Australian INfront

Michaela Griffiths-Leese has played an integral role in nurturing the young designers of the Australian Fashion Industry as well as in ensuring the growth of the industry as a whole.Michaela nurtured her design skills by studying fashion, not in the hopes of becoming a designer but merely to learn to sew. After graduating from her Diploma in Fashion Technology she went onto specialize in accessories. She has worked for the likes of Andrew McDonald, Pigs in Space, YPV and Sole Accessories. This led Michaela to branch out and launch her own label Sage&Sebastian, which showed at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in SS05/06 & SS06/07.

Finally Michaela was offered the role of Designer Relations Manager at IMG, which she is currently on maternity leave from until the end of 2010.During her time with IMG Michaela has been responsible for liaising with designers and buyers across two of Australia’s major fashion events, Rosemount Australian Fashion Week (RAFW) and SWIM Fashion week. She also coordinated the satellite program of all things Fashion, Art and Design for the consumer fashion event Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival.

Over her years in this role Michaela has assisted many designers in launching their careers both nationally and internationally. Michaela has a keen eye for spotting budding designers and a passion for helping them succeed.In addition to speaking at Higher Learning, Michaela will be launching her new business initiative Fashion Business in a Box (FBIB).

Michaela’s own extensive knowledge of the fashion industry as well as that of all the designers she has worked alongside and assisted on their path to success is being wrapped up into a tidy box of priceless information.The box contains templates to assist up and coming designers in their fashion journey from A to Z. Michaela has included complete templates for everything you need to create a sound business and marketing plan in addition to other business necessities such as line sheets, spec templates, order books and example business cards. She has also included further information on where to find more resources for all things fashion business related.

http://www.rafw.com.au

Michaela provided specific information about showing at RAFW (the average cost of a show is $40,000 minimum – although Alex Perry spent $250,000 this year) and  whether it is better to show a collection on the catwalk, off-site or at some of the closer venues. She was very specific about emphasising the role of RAFW as a business to business and marketing event.  Emerging fashion designers should be very clear about what their goal is when deciding to participate at the event. Participating designers have to already have a strong brand presence, production and manufacturing locked down and most importantly have the ability to be able to deliver on product.

The little details tend to be overlooked and it was these details that Michaela focussed on. Fashion designers need to have look-books (professional shots of garments), linesheets (detailed garment, fabric, sizing, pricing information), order sheets, swingtags, garments that are finished (it is common for new designers to present unfinished garments to potential buyers) and most importantly, designers need to have business cards with a distinct logo and contact details.

Ultimately, the most important piece of information that Michaela had to share was that fashion is a business and that the business of fashion is possibly more important than creating beautiful garments.  Being a fashion designer is devoid of the glamour that is represented in the pages of glossy fashion magazines; it is intensely hard work that does not offer a great return for the majority of aspiring designers.  Young emerging fashion designers are encouraged to get a job in the industry while they develop their business and technical skills. Michaela encouraged the aspiring designers to seek a jobs in fashion retail, PR, sales and hospitality and to hold on to those jobs up until their fashion label begins to bring in an income.

Michaela also emphasised the importance of brand to a fashion label. Designers should have a clear understanding of who they are, what their brand represents and aim to tell a consistent story that provides and insight into what the brand is about.  She encourage emerging designers to engage a sales representative as soon as their finances allow for it.

Overall, the session was aimed specifically at aspiring fashion designers and providing them with the necessary details for preparing to launch a fashion label.  The session was both detailed and informative and valuable knowledge for a large number of attendees.