Nicky Zimmermann’s Paris match
Nicky Zimmermann on her brand’s European expansion ahead of its debut runway show on the city of light’s official fashion week schedule.
After almost a decade showing at New York Fashion Week, Nicky Zimmermann will present her spring/summer 2023 collection in Paris next Monday. Marking a fresh start for the 31-year-old Australian fashion brand after producing six virtual shows from home during the pandemic, the move will see Zimmermann join the official Paris Fashion Week schedule showing at the Petit Palais on a coveted day after Stella McCartney and Sacai.
“Throughout the pandemic we would talk about what we are going to do next,” begins the creative director and co-founder. “We wanted to do something fresh and new. I always like a challenge and we have a lot going on through Europe at the moment, between wholesale, our own stores opening, and a full-time head office team that work out of Paris, (it) is getting bigger and bigger.”
Zimmermann’s global retail network currently includes 21 stores in Australia, one in China and 19 boutiques across America, with momentum building throughout Europe including 12 doors between the UK and the continent, the latest being Florence – number 53. “Every single store is still very personal to us; the position and where it is, we look for things that we love,” she explains, adding that she will open the Tuscan flagship in the days following the Paris show.
“We don’t open one store and then every store looks exactly the same,” she adds of her 30-year relationship with local design firm Studio McQualter. “We want the store to have the personality of the area, and to bring something from Australia. I mean, I’m blown away every single time,” she says of Don McQualter and his team.
Studio McQualter has also been working on the brand’s new Paris head office in the first arrondissement, where it has had a headquarters since 2019. “We’re setting up a whole design team there so that I can go back and forth to Paris with my team.”
The last time Zimmermann was in Paris with her Aussie team was eight weeks ago, before the opening of their store in Madrid. “For me, it’s unreal. In New York, starting off, maybe I took two people and a stylist. And now it’s, like, I don’t even know how many – there’s loads! It’s so exciting for me to see people be able to do what they do.”
In December 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Milan-based investment fund Style Capital – whose portfolio includes Forte_Forte, MSGM and Re/Done and LuisaViaRoma – acquired 70 per cent of Zimmermann in a transaction reportedly valued at $446m, which has clearly allowed for greater versatility and expansion.
“What is so great is that we’re able to do things how we want to do them. Obviously, it’s worked,” she smiles, “so nobody wants to mess with that. And I think for the business it is really important that we enjoy it and that we love it.” She adds: “It’s because of the businesses capabilities that I’m able to have these kinds of resources and hopefully continue to get better at what I do and keep learning.”
Zimmermann’s plan is to be in and out of Paris every eight weeks to work with her Parisian team. Her schedule is well and truly back to its pre-pandemic pace, which saw her travelling for up to nine months a year. “I really want to infuse my team with a Paris design team that will complement each other and keep moving forward. These guys have worked with me on every New York show from the beginning and it’s incredibly exciting to be working with them in Paris.”
As for the city of Paris itself? “What’s not what to love?” she says. “Apart from being incredibly beautiful, very inspirational, it’s definitely the centre of fashion insofar as every buyer in the world goes to Paris.”
That said, she will not be switching gears from a design perspective: “My inspiration for the show is really Australian and (it) is incredibly close to me. That’s quite often when I’m at my most comfortable. I believe with fashion you just have to be yourself. I would never go to Paris and try and do anything Parisian – it would be ludicrous. It would not ever cross my mind. But this is a good one. It’s fun,” she teases, adding that it will most likely hit a nostalgic note for those she grew up with.
And as for the European market’s expectations? “I think what they understand is our freshness, our sense of fun and optimism,” she says of the initial swim and resort footing that has blossomed into dresses and formal wear, suiting, knitwear and denim.
It’s also an honour to be granted an on-schedule slot in Paris, and Zimmermann will join a legacy of only a handful of invited Australians including Collette Dinnigan, Akira Isogawa, Toni Maticevski, Kim Ellery and Tamara Ralph, of Ralph & Russo. “They were incredibly gracious,” she says of their meeting with The Fédération de la Haute Couture, attended by her husband, Zimmermann CEO, Chris Oliver, and sister and COO Simone. “They were very well informed and aware of what we were doing as a business.” As for the day and venue? “We asked for it and we got it.”
Right now, the show prep is “non-stop”. In fact, it’s been that way for the past 10 weeks, weekends included. “All my friends know … I don’t even like going out for dinner,” she smiles, of the fashion show endurance sport that she now has down to a fine art. “I like to be really fit when I’m doing a show … I’m super focused. Because, also, I’m old, you know!” she laughs. “It’s in the trenches, so you’ve got to make yourself last. And I want them to enjoy it,” she says of her team, “because this is our fun. It’s full-on, but they all work as hard as I do.”
On the ground she’s set up nearby her HQ at Hotel Costes. “I live with my design team,” she says of the convenience, while admitting it is always a highly stressful time. “You can be waiting until the middle of the night for one model to turn up.”
And, while the show styling goes on with long-term collaborator Romy Frydman, Zimmermann is simultaneously working on the next autumn/winter season. “Timing-wise, I have to be on the next collection,” she says of the pace. When it comes to her state of mind? “The same as I am with any show, I’m nervous. I like to get to the end game and go, ‘Well, I’ve done everything in my and my team’s skill set that we can do’. My real excitement will happen when I’ve done my job.”
Suffice to say, she has no plans to slow down: “I always say, ‘I can’t do anything else’,” she laughs. “But honestly, I love it. It’s just what I do. As a very young kid it was all I wanted to be. The fact that this has happened is well and truly beyond my wildest dreams without a doubt. But I know it’s because of the people I work with, 100 per cent.”
On the brand’s success at home, she reflects: “Australian women have come on the journey with us. We’ve evolved, our customer has evolved. I think one of the things that has worked for us is when I want to move on, so does our customer. And I’m very confident with that,” she smiles. “Australian women, they’re adventurous, they’re fun, and they don’t want the same thing.”
Circling back to next Monday’s runway return, where the collection will draw on a personal connection, she says: “I think it reiterates (to) just be yourself. Even with the pandemic, when things went on, you know (it was) don’t start doing leisurewear. Just keep making dresses, they’re going to want them, keep doing the suiting, keep doing the knitwear. Just do what you do. Keep that optimism up … that’s the best way … keep it who you are.”
