Anna&Boy
Last night HRH
joined two of Australian fashion’s hautest
new superstars, Elliot Ward-Fear and PR wunderkind Candice Wyman to help GQ associate
editor Mitchell Oakley Smith celebrate the launch of his new (and soon-to-be- indispensable)
fashion tome, FASHION.
Bumping heels
with the who’s who of Australian fashion, it dawned on a sealskin-clad Despotic
Queen that with one perfectly pitched Molotov cocktail, she could obliterate
90% of the Australian fashion industry.
“We’ll lock the
doors and burn this fucker and everyone inside it to the ground”, cackled
Imelda to Australian PR supremo Rae Begley of Little Hero PR.
Somewhat confused
by the Despotic Queen’s malicious (albeit very serious) intentions, Begley
replied, “If I see you heading for the door, I’ll be close behind.”
But before I got
my uni bomber-on, Wyman pointed out that my scorched earth strategy was inherently
flawed. By taking out all the player-playas, she said, I would inadvertently take
out Oakley Smith.
Hmmm, good point.
Oakley Smith should
be lauded not char-grilled. For in our darkest financial hour, GQ Australia’s resident ‘Style
Shrink’ found a publisher brave enough to back a 700-page book about Australian
and New Zealand fashion. That is no mean feat.
Several weeks ago,
HRH and the Style Tyrant had the pleasure of sitting down with Oakley Smith for
what should have been one of his first interviews, unfortunately Imelda didn’t
pull her shiz together at the time – but better late than never…right?
FASHION is being
billed as the ‘ultimate reference book’
and an ‘indispensable who’s who of those in the
industry’ with publishing house Thames and Hudson claiming, “Not since the
early 80s has there been a publication which offers such an insight into the
work of Australia and New Zealand’s most influential, dynamic and creative
fashion designers.”
As the Tyrant has
already reported, FASHION exceeds the hype - a rarity when it comes to fashion
books written by so-called ‘experts’ and ‘industry insiders’.
FASHION and its
impending success now mark Oakley Smith as a prodigy of sorts for realizing
there was a massive gap in the market for such a book. A label Oakley Smith
laughed off during our early morning tete-e-tete, “I’ve been working on it
[FASHION] for two years and approached 4 publishers before Thames and Hudson
picked up the book.”
Oakley Smith
described the process of writing the book as richly rewarding and cites his
background in journalism as the decisive factor in prompting him to pen the
book.
Bassike
“I was working as
a journalist for News Limited,” says Oakley Smith, “and found that there was no
resource like this for fashion designers. Personally as a journalist, it would
be helpful to have one so that when you are writing stories, you can easily
draw information, even simple biographical information like when a label
started and who the designers are.”
Industry veterans
like WORLD, Zambesi, Easton Pearson, Jonathan Ward and Leona Edmiston bump
heels with crowd-pleasing brands like Romance Was Born, Ellery and Dion Lee.
Oakley Smith was quick to point out that he would have loved to include more
emerging designers like “Magdalena
Velevska, Local Art Base and Christopher Esber” but a cut-off point was needed.
Fear not, Oakley
Smith confirmed that he’s contractually obliged to update the book “every
3-years”.
While there’s no
debating Oakley Smith has created a prolific index of Australian and New
Zealand talent, there are some glaring omissions that will undoubtedly rub many
the wrong way.
HRH noted that
one label not included was Saint Augustine Academy. Like HRH, SAA designer
Alvin Manalo originates from South East Asia and, putting nationalistic
nepotism aside, is considered Australia’s pre-emanate menswear designer.
Given the author’s
background with GQ, I freely admit I find Manalo’s omission a curious oddity.
Oakley Smith concedes
that the collection of 70 designers profiled should be viewed subjectively.
“I’ve been
questioned about my choice of designers,” Oakley Smith admits “and it is
personal. I tried to be as fair as possible and provide a good cross section
but at the end of the day, it’s my book and I had to make some choices about
who I included and who I didn’t.”
Aurelio Costarella
However Oakley
Smith admits that there are some designers he included which weren’t to his
personal liking and when questioned as to why these designers where in, Oakley
Smith replied that he wanted to provide the reader with an “unbiased cross
section” of designers.
Oakley Smith says
he started with a list of 150 designers, which he then edited down to
110. He admits there were a few designers who declined to be interviewed but
for the most part the response was overwhelmingly positive.
Antipodium
As for the
selection criteria, Oakley Smith stated it was imperative that each designer, “designed
their own label and didn’t just have a creative director or another designer in
their place.”
The book’s
creation wasn’t without drama, with Oakley Smith reporting that during the book’s
gestation, a number of the designers he’d short-listed ceased trading. Whilst
he was concerned that one or more of his final 70 might meet the same fate, he
says he tried to ensure that all the designers were currently in business
meaning they were contemporary and that they had unique point of view of their
own style.
All images have been kindly provided by the author
