily posts about fashion and fitness.
Her social life, including recently failed romance to retired cricketer Michael Clarke, is never far from the headlines.
Alex Perry
Our Alex graduated from the East Sydney Fashion Design Studio in 1984 and opened his first workshop in Kensington in 1992.
He relocated to Double Bay two years later and it was while based in this blue ribbon part of the east he established his celebrity clientele in earnest.
His theatrically bedazzled corsets, a glamour gowns are firm favourites with the Kardashian sisters, Rihanna and A listers such as Gigi Hadid, Natalie Portman, Elle Macpherson and Megan Gale.
With his ever present pair of sunglasses, Perry is one of the most recognisable faces in Australian fashion.
He was Australia’s longest reigning judge on the Next Top Model television show.
One of the most recent additions to his investment portfolio was a Darlinghurst apartment purchased in 2017.
Sass and Bide
Sarah-Jane Clarke established the beloved Sass and Bide in 1999 together with Heidi Middleton.
Clarke traded in her Vaucluse mansion in 2015 shortly after she and Middleton left the label they co-founded and relocated to tranquil Watsons Bay.
The label had humble beginnings at the Paddington Markets.
Soon, Sass and Bide jeans were seen as a wardrobe staple for Australian women and after they began exhibiting at New York and London, the label’s graphic prints and leather pieces soon had a global audience.
In recent years, Clarke has returned to the fashion industry with her niche lifestyle brand.
Her latest collection Capsule V is described as a “travel wardrobe” which no doubt has her many fans itching to get out their passports.
Collette Dinnigan
This iconic fashion queen is also an accomplished interior designer.
The keen property investor owns a slew of homes across the east and inner city.
She called a number of beautiful Paddington residences home and also owned the shop in the same suburb where her first boutique was housed and a warehouse in Surry Hills.
The South African born designer is known for her lacy pieces.
She later went on to establish herself in the competitive bridal and evening gown sphere.
Her clothing has been worn by the likes of Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts and Halle Berry.
Lisa Ho
It wasn’t long after launching her label on a humble stall at the Paddo Markets, Lisa Ho became one of the hottest designers of the 1980s and 90s.
She trained at the East Sydney Technical College and has lived across the east including in a $11 million home on Point Piper’s Wolseley Road, in Bellevue trophy home Carrara and at a residence in Randwick.
At the height of her fame she received a tribute at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Her clothing has been worn by Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Olivia Newton-John.
Sadly the Lisa Ho Group closed in 2013 after two of its companies were placed in administration.
Zimmermann
Like Ho, the Zimmermann sisters started their career at the Paddington markets.
Nicky and Simone were also trained at the same East Sydney design school as Perry.
In 1992, just a year after their first market stall, the sisters already had a store and now boasts more than two dozen worldwide.
Simone calls the North Bondi area home.
Zimmermann is also stocked in high end department stores including Harrods and Saks 5th Avenue.
The brand has been worn by Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Margot Robbie and Jessica Biel.
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