Melbourne Fashion Festival draws record 380,000 attendees

Buzz can say it has certainly been a hectic first half of the year for the Australian fashion industry.

Patrick Grant of E Tautz show makes his Brexit feelings known at the London Collections: Men in London on June 11. Photo: Getty Images)

The winter solstice now behind us, Buzz can say it has certainly been a hectic first half of the year for the Australian fashion industry (hence Buzz’s two-week staycation), with our two biggest events, the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, both hitting new heights.

And the results from VAMFF are now in from its external auditors, proving that the consumer festival had its biggest impact ever. Quite aside from a record number of attendees (380,000), which included 15 per cent from interstate and even some from overseas, the results for the retail industry were looking especially good. The average spend by attendees on clothing and grooming — whether in preparing to attend or as a result of attending shows — was $605. Graeme Lewsey, who is heading into his sixth year as festival chief executive, says this in particular is especially encouraging.

Given the festival coincides with designers dropping their new-season winter collections in store, “it’s bringing people into the forefront of buying Australian designers at full price”, Lewsey tells Buzz. “They’re getting excited around the drop of new collections and we’re seeing a healthy trading environment where consumers are seeing things and wanting to buy straight away.”

Lewsey is already focused on next year’s event — its 21st — and has announced an extension in event length, taking in three weekends and two weeks from March 1-19.

Ellery Spring 2016.

While Buzz was on couch leave, Sydney designer Kym Ellery announced a major milestone in her career: she has been accepted as a member of the Chambre Syndicale du Pret-a-Porter des Couturiers et des Createurs de Mode — in other words, the governing body of the Paris fashion industry. Ellery has been showing in Paris for two years and this latest move makes her a fully fledged member of the French fashion industry, only the second Australia-based designer to have this honour, the first being Collette Dinnigan. As well as support with her marketing and business, the inclusion means Ellery (Spring collection, pictured) will have a voice within the French industry.

Commenting for the first time on the honour, Ellery tells Buzz: “It was very much a personal goal that I’ve had (to show in Paris) and to now be welcomed into the Chambre Syndicale is probably something I didn’t even dream of actually.”

Ellery conceded that making her presentation to the board of the Chambre Syndicale was nerve-racking. “It’s such an intimidating process to be interviewed by all the CEOs of all the greatest fashion brands,” she tells Buzz. “One of the first questions they asked was why did I want to show in Paris? I said, because it is the greatest place in the world to show and I want to be the best I can be. They were very satisfied at that.”

While the outcome of the Brexit vote will soon be known, the British Fashion Council gauged the mood among its designers with its own survey. Of the 290 designers and businesses that responded, 90 per cent said they would vote to remain in the European Union. The other 10 per cent was made up of 4.3 per cent who wanted out and the rest undecided or stating they would not vote. At the recent London Collections: Men, a number of designers including Patrick Grant (pictured, of E. Tautz), Christopher Raeburn and Sibling’s Cozette McCreery and Sid Bryan made their feelings felt on the catwalk via slogan tees as they took their final bow.