Last week, I attended Mercedes Benz Fashion Week for the whole glorious week!
It is my most favourite week of the year.
Industry professionals line up eagerly each and every year to view the current landscape of Australian fashion and the ever increasing talent of the emerging designer market.
As always, I am there to champion, encourage, and cover editorially, the high stakes game of Australian fashion. The designers, established and emerging, and their often forgotten, phenomenal creative teams.
It was a great privilege to see these very talented individuals forging ahead in the Australian fashion scene and I can only hope that it continues with great vigour.
“Project NextGen is an initiative that is intended to provide a platform to discover and support emerging Australian fashion designers. By connecting these gifted individuals with an experienced panel of industry insiders, the program mentors Australian talent to help them hone a broad range of skills and elevate their profile through industry connections and ongoing business support”.
The winners this year were Anna Quan, Holystone (Renee Sealey), Jason Hewitt, Kaliver (Roni Cross), Monster Alphabets (Sarah Ryoko Watanbe), and Third Form (Merryn Kelly). Judged by the following panel, Edwina McCann (Editor-In-Chief Vogue Australia, Kellie Hush (Editor-In-Chief Harper’s Bazaar Australia), Justin O’Shea (Buying Director mytheresa.com), Emily Weight (Director Fashion IMG Australia), Eva Galambos (Director & Buyer Parlour X), Chris Buchanan (GM Ellery), Donna Player (Merchandise Director David Jones), and Kelly Francis (Fashion Director MADE), we now find ourselves watching the final product. Project NextGen 2016.
Jason Hewitt showed his Resort 17 Collection.
Get out of H&M and Topshop and Forever New, and all that crap. It’s bad for the environment and it’s bad for you. Ultimately it won’t satisfy. Start buying quality, and curate a wardrobe of things you cherish.
That. Is. Style.
Jason Hewitt
Jason Hewitt Resort 17 Collection | Photographer | Stefan Gosatti | Getty Images
LM
What is the philosophy behind your label?
JH
It’s two fold.
Firstly, Every aspect of your business should be as sustainable and ethical as possible and should not define one as a designer.
Secondly, I enjoy creating pieces that I am proud of and which resonate with people.
LM
What is the inspiration behind your label?
JH
Depends really, it’s so varied. I’m inspired by life, but that sounds a bit new-age-hippy for me. I like contemporary art, culture, reading. I was looking at an interview with JW Anderson recently where he said he wants Loewe to come from a place of culture – I think I agree with that. I’m so fascinated by different cultures, and how they’re presented and old traditions are updated. I think that’s what drives a lot of the things I’m interested in.
Jason Hewitt Resort 17 Collection | Photographer | Stefan Gosatti | Getty Images
LM
What do you think of today’s street fashion?
JH
There’s not really much to think. People should wear what they feel good in. It’s not really my place to have an opinion on it (I dress like an absolute slob most of the time) but I do sometimes take inspiration from the way people put things together.
The street fashion thing feels a bit like an Oroborous these days. Trends are taken from the street and then fed back, like a closed loop. I don’t know if that’s going to generate anything new in terms of design so I do wonder if street fashion isn’t just becoming rather watered down … Normcore, a trend so boring it didn’t need to be named.
LM
Lol! (Normcore is a unisex fashion trend characterized by unpretentious, average-looking clothing).
LM
What advice would you give to aspiring fashion designers?
JH
Learn how to make clothes, properly, before you start designing them. Take your inspiration from anywhere, but avoid looking at other designers unless it’s for a historical point of reference or a preferred silhouette. Look at other designers work from a construction point of view not design. Go to museums, read books, get off your phone, close your computer and take it all in. The internet is a great resource but it’s not the same as the real thing.