Zimmermann captures the mood in Paris

Australian brand Zimmermann continues its global dominance with an ode to a slice of Australia.

Nicky Zimmermann fits model Migoa Majoang ahead of the Zimmermann fashion show. Picture: Jonathan Bookallil

In the lead-up to Zimmermann’s Paris Fashion Week show creative director and co-founder Nicky Zimmermann spent time in conversation with Albe Falzon, the Australian director of the cult ‘70s surf film, Morning of the Earth.

The sun bleached film was the key inspiration for the brand this season.

“Albe and I had a great chat. We’ve been in constant contact with him with our progression just because he’s interested and he’s a really nice, creative guy. And we both sort of bonded over our love of light and flowers,” says Zimmermann on the phone from the brand’s studio in Paris ahead of Monday’s show.

Zimmermann sent him sketches of the designs along the way.

“He was super fascinated and excited by it. It’s been a really, really nice experience,” she says.

The film reminded Zimmermann of the movies she and her sister Simone (Zimmermann, co-founder and chief operating officer) watched as teenagers in Sydney’s southern beaches.

Nicky Zimmermann preps the Zimmermann show ahead of the Paris Fashion Week show.

‘They used to hold these films in town halls and things, and everyone would go on a Saturday afternoon and you’d just sit on the floor and they would literally project usually some kind of surf film,” she says.

“[T]he reference isn’t about surf … It’s very much about, the film had an incredible soundtrack. It was so beautifully shot. It was all incredible back lit images. Just the light was extremely important and is always influential to me. A lot of it is about a mood.”

This season the mood reflects a certain softness – incorporating the brand’s signature flounces and florals and intricate embroideries – with silhouettes that undulate and sculpt the body in jersey and a colour palette of bronze and sand.

The brand currently has 70 stores around the world, with more to come. Retaining its unique point of view, says Zimmermann, is essential.

This extended to the months-long immersive installation the brand staged at iconic Parisian department store Le Bon Marche throughout the European summer.

“Because everything in fashion now is about understanding that authenticity and that you really have your own point of view. So there’s no point in coming here and designing and doing collections that look like a Parisian brand. You’ll not have any cut-through, you won’t resonate. They really love creativity and point of view, and that’s something that we really try very, very hard to focus on,” she says.

This season the brand also zeroed in on handbags and shoes – some with sentimental references to Australia, from dolphins to surfboard-inspired hardware on nappa leather handbags – a key focus, and opportunity, for the brand.

“In Europe, we’re a very unusual brand, our business is clothing and we obviously sell a lot of clothing. It’s very unusual. And then, so therefore, obviously there’s an enormous opportunity for us with accessories and what we can do. And because there’s a very strong sensibility of what the brand is, that opportunity is something obviously very exciting for us,” she says.

In 2023 private equity firm Advent International acquired a majority stake in Zimmermann, valuing the brand at $1.5 to $1.75 billion.

For Zimmermann, it’s been business as usual.

Private equity firm Advent International has acquired a majority stake in Zimmermann, in a transaction valuing the Australian fashion brand at $1.5 billion to $1.75 billion.

“We are just running the business exactly in the way in which we always have. It’s probably moving faster. But I would say, if anything, personally, my job, and I would say the same with our CEO and my sister Simone, we’re doing more. We are growing, we’re learning. We have more responsibility. I’m now across many, many, many categories and many, many teams and many, many people. So it’s funny because some people are like, ‘oh, you can relax now.’ It’s kind of hilarious. Never worked harder in my life, and very happily. I’m absolutely loving it,” she says with a laugh.