On the hunt for suppliers?

As a small business, sourcing suppliers can be quite the time wasting affair, let alone the costly with trips back and forth to China to try and find the right quality supplier for your budget. Imagine if you could go to a trade fair where all the suppliers were at your fingertips and you get to look at their work, the quality, colour and material selection as well as ask about minimums, delivery schedules etc. Imagine if you could do this in MELBOURNE?

Excited yet? Well, Australian Exhibition & Conferences (the team behind Fashion Exposed) are offering local wholesalers the chance to source new suppliers at the Australian International Sourcing Fair for fashion, accessories and home. Held in conjunction with the China Clothing and Textiles Expo 2010, the AISF will provide a forum where international companies can establish and consolidate enduring business partnerships with Australian organisations.

So if you're looking for Bags, Beads, Buttons, Childrenswear, Eco Materials, Fabrics, Jewellery, and Leather goods, Menswear, Publications, Scarves/Shawls, Shipment, Trims, Womenswear and Workwear, don't forget to save the date.

Date: 17-19 November 2010
Where: Melbourne Exhibition Centre
Register: here

Hanging around

It's always inspiring to hear of a simple idea marketed well. Exhibit A - The Green Hanger. An Australian invention from three entrepreneurial spirits, The Green Hanger is only a year old but has been causing quite the international stir. So what's the story?
1. Looking for a more eco-friendly solution when moving house, the concept was born.
2. It's 100% recycled and recyclable cardboard
3. Holds over 2Kg of weight
4. Raw & natural and quite designer looking (we think)
5. Inexpensive - a pack of 5 Adult hangers is only $5.95 with bulk buying being cheaper
6. Comes in kids and adult sizes
7. Easy to stack and store
8. No glues or inks are used
9. Used as the official invite for Tokyo Fashion Week
10.Used to hang all the clothes backstage at L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival in 2010
11.Bridget Marquardt is one of Hugh Hefner’s playboy's and she has endorsed the product in her search to "go green" (seriously)

So, the question remains, will fashion boutiques follow suit. It makes sense for smaller boutiques to embrace this (I remember my shop days and having to sort through a million wire hangers that always seemed to get tangled and it was my job to untangle them - ahhh the glamour of fashion!).

Check out their site to find out more.

Designer Opportunities

So you're an up and coming designer and you want to get noticed, get some brand exposure and maybe a pat on the back at the same time? I have compiled a great list of opportunities for you to participate in (you can thank me later!)

1. Chambord Shine Awards
What: Enter for a chance to be a finalist in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane runway showcases to compete for a finalists position and then to be crowned overall winner. Past finalists include Dion Lee, Romance Was Born, Jessie Hill, Dhini, Carl Kapp and AJE.
Who: Aimed at emerging and semi-established Australian fashion designers
Conditions: Must be over 18
Details: After the runway shows, judges will select 3 finalists from each state to create a Spring Racing outfit inspired by Chambord which will go into the final held at Sydney's Strand Arcade on August 31st. The winning outfit will be worn by a celebrity at the Spring Racing Carnival and have their own collection showcase as part of LMFF in 2011.
Contact: If you think you have what it takes, email chambordshineawards@6dc.com.au
Deadline: Brisbane's showcase was 29th June, Melbourne's is 6th July and Sydney's is 7th July so get in quick!

2. Bloom at Magnolia Square
What: This is a dedicated space for showcasing new/emerging talent amongst the established design market stall holders. A great chance to get noticed on a budget.
Who: Listen up designers of craft, fashion, food, jewellery, illustration, paper, ceramics etc.
Conditions: To be eligible to apply you need to be a start up or newly commenced business, have a unique concept and be well executed and finished with a strong hand worked design aesthetic.
Details: You'll get a 1.5 sq metre space with no height restrictions for only $350 including insurance. Limited spaces available.
Contact: email applications to bloom@magnoliasquare.com.au
Deadline: 15th July 2010

3. Y-chic by Australian Academy of Design
What: Generation Y students are asked to express their point of view about what "chic" means for their Generation by submitting a mood board.
Who: Fashion and creative Students
Conditions: You'll have to email an image of your moodboard in jpg or pdf format, a completed entry form with artists release form, an artists statement and a model release form (if you've used a model).
Details: Prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd plus Top 10 finalists for both Tertiary and Secondary categories. Prizes vary from a sewing & design kit to a gift voucher valued at $500 from Carmel's Fabric Store.
Contact: awards@designacademy.edu.au
Deadline: 14 July 2010

For more great competitions for creatives to enter click here
Stay tuned for a Soya feature of which I am the fashion category producer.

Fashion that Fits - LMFF Body Image Forum

There is a never ending cycle of the influences fashion can have on society and one of them is body image. Whilst there are elements of fantasy and aspiration with fashion (who doesn't love a stunning perfume campaign or an amazing 12 page spread in Vogue Italia?) there is also a major responsibility that comes with pumping out these types of aspirational images.

LMFF hosted a forum for the fashion industry on Monday 31 May at ACMI called "Fashion that Fits" attempting to tackle an issue that is so intrinsically linked to the fashion world. On hand to discuss the various commercial, mental, physical and moral issues surrounding this were:
Gorgi Coghlan from The Circle on Channel 10 as MC
Honorable James Merlino - Minister of Sport, Recreation & Youth Affairs
Sarah Oakes - Editor of Cleo Magazine
Matthew Anderson - Director Chadwicks Modelling Agency
Dr Naomi Carfti - Community development / Education officer of Eating Disorders Foundation of Victoria
Prue Thomas - Strategic Brand Manager of Sportsgirl
Karen Webster - Outgoing LMFF Festival Director

Indeed this panel was a well curated and diverse bunch who could discuss from their own point of view the various implications of body image in their pocket of the industry. Some of issues raised were:
1. Language & Labels - ensuring communication around Small, Medium & Large rather than Skinny, Size Zero, Plus Size and Big. "We never talk minus size, we just talk plus size and its wrong" says Karen Webster.
2. Healthy Vs UnHealthy - overweight and underweight individuals can still be considered "healthy", even if they are overweight or underweight. So the term healthy and unhealthy were more relevant terms to be using. However, how does a person looking at a photoshoot or catwalk know if the model is healthy or unhealthy based only on their appearance?
3. Cover models for Magazines - Sarah spoke of her boredom at seeing another American celebrity on a Cleo cover, however the Kate Hudson's and Gwyneth Paltrow's of the world were more popular issues that sold better than when local talents like Isabel Lucas and Jen Hawkins were featured on the cover. So inadvertently, the consumer is dictating which women we see over and over again on our covers pushing this impossible idea of perfection.
4. Education - Dr Crafti spoke about how education surrounding what and who is attractive needs to start younger so that teenagers can differentiate between a photoshopped image on a magazine and the reality of their own images and lives.
5. Fantasy Vs Reality - Matthew from Chadwicks explained that he felt there was a need and a place for "fantasy" and "aspiration" with the fashion industry and that "People don't buy magazines to see average".
6. Sizing - Prue from Sportsgirl talked about their role with introducing a full size range (size 6-16) in order to cater for petite and curveaous girls and how they encourage their sales staff to find the most appropriate size to suit and flatter for the best overall look, rather than being size-ist!
7. Casting healthy models - Karen explained they had used a nutrionist for the recent LMFF 2010 catwalk shows during casting so that they ensured they were being responsible with their choices.

From my point of view as a girl who has grown into a woman and all whilst firmly entrenched in the fashion industry, this is an incredibly complex issue that won't be solved overnight. There is a certain amount of brainwashing with media images (magazines, catwalks, online, billboards, TV etc) that do deliver elements of fantasy that have been years in the making. The rise in popularity of reality TV and social media where our photo's are constantly posted on the web, mean we are all so much more conscious of our image and critical as well. Then there is the increase in the "Search for a Supermodel" "Australia's next top model" and so forth where the girls are often asked to lose weight to compete internationally. All of these shows are top rating winners and contribute to the cycle of putting "unrealistic" models on a pedestal and it is only as a woman gets older that she can really discriminate that 95% of society are not in this category. Jump on public transport any day of the week and you'll see 95% of commuters are normal and trying to look the best they can for their size, culture, body shape, health and budget.

So where does that leave us? Do we throw our hands in the air in despair? Quite the contrary - everything starts with a small step. Suggestions made on the night include:
1. A state wide or nation wide "I love my body" day where we encourage positivity with our bodies.
2. kikki.K were talking about putting a "Gratitude" Journal out specifically for this in relation to being thankful you can use your body from a functional point of view when so many suffer from health issues and to be thankful for small compliments.
3. Encouraging more magazine articles about self love, image vs reality and body size in the real world.
4. Depicting what is Healthy weight Vs Under and Overweight from a fashion point of view
5. Developing a new language
6. Casting models for catwalk that truly represent diversity from cultural, shape and size points of view moving forward
7. Reducing the amount of photoshopped images that hit our advertising overloaded society

Some examples I can think of from commercial Australian retail brands supporting this theory are:
* Supre (who up until very recently) used shop girls and "normal" looking girls to model in their campaigns. It's a shame they've just switched to using models as this really differentiated them from the masses and sent out positive body messages.
* Sportsgirl who use healthy looking models in their campaigns that aren't waifs
* Jeanswest who cater for all body shapes with their "Speciality denim range" featuring petites, maternity, tummy trimmer, buttlifter, curve embracer and tall

I'd love to hear of suggestions from the iSpyStyle readers who have thoughts or ideas about what we could do from an industry point of view to decrease the amount of body image issues. There's some fantastic feedback, information and help on the Eating Disorders Foundation of Victoria website of which Dr Naomi Crafti came to represent during the forum.

Visual Merchandising Competition

Fashion Exposed is a fashion industry trade fair and this year for their Melbourne showcase in August, are offering a new Visual Merchandising Competition called Spirit of the Season. This is aimed at fashion and merchandising students and retail professionals keen to try out their visual merchandising skills in a commercial environment.

Selected finalists will be invited to create window displays live at the event - that's right, a kind of "Project Runway" for Visual merchandising (except with the voting off!).

Need to know details:
1. Entry concept is for Autumn Winter 2011 (so a bit of trend forecasting is required). You can choose between menswear or womenswear.
2. Submit your entries through the website - www.fashionexposed.com
3. Applications close Wednesday 16 June 2010
4. Each application has a processing fee of $50 inc GST
5. Participation for selected finalists is free
6. Conditions apply - read through the Application Document

What are you waiting for? Get creative people!

Joining the Dots

I love a good play on words and I love a progressive social media integrated website, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear about Dotti's new campaign "Dotti Nation".

They've re-launched their website to incorporate web 2.0 with social media and allow more user generated content with a catchy tag line of "Join the dots". Features include:
1. Wardrobe - It's a virtual wardrobe with styling tips via video and showcases what's in store right now
2. Dotti Nation - Members can upload their outfits and win prizes for sharing
3. Design-A-Bits - If you're a designer in the making, you could share your ideas with Dotti for instant fame and prizes
4. Connections to facebook

Its interesting that Dotti have chosen this expensive financial set-up and ongoing management of their site, when you compare other retailers in the market like Bardot, Forever New, Supre, Glassons and Portmans. Sportsgirl obviously launched their interactive site last year and were one of the first in Australia to do so.

I am curious to see the audience reaction to this kind of site, given Australians (whilst spending so much time online) are not the most interactive when it comes to retailers sites, we tend to support forums and blogs that are neutral and not brand driven (case in point - Vogue's notoriously popular forum).

The changing face of Fashion Online

As many of you would have read, I was privileged to meet with Piera and Philippe from Refinery 29 to have lunch with them on Monday and then listened to them speak at the Portable presentation held at Penthouse Mouse. They are two of the most humble and genuinely nice people I’ve met from New York to have achieved such success and yet still be so grounded and driven about what they want to do next.

Notes:
* They began (in 2005) at a time when there was a trend away from mass towards grass roots designers. Individualism was important and there was a big gap in the online publishing space for a niche fashion magazine.

* Their first version of Refinery 29 was like a department store map to the best shops in New York and offered an insiders guide to what was cool and happening at the time.

* They launched by supporting emerging talent like Alexander Wang, Opening Ceremony, Vera Cava, Rag & Bone and Erin Featherson.

* They believed and still believe that Risk is more important than experience and being flexible, organic and dynamic with their choices in both content and business strategies is what makes them successful.

* They currently have 1 million unique visitors per month with 100,000 email subscribers.

* They feel fashion has become a conversation and not a monologue and this ability to react to their subscriber’s comments has helped shape the business.

* Their top 5 inspirational sites they reference are:
Garance Dore
The Selby
The Cut
Polyvore
Lookbook.nu

* They believe there are 3 main ingredients to their content; entertainment, inspiration and information.

* They try to offer a real “mixture” of content, styling tips and information that appeals to a broad database but is still cutting edge so that they satisfy their growing database but also push their readers to try or adopt new trends.

* They monitor results closely; each team member (4 full time staff and 4 interns) gets an email from Piera each morning with stats from Google Analytics about what sections of the site were most popular, had the most click throughs and were commented on the most.

* They believe that Fashion is really just one big conversation and technology affords huge opportunity to communicate with others.

* The next 4 interesting trends in technology are:
1. Content – being true to your signature
2. Mobile – apps, e-commerce and entertainment
3. Crowd sourcing – the website Quirky
4. Location based services – FourSquare

I've got Refinery-itis!

I have a confession! I’m got a severe case of Refinery-itis! I need my daily fix and I seem to die a little inside without it! This online fashion site just begs to be bookmarked with its distinct edge and point of view and has gathered some major momentum of late. I was fortunate enough to interview Phillipe von Borries (one of the co-founders) who is visiting Australia as part of the Portable Content presents Refinery 29 east coast tour. The Melbourne seminar is part of LMFF and held at Penthouse Mouse.

1. Refinery 29 has really hit a niche in the saturated fashion online market. What do you owe the popularity too? Luck, timing, specific strategies?
We’re just breaking through a 1,000,000 visitors a month and the site is among the leading fashion/shopping/style sites in the US. It’s bigger than Lucky Mag, Barneys and a range of other power players in this space. The success of it is due to a number of factors. Adaptability has been very important. We’ve tried out different things again and again to see what our audience responds to. Innovation online is key and it’s critical to challenge yourself and your audience over and over. We also got into the space at a critical juncture four years ago when there were very few players, which allowed us to foster very unique relationships with fashion most exciting new designers. Lastly, we engage our audience. We know fashion is not a one-way street and we make sure every day to build a relationship with our readers. That is the most important part of digital fashion media today.

2.We are currently experiencing a significant shift in the fashion media industry with the power of the consumer, social networking and street style blogs etc. What do you think will happen next in the online space in fashion?
I think consumers will own the space more and more. Fashion used to be about limits and restrictions. Today it’s about access, transparency and immediacy. Readers/consumers etc want to be part of the creative process. Look at sites such as polyvore.com which allow readers to collect tidbits from around the web and build scrapbooks that you can share and even shop from! It’s all about personal expression these days.

3. Your “How to get snapped by the Sartorialist” diagram was a viral hit. It’s a great case study of how viral communication operates in the current landscape. Did it inadvertently bring you new subscribers, new traffic and a new kind of notoriety?
Yes and yes. That story was the most successful we ever published and our editorial team is incredibly proud of it. It’s a great example of the creative power of our staff as well as our ability to always innovate. The format of the feature was an infographic, which is very engaging and entertaining. We know the importance of our readers simply wanting to be entertained. Fashion is about having fun. It’s not serious and that’s an important part of our editorial standpoint every day. The Sartorialist feature received over 100,000 unique views, it was republished in GQ South Africa, Italy and Russia and picked up by dozens of blogs.

4. What do you think of the Australian fashion industry? Who has caught your attention and what do you think makes up the Australian style?
We love Australian fashion. We are HUGE fans of Australian designers. Australian fashion is kind of a cross between LA and London. It’s casual but still accessibly glamorous. These are women who love fashion but they’re down to earth too.

5. What are some of your favourite Australian and international blogs/sites?
Lover, Sass & Bide, Karen Walker and Chronicles of Never

LMFF Designer Forum

Designer Forum – Sketch at Central Pier Monday 15th March 2010 3pm

A great initiative by LMFF to support the designers participating in the festival by having international and expat industry icons like Linlee Allen (LA), Tony Glenville (TG), Michael Angel (MA) and Gabrielle Hackworthy (GH) talk about their careers and their perception of the fashion industry.  Whilst more tips and advice for Australian designers looking to break the international market would have been welcomed, the careers and unique paths each speaker had taken to arrive at their current destination was inspirational and thought provoking. 

My highlights were;
• LA- Her irreverent, down to earth attitude (complete with Aussie accent still intact despite many years living abroad).
• LA – The shout out to Jenny Bannister (apparently Jenny’s designs adorned a teenage Linlee’s wall) 
• LA – Her controversial comment about working with Ellen Von Unwerth “Just because someone’s famous doesn’t mean that makes them cool”
• TG – Loved his infectious pearls of wisdom, British sense of humour and passion for the industry and sheer entertainment as a speaker!
• TG – He urged us to stop talking for a second… and  “Listen” to the experts, the globe, the new and the established.
• TG – A fabulous and valid comment about the role of technology and catwalks and how “It’s still important to see clothes on real people, look at the movement and experience the atmosphere of fashion, despite technology offering live streaming catwalks”.
• TG – Good quality pieces designed with integrity that are timeless and made with love will always be in style!
• TG – We are living in a time where seasons don’t seem to impact like they used to (whether consumer buying changes or climate change) the role of transeasonal collections are very important.
• MA – How Joseph Saba believed in Michael Angel as a 17 year old and offered him the role of Visual Merchandiser at Saba.
• MA – It seems Michael Angel has learned some lessons living in New York during the GFC about budgeting, getting back to basics and re-affirming your signature style and growing in confidence as a result.
• MA – Of his current business revenue, 70% is from his online store!

LMFF opening party

It seems that the fashion world has gone gaga for Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton must be so proud)! The mix of fairytale whimsy, fantasy and over the top costumes has captured many a fashionista heart, including Harpers Bazaar it seems!

So when this little Alice turned up to the Government house yesterday on a fine and sunny Sunday afternoon it truly felt like I had fallen down the rabbit hole into a world of decadence, whimsy and fantasy fashion blurred into one!
The parade curated by Harpers Bazaar featured Colette Dinnigan, Akira Isagowa, Dion Lee and Sass & Bide (to name a few of the fabulous Australian designers involved).  Each designer took fairytale heroines as muses for their creations from Ali Baba, Snow White, Minnie Mouse and of course Alice in Wonderland!

The fashions were (as you would expect) a mix of sophistication (Emma Van Handaal, Rebecca Twigley) high glamour (Lindy Klim’s gold brocade ensemble) and costume fun (Richard Nylon, Gail Sorronda and Romance was Born).  Black was the order of the day (although held in Melbourne, I was surprised to see so much of it) with cream textured layers a close second and many a stylish ankle boot was chosen avoiding a stiletto sinking into the government house lawn!

On a sentimental note, the acknowledgement and significant contribution of Karen Webster as Festival Director (who is finishing up her role with LMFF after this festival) was moving and heartfelt and she will be sorely missed!