Bianca Spender to open Afterpay Australian Fashion Week on Carla Zampatti Runway
Bianca Spender has embraced a “spirit of courage” following the passing of her mother, Carla Zampatti
When Bianca Spender opens Australian Fashion Week in April, it will be an especially meaningful moment.
Her collection will be shown on the Carla Zampatti Runway, named for her mother, who passed away last Easter.
“Naming a runway for Mum (at last year’s fashion week) was a really moving tribute,” Spender tells The Australian.
“The fashion industry was at the core of Mum’s heart and to be the opening show on that runway is just another representation of how Mum will truly be with me on the day.
“(She was) there for my first show at Carriageworks on that runway, and Mum’s last show at Carriageworks (in 2019) was on that runway.
“It’s beautiful when there is this synergy in life.”
It will be Spender’s first AFW show since 2018, and the designer feels the Covid experience of the past two years will make the event even more important.
“We really have been through an incredible time, where we learnt more about ourselves, our teams, our businesses, our humanity than ever before, and fashion is always this incredible barometer of how people have evolved and where they’re at.
“To really try and creatively put all that together in a show in person when we haven’t been in person is a real marking point.”
She believes the pandemic has focused people’s interest on sustainability and ethical production in fashion, and with those as pillars of her own business she is humbled “to be recognised as an industry leader” with the opening show.
Along with her Resort collection, Spender will show a capsule collection of “see now, buy now” pieces for customers who want to sate their fashion appetite immediately. In taking a hybrid approach, she is finally realising a long-held desire to do so.
“In honesty, it’s something we’ve wanted to do before but I didn’t have the courage to take it on. At the moment, with the passing of Mum, I’ve been inhabiting a spirit of courage. Just yes.”
The idea of courage has extended into the pieces themselves, says the designer, with the Resort collection in particular overflowing with colour. “There’s almost too much colour – but there’s never too much colour.
“I’ve got neutrals as palate cleansers in between.”
Using sustainably sourced fabrics and made in Australia, her signature draped dresses are ready to be shown in full flight on the catwalk. “There is nothing like seeing that walk to really translate that vision, that volume and silhouette,” says Spender.
“Lots of movement and lots of fabric. I’m a fabric supplier’s dream.”