Australian Fashion Week founder Simon Lock awarded the 2010 Australian Fashion Laureate

life.com

Now this is a fascinating turn of events. Ten months after IMG Fashion Asia Pacific announced that Rosemount Australian Fashion Week founder Simon Lock would not be renewing his contract in October this year, amidst rumours of a straining of relations between Lock and IMG, which acquired the event in 2005 - and which speculation was only compounded after IMG virtually iced Lock out of this year's 15th anniversary event - Lock has just been announced as the 2010 Australian Fashion Laureate. This is an annual award that was introduced during Lock's tenure of the event as recognition for those who have made a significant contribution to the Australian fashion industry. In a release from IMG Fashion Asia Pacific, general manager Daniel Hill noted "This is a great exclamation mark on Simon's career in the fashion industry. With Rosemount Australian Fashion Week having celebrated its 15th anniversary this year, he should certainly feel very proud". Congratulations Simon. Well deserved. 

A new day dawns at RAFW

So the first two shows of the first day of the soon-to-be post-Simon Lock era of Rosemount Australian Fashion Week have wrapped. The first, a very pretty collection of draped jersey goddess gowns and digital print blouses and maxi dresses from Fashion Week veteran Lisa Ho. Delivered in a nude colour palette jolted by shots of magenta and lichen green, it was an easy, breezy patio-perfect collection with relaxed lines. The same could be said for Ginger + Smart's 'The Transcendent' collection. Jumpsuits ruled, ditto a knockout series of bodycon dresses, fluid trousers, kimono tops and plissé blouses, the best in a spectacular digital print. Obviously an early SS1011 trend. Click here and here to see frockwriter's Posterous pic galleries of both collections. The relaxed mood of the clothes was in direct contrast to the vibe vis-a-vis the seating arrangements of RAFW founder Simon Lock. Lock usually sits in the very first seat on the right hand side at the beginning of the runway. Sitting in Lock’s spot: IMG Asia Pacific general manager Dan Hill (above). According to Lorraine Lock, Lock has been “banned” by Hill from attending many shows and is “beside himself”. Frockwriter will check with Hill for his side of the story (update: when we approached Hill, he suggested we discuss it at another time. According to an IMG source, Lock had to submit a "list" of show requests that he wanted to attend. Lorraine Lock reports a number of those names were crossed off by IMG). In the interim, it's worth noting that in 14 years, Lock always prided himself on never missing a single show. An interesting start to the week.

RAFW SS1011 - The (awkward) 15th anniversary edition

life.com

Frockwriter is not known for sitting back and waiting for the press release. For two years now, we have naughtily preempted IMG Fashion Asia Pacific's release of the Rosemount Australian Fashion Week schedule with our own running draft schedule and this year will be no exception. Herewith, the bare bones of the Spring/Summer 2010/2011 edition, which will take place from May 3-7 at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal. This information, which will be updated, comes direct from the designers and/or their reps, who have, they claim, locked in times. An early adopter in social media stakes (in 2008 RAFW welcomed Bryanboy to what was in fact his first international fashion week, before he headed to the main circuit), IMG has already confirmed that Jak + Jil's Tommy Ton and Susie Bubble's Susie Lau will be attending this year. But they are not, we hear, the only blog stars who are heading downunder. (Garance Doré and Scott Schuman are also expected). (UPDATE 23/04/10: OFFICIAL SCHEDULE NOW ONLINE - WITH FROCKWRITER'S UPDATED DRAFT BELOW).

As for venues, RAFW-goers will recall that last year, the event was downsized from its traditional three venues to two, which was understandable in light of the GFC.

In November, IMG Fashion Asia Pacific's general manager Daniel Hill told WWD:

“Early inquiries about show options also lead us to believe there is a demand for three collection showroom options. Having said that, we are crucially mindful that these are still uncertain times for many businesses, especially those exporting abroad, so we have every intention to offer a range of economical participation solutions".

The schedule is still filling up and there is some indication that the adjacent Museum of Contemporary Art will include an additional venue on top of the regular MCA Showrooms. However frockwriter understands that for the second year in a row, RAFW's former Harbour Pavilion tent, which was traditionally the event's biggest venue, will not be on offer.

There have obviously been a few other developments since November.

In December, the second edition of the company's new Swim Fashion Week showcase was axed (sources say we are similarly unlikely to see a third edition of the company's Hong Kong Luxury Week this year).

Beyond Zimmermann and Seventh Wonderland, which say they are already on schedule, a number of other swimwear brands that were due to participate in Swim Fashion Week are expected to be incorporated into this SS1011 showcase.

Then in February, came the shock announcement, from IMG, that RAFW founder Simon Lock would not be renewing his contract - five years after he sold the event to IMG. The announcement came, curiously, a full eight months ahead of the expiry of said contract.

In a statement, Lock was quoted as saying:

"I look forward to celebrating the 15th year anniversary in May with my IMG and industry colleagues".

The statement continued on to say:

"IMG Fashion’s team structure in the Asia Pacific region will remain the same. Simon Lock, Peter Levy and Martin Jolly will all attend RAFW this season".

On Saturday, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Lock may be persona non grata at the event, which is even more curious. And quite disappointing.

Any Americans unfamiliar with Lock's name just need to imagine 7th on Sixth, or as it is known today, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, without its founder Fern Mallis - who, like Lock, transferred over with the event when it was sold to IMG.

There will undoubtedly be some who will be overjoyed at the news of Lock's departure from RAFW.

From its launch in May 1996, the event was frequently mired in controversy. Lock's intensely competitive nature, moreover, found him at loggerheads with more than one party.

It should be remembered, however, that after several attempts by various parties at launching an internationally-focussed fashion trade showcase in this country, Australian Fashion Week finally put Australian fashion on the map.

It took an aggressive marketer to muster enthusiasm, dazzle sponsors and leverage media coverage.

Equally important: it took a branding professional to bypass the dull, commercial names that could easily have bankrolled the event in its early days, to focus instead on the new emerging designers who would give the event an exciting edge, some of whom were also financially assisted by Lock.

The industry owes him a huge debt of gratitude.



OFF SCHEDULE

THURSDAY 15TH APRIL
12.30 Leona Edmiston, Quay, Overseas Passenger Terminal

WEDNESDAY 28TH APRIL
11.00 Carla Zampatti, by invitation
12.30 Marnie Skillings, Royal Botanic Gardens

THURSDAY 29TH APRIL
TBC The Birthday Suit

THURSDAY 6TH MAY
21.00 Antipodium (cocktail party), venue TBC


RAFW


bold = name not originally on draft schedule (last updated 18/04)
strike = designer cancellation or changed slot

MONDAY 3RD MAY
09.00 Lisa Ho, off-site
10.00 Ginger & Smart, the OPT
11.00 Seventh Wonderland, Cargo Theatre
12.00 Camilla, the OPT
13.00 Lucette, Cargo Theatre
14.00 RTW #1 group show (Carly Hunter, Guanabana, Story by Tang, Uscari)
15.00 Zambesi, Cargo Theatre
16.00 Rachel Gilbert, the OPT
16.45-17.15 The MCA Group Collection and Art Installation Show (Francis Leon, IRO, Kylie Hawkes, Twenty8Twelve by S. Miller)
17.30 Bassike, Cargo Theatre
18.30 Aurelio Costarella, on-site
19.30 Bec + Bridge, Cargo Theatre
20.30 Christopher Esber, the OPT
21.30 Stolen Girlfriends Club, off-site

TUESDAY 4TH MAY
09.00 camilla + marc, off-site
10.00 Zimmermann, the OPT
11.00 Valerie Tolosa Sara Phillips, Cargo Theatre
12.00 Little Joe, the OPT
13.00 Sabatini White, Cargo Theatre
14.00 Sara Phillips, the OPT
15.00 Magdalena Velevska, Cargo Theatre
16.00 RTW #2 group show (Breathless, Gary Yang, Leigh Schubert, Sally Koeswanto)
16.45-17.15 The MCA Group Collection and Art Installation Show (Elissa Coleman, Kirstie Morris, O’Hara Designs, Thulie)
17.30 Flannel, Cargo Theatre
18.30 Nicola Finetti, the OPT
19.30 Friedrich Gray, Cargo Theatre
20.30 Alex Perry, sound stage 7, Fox Studios
21.30 Ellery, off-site

WEDNESDAY 5TH MAY
09.00 Therese Rawsthorne, off-site
10.00 Kate Sylvester, the OPT
11.00 Alice McCall, Cargo Theatre
12.00 Manning Cartell, the OPT
13.00 Bianca Spender, Cargo Theatre
14.00 RTW #3 group show (Mawlai, Anthony Capon, Nana Judy, Premonition, {Un} Naked, A.Concept, Humility Couture)
15.00 Phos Phoro, Cargo Theatre
16.00 Nookie, the OPT
16.45-17.15 The MCA Group Collection and Art Installation Show (Beau Coops, Del Playa Drive, Song for the Mute, TOS)
17.30 Jayson Brundson, Cargo Theatre
18.30 Anna & Boy, the OPT
19.30 Karla Spetic, Cargo Theatre
20.30 Konstantina Mittas, the OPT
21.30 Romance Was Born, off-site

THURSDAY 6TH MAY
09.00 Dion Lee, off-site
10.00 Kirrily Johnston, the OPT
11.00 Gary Bigeni Ae'lkemi, Cargo Theatre
12.00 The Innovators/TAFE NSW (Elliot Ward-Fear, George El-Sissa, Caroline Fuss, Christopher Dobosz, Nicholas Christensen)
13.00 Gary Bigeni, Cargo Theatre
14.00 Lui Hon, the OPT
15.00 Dhini, the OPT
16.00 Swimwear group show #1 Kooey Australia
16.45-17.15 The MCA Group Collection and Art Installation Show (Cilla & Pepe, Efigy49, Kushushu, Penniem)
17.30 Saint Augustine Academy, Cargo Theatre
18.30 Michael Lo Sordo, the OPT
19.30 Fernando Frisoni, Cargo Theatre
20.30 Ruby Smallbone, the OPT
21.30 Gail Sorronda, Cargo Theatre

FRIDAY 7TH MAY
09.00 Arnsdorf, off-site
10.00 Ms Couture, the OPT
11.00 Miss Unkon, Cargo Theatre
12.00 Swim Fashion Week @ RAFW (Agua Bendita, Blackbox Apparel, Karen Neilson Collection, Lisa Blue, Lisa Maree, Rebecca Manning Swim, Roopa Pemmaraju)
13.00 White Sands, Cargo Theatre
14.00 New Generation group show (Louisa Fredrica, Nathan Paul Swimwear, Plasidapparel, By Johnny, Emma Veall, Flowers for a Vagabond, Garth Cook, Ivana-Marija Stipicic, Krysalis, Sim.me.ri.an)
15.00 Annah Stretton, Cargo Theatre
16.00 Swimwear group show #2 Hussy, the OPT
20.00 Ksubi, Royal Hall of Industries, Fox Studios

Simon Lock out at IMG

lifestyleasia.com

Fifteen years after launching Australian Fashion Week - and five years after selling it to IMG - IMG FASHION Asia Pacific managing director Simon Lock will not be renewing his contract according to a just-issued IMG release (below). This is interesting for a number of reasons, which frockwriter doesn't have the time to get into right now. But it's well worth noting that this is the third - and obviously most high profile - senior staff member to depart the event in less than a year after senior PR Cat Rodwell and international marketing manager Jodi Pritchard.

Thursday 11 February 2010, Sydney: IMG Fashion announced today that Simon Lock, Managing Director of IMG Fashion for the Asia Pacific region, will not renew his contract and will be departing the company in late 2010.

Peter Levy, IMG Fashion’s Senior Vice President and Global Managing Director, based in New York, said, “We have been grateful for Simon’s energy and enthusiasm. He has, together with our team in Australia and around the world, made an imprint on our group and on the successful events we have produced in the region over the past few years”.

This year is the milestone 15th year of Rosemount Australian Fashion Week (RAFW), which was founded by Simon in 1996 and was acquired by IMG Fashion in 2005.

“We’d like to thank Simon for his contributions and his relentless passion for promoting Australian designers”, said Martin Jolly, Managing Director of IMG, Asia Pacific. “On behalf of everyone at IMG we look forward to seeing many more professional accomplishments from Simon in the future”.

Simon Lock said, “I am extremely proud of what RAFW has been able to achieve for the Australian fashion industry over the past fifteen years. It is testament to an amazing group of people who have dedicated, in some instances, much of their careers to this important endeavor. With RAFW now part of the global network of fashion weeks managed by IMG Fashion it could not be in better hands for its future growth and development. I look forward to celebrating the 15th year anniversary in May with my IMG and industry colleagues".

IMG Fashion’s team structure in the Asia Pacific region will remain the same. Simon Lock, Peter Levy and Martin Jolly will all attend RAFW this season.

IMG FASHION Asia Pacific md Simon Lock talks disaster planning after power outage before the Zimmermann show

"Sydney Fashion Week" video a mystery to Sydney Fashion Week

Sydney
by videos22

Anyone scratching their head about this "Sydney Fashion Week" video that has just started doing a net whiparound, purportedly authored by UK-based creative director James Warfield, rest assured, you are not alone. Although picked up by Kanye West and a swag of other bloggers, the film did not ring any bells to frockwriter – or, for that matter, Australian Fashion Week founder Simon Lock who, you’d figure, would have a clue. “Maybe he’s got his fashion timings and his Fashion Weeks mixed up” said Lock. As it turns out, the film was created by a Sydney-based film production company called Engine for a February 2005 fashion show staged by Australian department store Myer - at a time when Warfield was working for Engine as an animator. The extent of Warfield's involvement in the film remains to be seen.

UPDATE 21/12 @ 9.30AM The video has since been removed by Warfield from his Vimeo and other accounts, but obviously not quickly enough to avoid reproduction on other online video services, such as the one used by Kanye West (linked above). Although the comments have now also been removed, in two separate web forums yesterday Warfield mentioned that he worked on the video at Engine for two weeks, including weekends.

Warfield describes himself as a creative director of the Leicester, UK-based creative agency Un.Titled.

On his personal website, Warfield lists the video under the banner of “Sydney Fashion Week”, with accompanying graphics describing it as:

“Fashion Week Launch Film Sydney”

A quick glance at what appears to be Warfield’s Vimeo video account provides the following additional information about the video:

—Challenge
Open the Sydney Autumn/Winter fashion show.

—Solution
Blizzards, glass trees and people dressed in snow geese outfits. This film created to open the catwalk extravaganza fitted right in. After presenting initial concepts to the client, I pulled together eclectic footage, abstract elements and music in a restrictive time frame.

—Results
The film set the scene for one of the most glamorous events in the Sydney couture calendar.

In fact, the video was initially created as a backdrop for Myer’s autumn/winter 05 fashion show in February 2005, to coincide with the release of the new winter merchandise in-store.

The event had nothing to do with Australian Fashion Week, the high profile wholesale collections showcase, whose spring/summer edition takes place at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal each May.

The video production was sub-contracted to Engine by the Myer show's production team, helmed by creative director Tony Assness, in collaboration with Victoria and Robert Fisher.

According to Victoria Fisher, Tony Assness sourced the music and directed the clip, which was produced by Engine executive producer Alastair Stephen and creative director Finnegan Spencer. The video is included on Engine's website, as well as that of the Fishers' company, Production Stuff.

Warfield was part a team that worked on the video and may have used footage from his own showreel, said Fisher, who added that Warfield did not liaise with Myer.

Warfield was uncontactable at time of filing.

On Warfield's above-linked Vimeo account, a poster who goes by the name of "Robert Fisher" has just left the following comment:

"Nice animation James to bad it's not for Fashion Week, it was for Myer, I'd love to know which client you spoke to. What about all the other people who worked on this job from Engine they made you look good".

Meanwhile, although this Myer video and AFW might not be connected, there is as it happens a connection between Myer, the Assness/Fisher amalgam and AFW – the bitter history of which makes the mistaken attribution of the video to "Sydney Fashion Week" all the more amusing.

Assness and the Fishers mounted a series of on-schedule, off-site AFW fashion shows from 2002-2005.

Although amongst the most spectacular shows ever witnessed at the event, the trio's off-site show schedule, eventually staged at the Wharf 3 container terminal, became mired in controversy over sponsorship issues.

In 2003, advertising collateral for Volkswagon proved problematic with the main event's naming rights sponsor Mercedes.

In one hilarious incident, Lock was accused of diverting a busload of delegates who were en route between the two venues, until the Volkswagon signage was removed.

Champagne sponsor Moet later jumped ship to the off-site event.

After calling crisis talks with the industry in early 2004 over the future of his eight year-old - and by that stage, cash-strapped - main event (which was acquired by IMG in October 2005), Lock eventually forced Assness and the Fishers off-schedule that year.

Initially proposed as the principle sponsor of the 2004 Wharf 3 shows, Myer got cold feet and plans for a full-scale off-site show schedule collapsed.

The trio continued to work on Myer's season launch shows.

Their last AFW show was Michelle Jank's off-schedule, off-site show in May 2005 - they did not work on Jank's AFW homecoming show in May this year, which coincidentally, had its own spectacular video backdrop, produced by Daniel Askill:



But Jank recently talked about her efforts to hook Assness up in Europe...

Farewell Fashion Week, hello Bananas in Pyjamas

And so it was that the last designer collection of the last show of the last Mercedes Australian Fashion Week came to pass. But no it's not the last Fashion Week to be staged in Sydney. The event will just have a different name as of next season, under a new title sponsor, which is TBC by the event's new owner IMG.

It wasn't the drag queens in the opposite front row which proved the week's biggest revelation. Nor the promo postcard placed on chairs by one of the group New Generation show brands on display last night - a postcard of the iconic, bug-eyed, turnip-faced, 70s re-edition doll Blythe.

"Look, it's Lily Cole," quipped one IMG-ite while pointing to the postcard.

Nor was it the fact that although Tanya G wasn't in this particular show, she appears to have inadvertently influenced a swag of Australian catwalkers, several of whom seem to have suddenly taken to throwing a dramatic, Flamenco-like arched pose at the end of runway before the photographers' pit. I hope no one throws their back out.

And it wasn't Sydney brand Illionaire that was being paraded in front of us either - although its colourful streetwear did prove something of a mini-revelation at the event.

No, it was something said by Lorraine Lock, in the role of designer liaison this year, who was sitting to my left, right next to her husband, head MAFW honcho Simon Lock. Let's call them L1 and L2.

Glancing over at her IMG colleague Josh Flinn who was seated next to the drag queens, L2 suddenly remembered a fascinating morsel of Flinn bio
trivia.

"You know he's B2 don't you?" she said.

"I don't understand," I replied, believing that she may be referring to a vitamin deficiency.

"He's B2 - Bananas in Pyjamas - that's his other job," she said.

I scribble a "B2??" in large letters on my notepad and hold it up in front of me like a scorecard for Flinn to see. I cross my fingers that the drag queens don't jump to the erroneous conclusion that I am rating their outfits.

Flinn spots it and furiously gesticulates the figure "1" with his index finger.

After the show I headed over to talk to him.

Although I did not get to personally examine Flinn's ABC contract, he assures me that he has had one for the past four years. The contract precludes him, he tells me, from being photographed with the BIP suit.

Flinn is not, as it emerged, the B1 who appears on television, but the public face of B1 and who makes all B1's public appearances around NSW. But frankly, given that there's only a 7 foot banana suit between them, who cares?

It was the perfect end to a week peppered with clowns, contortionists and cash grabs, bubble hems, hula hoop artistes and helium balloons. Not to mention the perfect conclusion to an era which has spanned 11 years and which has generated countless headlines and page three girly shots, and during which innumerable dummies have been spat across the runway and copious volumes of hair wrenched out. It's no coincidence that both Simon Lock and Tony Assness are bald.

But there you have it, what you have perhaps long suspected but just
couldn't quite put your finger on: at the core of MAFW lurks a Banana in Pyjamas.

Overwhelmed by my discovery, I conduct an exclusive interview on the spot:-

HAVE YOU EVER TURNED UP FOR WORK IN YOUR B1 SUIT?
Flinn: Sometimes I wish I had because the pants are extremely comfortable and they're very fashion-forward.

HOW DO YOU WASH THE COSTUME?
Flinn: We don't. We have people who wash it in a special centre. There are people who make the suit and fix the suit. It's 7 foot 6 inches.

ARE THERE ANY B1 SKILLS THAT HAVE COME IN HANDY AT FASHION WEEK?
Flinn: Yes, after you have had 700 children begging for your attention, it's very, very easy when you're looking to seat a collection show and you have exactly the same number of people screaming for your attention.

HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO REVERT TO ANY B1 MOVES DURING FASHION WEEK?
Flinn: Jump up and down and clap my hands? I wish. You get a lot more
respect when you're 7 foot 6 inches.

IS THERE ANY TRUTH TO THE RUMOUR THAT SIMON LOCK IS ACTUALLY B2?
Flinn: I wish - we'd be a great team.

BUT HE WOULDN'T WANT TO BE B2 SURELY, HE WOULD WANT TO BE TOP BANANA?
Flinn: Oh definitely, I think I'd have to relegate myself to being B2.



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