A runway ready for take-off

MOVING location and time might help Fashion Week Australia get its groove back.

Carriageworks fashion

THE quest for greater relevance from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia has shifted gears, with the event pulling up stumps and stilettos to shift from the picturesque Overseas Passenger Terminal at Sydney's Circular Quay to the Carriageworks performance space in the gritty inner west.

After months of passionate discussions with designers, following ongoing complaints about the five-day festival for trade and media being held too late in the season for international buyers, IMG Fashion will start two weeks earlier on April 8.

"Scheduling the event in early April is a step in the right direction," says designer Camilla Freeman-Topper from Camilla and Marc.

"It brings the event closer to the release of the initial summer collections, which is the largest collection of the year."

The Overseas Passenger Terminal provided a priceless postcard view for international guests, but came with less welcome assaults on the senses.

The smell from nearby garbage storage in the Cargo Hall forced the front row to sniff their Armani Code-soaked wrists in desperation while a lack of ventilation in The Box show space last year earned it the nickname the Sweat Box (or the Sweatshop Box for less promising designers).

"There is greater potential for the event to grow in the Carriageworks space, whether that's with live streaming or greater production capabilities," says Peter Levy, New York-based managing director of IMG Fashion.

"There's also the opportunity for designers to create meeting spaces with buyers at the venue."

Originally, IMG Fashion proposed moving the festival to next March, potentially clashing with the country's main fashion event open to the public, the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, and prompting an outcry from its chief executive Graeme Lewsey.

"We're thrilled with the outcome now," says Lewsey. "It has a positive result for the whole industry. We now have some breathing space between the shows and there will be no mixed messages. We're about fashion that's in the stores while Australian Fashion Week looks to the next season."

Lewsey is also hopeful that the closeness of the events might attract international models such as Abbey Lee Kershaw and Julia Nobis back to our shores.

"There's certainly greater incentive for them to come home and chalk up extra work at both events," Lewsey says.

It is unlikely that the change of venue and modest shift in dates will entice designers such as Sass & Bide, Willow and Dion Lee to return, the three labels having enjoyed a strong response to shows at London Fashion Week last month. Josh Goot and swimwear stalwart Zimmermann are also giving increased attention to the US market.

Freeman-Topper could not confirm Camilla and Marc's involvement in the updated event.

"I think it demonstrates the maturity of Australia as a fashion market that people want to show in other markets," Levy says. "Fashion is international and we take pride in the success of all Australian businesses that have been a part of this. We're in the global fashion business.

"Our commitment is for designers to elevate their brand to a global platform. That's the goal if someone wants to move forwards."

With strong, creative labels looking internationally in recent years, the week has become a showcase for emerging labels such as Johanna Johnson, Michael Lo Sordo, Aje and Christopher Esber, with a smattering of veterans such as Lisa Ho, Kirrily Johnston and Jayson Brunsdon trying to add weight.

Rather than worry about bringing flourishing designers back into the mix, IMG Fashion is focusing on linking up with a trade show element to amplify the atmosphere at the new venue.

The Premiere trade event, which has been held in March since launching last year, will now appear on the new MBFWA site at the same time.

"It is an exciting time for the Australian fashion industry and we believe the two events coming together will provide designers with the opportunity to maximise sales to registered buyers of both events while extending valuable connections within the industry," says Harvey Stockbridge, managing director of Australian Exhibitions and Conferences, organisers of Premiere.

While runway shows are at the glamorous, pointy end of fashion, trade events generally have as much sex appeal as an Ikea instruction manual, but IMG's Levy is undeterred. "It's going to become a lifestyle destination," Levy says of Carriageworks. "This is us doing our business from creation to consumption."

The hope is that new talent showing during the fashion week might also catch the eye of boutique owners looking to fill their shelves with the international denim brands such as Hudson, Paige and J Brand, which take part in Premiere.

"We're looking to when people want to buy and when the season is," Levy says. "We have been thinking about how can we support this marketplace from a buying standpoint. Essentially, we're solution providers."

We'll find out in April if IMG Fashion has all the answers.