Beare Park designer Gabriella Pereira on dressing the Matildas and fashion week

Ahead of Australian fashion week, Beare Park designer Gabriella Pereira talks manufacturing in Australia, dressing the Matildas and what Australian style means now.

Beare Park designer Gabriella Pereira with one of her designs ahead of Australian Fashion Week. Picture: John Feder

Gabriella Pereira, co-founder and creative director of Australian fashion label Beare Park, has just returned from a week spent learning from personal shoppers at some of New York’s top department stores.

Personal shopping, she has been told, accounts for some 80 per cent of the revenue at said stores. Also, she thinks it’s the future. Especially for her brand, which launched in 2021 and will show at Australian Fashion Week next week.

“I think wholesale and multibrand big stockists have to be so dynamic in this environment and I think that the really personable connection that your Bergdorf or Harrods have with their customer is more relevant than ever,” she says.

“It’s really great for us to model our VIP experience off too. Where do you draw the line in terms of a friend and a customer? How do you provide that really premium service that’s not really traditional … I worked in luxury retail when I was a student. I understand how much you know about people … When we do our buys for our store, I have individuals in mind. Always we’re like, ‘oh, we’ll add a 10 to that because we know so-and-so will buy it’.”

Otherwise as Pereira notes, in a saturated market, why would a customer give you their hard-earned, especially at a premium price point?

“I think that there is definitely a customer, and I think I was one of them before I started the brand, which is a big reason as to why I started the brand because I was looking for something that doesn’t exist. And I think that is beautifully made, Australian-made core pieces that are wardrobe staples. They’re timeless, they’re not super loud on branding and they’re reliably good quality and reliably beautiful fabrics. And I think considering all of those things put together in the product, it’s actually a very good price point because it’s hard to find that.”

Lydia Williams, Charlotte (Charli) grant and Sam Kerr of the Matildas wearing Beare Park suiting.

Pereira’s career path is somewhat less typical. She worked at a fin-tech company that created a platform to help “mum and dad” investors have access to what she describes as institutional style investments before moving into fashion.

She’s adamant her background translates well to the cutthroat fashion industry.

“Fashion is by far the most intellectually challenging job I’ve ever had … it really is so diverse in the tasks that you’re involved in. You have to merchandise plan and if you take the creative side out of it, you’re running a business. So I think there are so many skills that might not seem obviously transferable, but really it’s so similar to what I was doing before. There’s so much face time. Relationships are so important. Communication is so important, particularly with Australian manufacturing … with Australian manufacturing, all of our makers are in Sydney, so my relationships with them and communicating effectively with them, it’s just like having clients or suppliers in any industry really.”

In addition to manufacturing in Australia, an important value to the brand, Pereira celebrates Australia in other ways including a recent partnership with Australian luxury pearl brand Paspaley. Models on her runway next week will wear Paspaley pearls. The brand has also collaborated with the Australian artist Emily Galicek on a new logo and T-shirt print.

Paspaley creative director Christine Salter, a member of the Paspaley dynasty, says there is a great synergy between the jeweller and Beare Park.

 “Paspaley and Beare Park share a very similar ethos – we both create designs that aren’t dictated by trends, but classic pieces that will last season after season. Pearls are a style icon, rather than a passing trend, and what better way to showcase this than with timeless garments, crafted and designed to be a continuing treasure,” she says.

A highlight of Pereira’s career so far has been dressing the Australian women’s soccer team, The Matildas, as their official formal wear partner (right). The team wears custom versions of her signature suiting for official events.

“I think we were just pinching ourselves the whole time because I’ve always been a huge fan of the Matildas, but I don’t think anyone, even the team, could have anticipated just how big [last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup] was. It’s incredible. That changed our country’s history …” reflects Pereira.

Model Victoria Lee wears Paspaley pearls and Beare Park suiting. Picture: Darren McDonald

“I’ve got so many highlights from that time, but one of them was this little boy who was sitting in front of me at a game and he turned to his dad, and said, ‘is there a boy version of the Matildas?’”

Meanwhile, Australian style, she says- adding that she hopes to open her first bricks and mortar store in Australia in the next 12 months – is continuing to evolve. Especially on a global stage.

“I think because Australia, we’re so isolated, but it is kind of seen as this utopia,” she says.

“There are so many incredible Australian brands. I mean, when you walk through Harrods, for example, or Bergdorf, I had a tour of the shop floor of both of them last week, and there are so many incredible Australian brands everywhere. You can’t escape them. I think … we’re expanding from the beachy bright kind of summary aesthetic … I think there is this coolness that is just really undeniably Australian. Your oversized silhouettes, beautiful tailoring, but then everything can be worn back with a flat, beautiful sandal. There is this kind of chicness that is quite associated with being Australian.”

Australian Fashion Week, presented by Pandora, runs May 13 -17.