Brisbane was never the fashion Hicksville some
outsiders once imagined -- now the world is taking notice as we proudly strut the catwalk, Marie-Christine Sourris reports
"The Queensland models' success story really began back in 1997 with Alyssa Sutherland" links of london Charms
LINKS to Paris from the
1870s, Hollywood stars favouring Queensland designers, and former Brisbane schoolgirls strutting international runways -- welcome to the evolution of fashion in Brisbane.
No wonder fashion guru Miuccia Prada was spotted in town last summer, scouring potential sites for a Prada store in Brisbane's
CBD (if rumours are to be believed). But the Italian designer of Prada and Miu Miu isn't the only luxury player we've been courting.
Gucci, while tight-lipped on details, confirms it will expand its Queensland presence with a Brisbane boutique in the near
future, while Bally will open the doors to its first Brisbane boutique, in QueensPlaza in the City, in two weeks.
For Tiffany & Co, which opened in QueensPlaza in 2005, results have exceeded expectations, says Glen Schlehuber, managing
director of Tiffany & Co Australia.
``We had many Queensland customers who were already shopping at our Sydney and Melbourne stores, and we wanted to provide them
with the convenience of shopping locally, rather than having to travel interstate,'' Mr Schlehuber said.
``The response has been excellent.''
Media reports gushing over the arrival of luxe boutiques such as Samantha Ogilvie, Belinda and Jean Brown (both its Gallerie
and Robe offerings) are the stuff of PR dreams, but the hype has been justifiable.
Continued Page 46
Brisbane struts fashion runway
From Page 45
More than anything, as those who choose to look beneath the satin veneer of fashion often find, it signals a significant
cultural shift.
Five years ago, if people baulked at the idea of ``country bumpkin'' Queensland women spending $1400 on Christian Louboutin
heels, then the notion of buying designer-brand bed sheets and pillowcases was even harder to swallow.
Not one, but three Brisbane retailers now stock (and sell out of) Louboutin -- including Scanlan & Theodore, David Jones
QueensPlaza and Jean Brown -- while designers such as Ralph Lauren, Missoni, Calvin Klein and Donna Karan have virtually rewritten the local homewares market.
``We've been able to discover a market that we previously thought did not exist,'' says Queensland-based fashion agent Mary
Zachariah, co-owner of Lee Merchandising.
``People have really homed in on that luxury market because people in Brisbane do have money to spend -- the high end is now
very label-dominated and we're seeing more call for designer fashion, from both international and Australian labels.''
Pioneered in the 1970s by department stores and boutiques such as Camargue, Maryon's (now in four locations) and Edward St's
Isabel Taylor, a taste for high fashion gradually grew.
Three decades later, supply is only just keeping pace with demand.
THE Sunshine State fashion customer is savvier than ever while traditional retailing, incidentally, has done a
volte-face.
For starters, we're in the throes of a love affair with online shopping, as former Louis Vuitton flak and Brisbane woman Marnie
Goss can attest. links of london sale
Returning home after almost a decade working in London and Sydney, Goss
couldn't find any Australian online retailers to provide what she was after -- so she launched her own.
Now her Eight Mile Plains-based e-boutique, FrockShop.com.au, is reported to have a six-figure turnover, stocking cutting-edge
labels from Australia, Europe and the US.
The digital age has also meant that traditional Queensland retailers have had to go to greater lengths.
Samantha Ogilvie and Jean Brown director Amber Long regularly travel Queensland for trunk shows, and they fly in high-profile
international and Australian figures to workshop key looks over champagne and canapes at their Emporium stores.
This year the Asia-Pacific head of Italian luxury house Bottega Veneta jetted in for a seminar with Long's VIP clients in a
penthouse on the Brisbane River; while New York label Theory and London-turned-Sydney designer Megan Park have both appeared in-store for
Ogilvie.
The revival of English high tea has proved a good recipe for Brisbane's Hilton Hotel, which launched its Pret a Portea concept
three years ago -- both of its high tea events for this week's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival have sold out, with another slated for early October.
Likewise, Marriott at 10, the Stamford High Tea Party and the Emporium's Secret High Tea parties have proved good vehicles for
designers from Lisa Ho to Harry Who.
Despite popular belief, however, this appetite for fashion in Queensland is not so revolutionary -- high fashion put down
Brisbane roots in the 19th century, according to fashion historian Dr Michael Marendy. Big Rock 'Diamond' Ring Charm
``People always thought Brisbane was the backwater of fashion, but that's just not true,'' says Dr Marendy, co-curator of an
upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Brisbane to celebrate the evolution of fashion in Brisbane from 1859 to 2009.
``We've discovered links with Paris back in the 1870s. Ladies' warehouses
advertised their link with Parisian dressmakers, and they would import garments and French millinery.
``Now Brisbane's come into its own. One of our biggest names in the past couple of decades was Daniel Lightfoot, and now we've
got people like Bora, Julie Tengdahl, Brad Webb at Darb Couture, Easton Pearson -- we have fabulous designers in this city.''
Our current designer ``rack pack'' -- think Gail Reid of Gail Sorronda, George Wu, Chelsea de Luca and Juli Grbac -- is armed
with an all-access Hollywood pass that prominent Queensland names from the 1980s and '90s such as Lightfoot, Richard de Chazal and Anthony Leigh Dower could only dream of.
Grey's Anatomy's Kate Walsh hit the red carpet decked out in Gail Sorronda at a premiere in Los Angeles last month. Chelsea de
Luca's jewellery is favoured by Gwyneth Paltrow and Beyonce Knowles.
George Wu's silver-edged bow dress was spotted last Sunday night on Cat Deeley as she hosted the US version of So You Think You
Can Dance, and Project Runway finalist Grbac has designed a dress especially for R&B singer Kelly Rowland's upcoming tour. The list goes on.
``I did a runway show at the first-ever fashion week in Sydney where I was the only Queenslander invited, and the (perception)
was almost like Queensland was Hicksville,'' says Dower, inducted into the RAQ Hall of Fame in the early '90s.
``But the Queensland fashion scene was extremely young back then. Today it's just incredible -- so many people have forged
ahead.''
Dower now travels regularly to Europe and the US, working for the past 10 years as personal stylist to TV talent judge Bonnie
Lithgow and occasionally returning to his haute couture roots for VIP clients.
ALL the dresses worn by Lithgow for the Australian season of So You Think You Can Dance, for example, were made by Dower, who
also dressed her for the recent Emmys in LA and her appearances on American Idol last season.
``It's a real thrill that we're finally being counted as an important player in the fashion scene,'' Dower says.
``There's a real scene going on in Brisbane now. Just look at bands like Powderfinger -- people are taking note of what's
coming out.''
American music industry magazine Billboard named Brisbane one of the Top 5 hotspots for music in the world. Designer Gail Reid
says this changing cultural identity has had a flow-on effect. ``There's a big music culture, especially live music, and I think that has really affected our fashion.
``You can see fashion and music fusing, it's starting to go hand in hand, and there's a really good dialogue within the
creative industries.''
For the current crop of fashion graduates, things are looking bright.
QUT fashion graduate Heather McDonough's designs were snapped up by sass & bide's Sarah-Jane Clarke after a chance
encounter in Brisbane. A week later, McDonough's ruffled collars had made their way on to sass & bide's New York runway.
Now the ``Heather McDonough for sass & bide'' garments are available for sale in-store, while McDonough's classmate Dani
Klein is completing her masters degree at the prestigious Central St Martin's in London.
Look towards the new breed of Brisbane models, and things get even more exciting. Former international model and head stylist
for the MBFF, Liz Golding, has lofty company. Queensland girls Kristy Hinze, Alyssa Sutherland, Miranda Kerr and Catherine McNeill are in big demand, and the face of the festival, Emma Ishta, is
already slated to hit the catwalks of Paris.
``The Queensland models' success story really began back in 1997 with Alyssa Sutherland, who still does extremely well -- she's
just shot a Calvin Klein campaign and her Chanel cosmetic campaign still runs internationally,'' says Cathy Ward of Chic Model Management in Sydney.
``Then there's Catherine McNeill, one of the Top 10 models in the world and the most successful model to come out of Australia
next to Gemma Ward,'' she says, citing Tweed Heads-based Samantha Harris as the next Queensland model poised to crack the international big time.
A style overhaul of Queensland's landscape wouldn't be complete without the boys, who ``are going crazy for menswear right
now'', retailer Natalie Denning says.
``It reminds me of 10 years ago when women were . . . hungry for something new.
``Now the boys are doing it -- finally it's OK for them to say they like fashion.''
Long-time menswear retailer Mitchell Ogilvie echoes Denning's observations. And he thinks his dream of Edward St becoming one
of the great shopping destinations of the world is just around the corner, now that QueensPlaza has provided the street with a ``fantastic bookend''.
``I've had a love affair with Edward St all my life, ever since I used to work in my father's (womenswear and millinery) shop
as a kid,'' he says.
Miuccia, we hope you're listening. Dome Jade Charm
The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival Brisbane opens tomorrow. Visit www.mbff.com.au for details.
FASHION PARADE
* 1870s: Brisbane ladies warehouses begin selling imported Parisian gowns and French millinery
* 1878: Earliest known garments made in Queensland by dressmaker Margaret Scott on Queen St
* 1902: Irish draper Thomas Charles Beirne opens Brisbane's original department store, the historic TC Beirne building, in
Fortitude Valley, becoming the second-most important centre for shopping behind the CBD
* 1957: Brisbane becomes home to Australia's first shopping centre, the Chermside Drive-In Shopping Centre, the first
development of its kind outside the US. (Built by Allen & Stark, it was bought by Westfield about 40 years later)
* 1967: Westfield Toombul opens
* 1970: Westfield Indooroopilly opens
* 1981: The National Retailers Association stages the first RAQ Fashion Awards
* 1983: Moreton TAFE introduces first fashion courses
* 1983: Westfield Strathpine opens
* 1988: Designer Daniel Lightfoot wins his first RAQ Supreme Award; after winning twice more, in 1989 and 1991, he is inducted
into the RAQ Hall of Fame
* 1989: Design duo Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson launch Easton Pearson; in 1998, they show for the first time in Paris
* 1994: At the age of 14, Beaudesert-born model Kristy Hinze becomes the youngest model contracted to appear in Australian
Vogue; in 2000, she cracks the US market after appearing in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition
* 1996: Queensland's first Louis Vuitton store opens in Brisbane on Elisabeth St
* 2002: QUT introduces Queensland's first fashion degree . the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Fashion Design)
* 2002: Former Brisbane girls Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke stage their first international runway show for Sass and
Bide, called Thumbelina, in London; in 2004, they stage their first New York show, Love Hope and
Madness
* 2003: Shopping precinct The Emporium opens in Fortitude Valley
* 2004: RAQ awards relocate to the Gold Coast and are relaunched as Australian Fashion Design Awards
* 2005: Stage 1 of Queens Plaza opens, bringing Tiffany & Co, Max Mara and Canturi to Brisbane
* 2006: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival launches in Brisbane
* 2007: Gold Coast Fashion Week launches
* 2007: Stage 2 of Queens Plaza, Adelaide St, opens, bringing Zimmermann, Gorman, Aesop and G-Star to Brisbane
* 2007: The TC Beirne building is relaunched as the TCB, an initiative to support local up-and-coming designers and retailers
such as Gail Reid (Gail Sorronda), Chelsea de Luca and George Wu
* 2007: Former Brisbane schoolgirl Miranda Kerr becomes the first Australian model to be offered a contract with US lingerie
phenomenon Victoria's Secret
* 2008: David Jones officially opens its flagship store in Queens Plaza
* 2008: Australia's first Project Runway television series launches on Foxtel with two Queensland design contestants, Leigh
Buchanan and Juli Grbac
