Dinosaur Designs, Esse Studios, Macgraw big winners in 2020 Australian Fashion Laureate awards

Local manufacturing a must for main winners in annual fashion industry awards.

Winners in the Australian Fashion Laureate awards, from left, Charlotte Hicks of Esse Studios, and Stephen Ormandy and Louise Olsen of Dinosaur Designs. Picture: John Feder/The Australian.

From selling their student wares at Sydney’s Paddington Markets to becoming an internationally renowned accessories brand, Dinosaur Designs, by Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy, has been awarded the Australian Fashion Laureate Lifetime Achievement Award.

As well known for its colourful resin homewares as its bold jewellery, the company continues to create all of its pieces in Australia.

Ormandy and Olsen, who founded the brand with fellow art student Liane Rossler in 1985, believe that local manufacturing has put them in good stead throughout the pandemic this year, when supply chains around the world were thrown into chaos from China to Europe.

“It’s been such a strength during these times,” Olsen tells The Australian.

“It really makes you realise the importance of manufacturing in Australia.”

In addition to the pandemic practicalities, Olsen believes that local manufacturing is becoming more of a hot topic thanks to the focus on sustainability and ethical production.

“It’s nice to know how things are being made, and people want to know more about where something is made and who makes it.”

Ormandy adds that while Australia’s protective labour laws “hopefully stop exploitation (of workers), the more that people value that, the better our industry can do”.

There has been much discussion at both industry and government levels about bringing manufacturing in a number of industries, including fashion, back onshore.

Charlotte Hicks, whose label Esse Studios won the Best Emerging Designer award, also values being an Australian-made brand, even working on fabric development with a Melbourne-based mill.

And despite her production getting caught up in the second Victorian lockdown, it is still something she remains passionate about.

“There is an incredible industry here,” said Hicks.

“I love being that close to my production, to be able to make decisions quickly from design to development to end product and out to market.”

In fact, the majority of winners in this year’s awards base their manufacturing in Australia.

To reflect the difficulties faced by the fashion industry during the COVID-19 crisis, some categories were dropped this year and new categories added to the awards this year, in recognition of the need to innovate and build resilience.

The new 2020 Change and Innovation award went to four labels, Gorman, Fella Hamilton, Richard Poulson of Showroom-X, and Nobody Denim.

The Sustainable Innovation award was split into emerging and established designers, the former won by A.BCH and the latter Nobody Denim.

A new People’s Choice award was also instigated, and won by Macgraw, by sisters Beth and Tessa Macgraw.

Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres weighed in on the event, saying: “These awards recognise innovation, resilience and determination to succeed – which is how Sydney and NSW has responded to the health pandemic by keeping our economy moving, and showing that the Harbour City is a safe and desirable place to visit and do business.