The height of fashion but competition isn’t in Bianca Spender’s nature
SO SPOOKED was Bianca Spender by her mother’s superstar fashion presence, she admits her label was almost never born. But turning 40, she said it was a time for her to shape and own her destiny, and owning the next chapter meant saying au revoir to the Carla Zampatti shadow.
Wentworth Courier
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THE breezy Darling Point apartment framed with a frangipani tree where Bianca Spender has her studio is two doors up from where sister Allegra lives with her three children, and on the same road as the home of their brother, Alexander, an economist and father of four who works in Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s office.
The family vibe has been integral to Spender’s happiness, and to helping her achieve balance over the past year.
I was very conscious to not go into fashion. I was scared of being in mum’s world.
As the talented designer and daughter of Australian fashion pioneer Carla Zampatti prepares to celebrate her first anniversary of independence after more than a decade under the umbrella of her mother’s company, her eponymous label has risen to the top of David Jones’ family stable, garnering acclaim for its signature drapery and commitment to sustainability.
FASHION WEEK 2014
Which makes it hard to believe Spender shies away from any rivalry or familial comparisons.
But competition isn’t in Bianca Spender’s nature.
So spooked was Spender by her mother’s superstar presence in the fashion arena, she admits her label was almost never born.
“I was very conscious to not go into fashion. I was scared of being in mum’s world,” the former Ascham schoolgirl revealed to the Wentworth Courier ahead of the highly anticipated David Jones Spring Summer Collections launch at Fox Studios this week.
“It’s why I did have reservations. Being non-competitive and knowing that was a space mum was such a master of and never wanting to get compared to that — I was reluctant to enter her fashion space at first,” she said.
The daughter of John Spender, the former Australian politician, diplomat and barrister, Spender toyed with studying psychology but opted for a bachelor of commerce at the University of NSW.
She found she couldn’t avoid her genetics, though.
Fashion and business are in her blood.
So Spender decided on a two-year diploma at East Sydney Tech at the Fashion Design school and opted for her third year overseas, first in Italy and then Paris where she worked in an atelier with Martine Sitbon.
She returned to design for Zampatti 14 years ago.
“It was a fantastic period for both of us. We both gained a lot working together,” she says of the business that started in a very small organic way with designing a part of Zampatti’s collection. It grew and Spender’s namesake label was born.
“Next year will be 10 years as Bianca Spender. The next part of the story is owning my own space.”
Owning the next chapter meant Spender, now the mother of two boys, Dominic, 9, and Florian, 6, had to stand on her own two feet. She started her own company on July 1 last year.
“I was turning 40 and it was very much a time for me where I felt I need to shape and own my destiny and where I was going,” she said.
“So we came to it amazingly mutually — a completely consensual agreement.
“We are both fiercely independent women — that we both want to own our world and both wanted each other to own their own world was the perfect representation of that and we were both very respectful and thankful for the time and effort and the things we both learned together.
“It wasn’t a divorce in any way, more like leaving the nest — and extending that journey and taking that leap.”
The move was prompted by her sister Allegra, now chief executive of the Australian Business and Community Network, leaving. She had been the managing director for the company and managed both their brands.
“Mum wasn’t holding me back but you always have different ideas and it would give me the freedom to try things and make mistakes and know I was paying for the mistakes I made and try things that we didn’t know would be a success and own my own success as well. It’s my money and my bills.”
Very much her own woman, Spender says it was challenging to work within a family business.
“Which is why I had worked outside of the business and wanted to prove to myself that if I could get a job in Paris — I wasn’t just getting hired because I was the boss’s daughter — that I had something to bring to the table — that was really important to me.
“I’m definitely the slow and steady wins the race, I’m the turtle not the hare!”
The new arrangement has worked out perfectly.
“I have enjoyed being a mum and daughter again — rather than a boss and a mum and a daughter and an employee — we now have the space to have that beautiful singular relationship and she’s very supportive of my independence.”
Part of the emancipation was moving her design studio out of the Kent Street office to Darling Point to complete the separation.
“It was like moving out of home — to make your own space and your own place.
“In fashion you have to have a lot of commitment or it can take over your whole life and its been such a joy to do things I need to do and also be able to have my family in a place they want — they’re very happy to come in after school or on the weekend and hang out because it does feel like a home. They can go on their trampoline or go across to Rushcutters Bay park and play soccer.”
When not working Spender can be found with her partner Sam McGuinness, head of sustainability at Waverley Council, and her two boys planting trees or swimming at Bronte.
“Last weekend the children planted a tree in Bronte Gully and I went for swim — it was 16 degrees and really cold but so beautiful! We could see crabs walking on the rocks.
“I’ve either got a wetsuit or a rashie on or a floor-to-ceiling dress with a massive wide brimmed hat. Everyone laughs. Even in winter I still have a hat on down at the beach.”
Although she had lived her life in the family compound in Woollahra, when Spender returned from Paris she was determined to live by the water.
Feminine & masculine mixed at Bianca Spender's @FashionWeekAus where flowing fabrics flowed alongside modernized suits. #MBFWA #FashionWeek pic.twitter.com/Iqg39RRunp
— Fashion Week (@FashionWeek) May 15, 2017
“Not because I’m a great swimmer or have ever had a tan in my life — the incredible beauty of the surf and she sea has always enraptured me and after living land locked in Europe for four years I was completely committed to living by the sea.”
When Spender had her children, she and McGuinness took equal maternity and paternity leave. “I think men don’t have any queries they can do what they love and be a good dad — women have to back themselves more that they can do it.”
SPENDER ON PARADE FASHION WEEK 2014
With such sentiments in mind, has named her latest collection, Unbiased, reflecting her view on what “femininity” in fashion should look like.
“I was really moved by the ‘me too’ movement — and the way I had grown up with a very strong mother and female role model and business woman and I always thought women could do everything — and I realised how that’s not a representation of (what) most people’s day-to-day experience of the world is and we really have to support each other … So I started looking at women that I admire.”
She is inspired by Austrian fashion designer Emilie Floge who was part of the Wiener Werkstatte at the turn of the 20th century — an Austrian movement to modernity which Gustav Klimt belonged to.
While the timing isn’t right with a young family just yet, she would love to make the leap to international distribution.
“I think it’s all about timing.”
One business she aspires to is David Jones stablemate Zimmerman and she’s thrilled her collection is being released in Lane Crawford this season in Hong Kong, with Asia a place she thinks Australian designers can “really shine”.
Strong, determined and talented, there’s little doubt this tortoise will ultimately get to any finish line she chooses.