Tailor Made For Oz
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday July 10, 1989
IN HIS first major one-man parade, designer Robert Burton will show a summer collection on Friday to an audience of 400 buyers, members of the public and a smattering of press.
Burton has prepared 180 outfits (500 pieces) for the runway, including 36 evening dresses predominantly in black, white and red lace, taffeta and georgette, and says he has "never had a show of this magnitude".
The designer, who is regarded as one of Australia's best tailors, has turned out a collection of soft, fluid shapes in heathery colours - sage green, putty, pumpkin, black with spots, cerise, fuchsia and sea green.
Most of his trousers are pencil shaped but, Burton's hallmark, the jodpur, is also in evidence. "The shapes are less structured, this is predominantly tailored sportswear," he says. And the Trapeze dress and smock emerge as a most distinctive new A-shaped design.
This parade, however, prompts the question: "How should Australian designers best show their collections to retailers and the public and raise the profile of the Australian fashion industry?" Members of the public who do not shell out $75 ("it's a straight runway parade," says Burton, "with a glass of Bollinger champagne") will get their first sighting of Burton's and other summer designer collections through department store parades and magazines.
David Jones, for example, will show "advanced Australian designers" to the public, seating up to 400 at the daily second floor parades in its Elizabeth Street store from July 26-29.
But buyers who come from all over Australia to select clothes for their boutiques traditionally do so during the unofficial "shows", which run from the first week of April through to mid-May.
In these frantic six weeks they stride across Sydney seeing small independent designers in Surry Hills ateliers and the more prominent collections in the successful city west - Sussex and Clarence streets. In most cases designers give exhaustive individual showings to each retailer.
"It would be more efficient for buyers if designers committed themselves to a specific showing period," said Carla Zampatti. "It would give them a deadline to meet for each collection and buyers could be more concentrated and organised in the way they go about seeing each collection."
She praises television as a medium to show fashion to the public, but suggests that showings should take place during specified weeks each season.
"As a result there would be more immediate press coverage and the public would benefit from this. Television could pick the best of the collections and show the new look for summer. This brings the new look to the public as a news story. It generates more interest," said Zampatti.
"It is unacceptable that television does not play a larger part in the fashion industry," said Malcolm Sykes, national merchandising director of fashion for David Jones.
His comment was echoed by Burton who said: "The interest in fashion television coverage was illustrated by the bicentennial wool collection in January last year. I think the public ought to have the option of seeing seasonal fashion before it hits the department stores."
Designer Wendy Heather is "amazed" there is so little television coverage of fashion in Australia. "If designers worked together and elected to show their collections over a short, specific period we may see more news coverage."
She also commented that "American television takes the fashion industry seriously, showing the key lines of each individual designer each season".
Andy Lloyd James, head of television at SBS, says if he were to "raise the profile of fashion in Australia he would do it with a short series on leading designers throughout the country. I would be surprised if there was not a strong response to this."
Television stations do cover fashion but this may not be the solution to the problem. Channel Nine says it has the highest fashion content and include it in current affairs and news, the Ray Martin and Today shows, while Channel Seven says that when a good fashion story breaks it always gets news coverage
What is hidden between the lines is television's quest for a gimmick - a G-string banned at Bondi will take precedence over the emergence of the sarong as the most sensitively styled garment for the season, and one which currently looks set to be perfected by our designers.
Annemaree Fitzgerald, organiser of the Fashion Design Council of Australia's Nescafe Fashion '89, a show of independent designers(coincidentally on the same night as Burton's parade) said, "In order to show the Australian designer collections during a specific period the movement has to be designer led and backed up with assistance from the industry.
"Europe and America have the answer," she said, "with runway shows organised by the industry - in France the Chambre Sydicale de Couture, in Britain the Fashion Council. But this is not apt for Australia. We are not showing to an international audience, we are showing for a domestic market."
Annemaree's solution to the problem is to advocate a fashion body to bring a sense of organisation to the way designers show their collections.
Malcolm Sykes spells it out further. "The French shows cost over $250,000 to mount. I have seen designers like Sonia Rykiel show with as many as 80 models, the cost of that alone (at $2,000 per model) is $160,000. Australia is not selling to the world." Sykes queries whether our designers are even ready to sell to the world. He reminds us of those designers who have come unstuck in the American market.
When designers, supported by the industry at large, choose to work together, to hang out a metaphorical banner and announce that they are showing to retailers over a designated number of weeks each season, they may find that a strong overview of the season's look emerges and brings a new attention to the industry.
Robert Burton's salon showing for the Mater Lives Committee is on Friday, at 6.30pm at the Regent Hotel, Sydney.
© 1989 Sydney Morning Herald