Nagnata wins Westpac Award, and luxury’s latest round of musical chairs

Nagnata wins the Westpac Award for emerging designers, and Clare Waight Keller out at Givenchy

Nagnata wins this year’s Westpac award for emerging designers

While the world is in flux with the COVID-19 pandemic, the fashion industry – like so many others – is working out ways to navigate it and still come out the other side, battle scarred, but still standing. There have been some great initiatives already during this pandemic, which Buzz has previously mentioned, including Vogue Fashion Relief and the ongoing #WeWearAustralian campaign. All of these things go towards helping Australian brands stay afloat during this time, when many of them have been loaded up with cancelled wholesale orders from retailers. Of course, not everybody is currently in a position to spend on fashion, but for those that are, and who are undoubtedly considering each purchase very carefully right now, Buzz would point you towards our homegrown brands first and foremost.

Nagnata brings it home

Of course, during this difficult time, there are pieces of good news that slip through like chinks of light in a broken wall. This week, lifestyle/activewear brand Nagnata won the Westpac Private Bank Emerging Designer Award (previously known at the BT Award). Along with the kudos, the award comes with a small cash prize, plus business mentoring and legal advice among other elements including flights, which will come in handy post-COVID.

And while the fancy dinner and show that usually goes with this announcement couldn’t take place, that doesn’t take away from the achievement for the brand, which is based on principles of sustainability and wellness. Co-founder and designer Laura-May Gibbs, who started the label with her sister Hannah, is “so excited” by the win, which comes at a perfect time for the brand, COVID-19 notwithstanding, but possibly even more so in that light.

“We’re definitely on the brink of getting quite big, so to have the award at this point is really just solidifying that we’re moving in the right direction and that what we’re doing is relevant,” she tells Buzz.

Nagnata blurs the boundaries between activewear and lifestyle pieces.

That relevance is seen not only in this award, but in the sales for the brand even during this pandemic. While Nagnata lost many international wholesale accounts as a result of the current economic downturn, its own online sales doubled in the first two weeks of isolation in Australia - without discounting, for a premium-priced product. For the moment, the brand will halt international wholesale, with the exception of major partner Net-a-Porter, and continues to discuss the situation with local retailers. In part, Gibbs puts its current situation down to the strong community the brand has built up within the wellness realm. “Integrating wellness, health, meditation, and yoga into the brand came from a really honest place and we’ve built that up in a very slow way. Those things feel more relevant than ever. What is standing us in good stead now is our ethos and integrity and foundations in sustainability, innovation, authenticity and caring about our customers and supply chain. Everything we do is so grassroots, building our network, and people respond to it. I’ve been so blown away by the support from our community.”

Givenchy exit

Nothing like sneaking an announcement through on Good Friday of a global pandemic. But that’s what Givenchy did when it announced the departure of its creative director, Clare Waight Keller, the first woman to hold the role. Buzz has spent the odd moment mulling over this in the past week – and let’s face it, there are more important things to occupy minds right now – and still, it seems a shame. The constant musical chairs at luxury brands has been tiring even to watch from a distance, let alone having to completely reinvent a brand every two to three years, if that. Not to mention the customers having to reconsider their allegiance to brands every time someone new comes in.

Meghan Markle in Givenchy following her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018. (Photo by Owen Humphries - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Waight Keller seemed to be hitting her stride aesthetically with the brand after three years at the helm, bringing back the simplicity of line it was founded on, with an occasional streak of subversion (Latex in couture, anyone?). She had flipped the brand from its gothic aesthetic under predecessor Riccardo Tisci and brought it more in line with the principles of its founder Hubert de Givenchy, following a deep dive into the house archives. And let’s not forget her moment of global triumph, designing the wedding dress for Meghan Markle.

Certainly the house had great hopes for the brand under Waight Keller, but according to Business of Fashion, sources say the women’s wear part of the business never reached the heights its owner LVMH had hoped for. What is especially interesting is that with all brands expecting a major downturn and a potential industry reset as a result of the current pandemic, the brand could find itself even further behind the Eight ball trying to change tack yet again at a time of complete upheaval. Her replacement has not yet been decided.