Model Amy wears Alexi Freeman and Tessa Blazey dress to mark the collaboration between Alexi Freeman, Studio Two Can and retailer Dedece as a part of Windows by Design. Image by Jo Duck.
An inspiring cultural and events program supports the 2014 Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival (VAMFF) this March with a focus on creating a stimulating conversation between business, retailers and consumers. ‘The program is substantially bigger than it’s ever been which is terrific,’ said Festival CEO Graeme Lewsey.
The VAMFF cultural program celebrates fashion, beauty and creative business with events for consumers as well as the industry. ‘There are over 100 events in our cultural program which is a fantastic outcome. We’ve taking events that are far beyond just the runway show and really making sure that fashion is both reaching consumers and influencing the thought leaders,’ said Lewsey.
Lewsey hopes that the VAMFF program will create dialogue and intrigue for all visitors to the festival, and the broader consumers of fashion at large.
‘It really puts VAMFF ahead of other fashion initiatives because of that reason. We’re creating a curated fashion event for the public, as opposed to putting a fashion event or a typical fashion event targeted to industry. Our vision is the polar opposite. It still maintains integrity, a world class stage but keeping it accessible.’
‘I love the concept of design existing in everyday lives. The great thing is just the real passion for celebrating creativity, which is what the festival is built on. It really is the DNA of the festival and embracing a real curated schedule of events,’ he said.
With a renewed focus on the visual arts, workshops, online content and other events, the 2014 VAMFF cultural program is backed by Australia’s leading public institutions, not for profit and commercial art spaces alongside creative individuals to offer a diverse range of free and ticketed activities.
Lewsey said that the festival team have worked hard to create a program addressing the big challenges facing creative small business. ‘We wanted to create the best possible platform for creative industries to shine. Creativity is subjective and that is part of its brilliance. Fashion, runway shows and all our cultural events are no different,’ he said.
Model Ash wearing Leonard St interacts with the Windows by Design collaboration between Amy Wright Wunderplant and retailer Leonard St. Image by Jo Duck.
This year’s theme of See.Feel.React also shatters past misconceptions of the festival as being inaccessible to non-industry visitors. ‘We went into curating a program that was full of enormous creative integrity and making sure that everything we do really is accessible to consumers,’ said Lewsey.
Lewsey hopes that visitors to the festival will embrace this motto and follow their curiosity to discover some of the fantastic VAMFF events on offer. ‘One of the themes coming out strongly around the world was the notion of business keeping consumers engaged across multiple senses. It’s a really simple motto, which says come to the festival to see, feel and react.’
Following a successful debut last year, the Fashion Film Series returns to celebrates fashion in all forms with a collection of short fashion films created by the country’s most talented filmmakers. ‘It’s important to recognise filmmakers, short films and visionary treatments that have a really great conversation with fashion, and to also enable young filmmakers to feel encouraged to keep making these fantastic films,’ said Lewsey.
Presenting partners Emporium Melbourne and RUSSH, with the support of screening partners ACMI, Fed Square and Val Morgan has seen a competitive applicant pool, with the recent top 10 entrants selected and announced by an esteemed judging panel.
Among the Fashion Film Series program is Finnigan where filmmakers Jarred Osborn and Julian Lucas have embraced imagery from nature to captures the minimalist essence of the Finnigan swimwear range, with slow booming sounds from musician Hayden Calnin.
Infini by Elli Ioannou features the choreography and performance of Dru Blumensheid, who wears clothing by Material by Product, Robyn Black and Karla Spetic. While the static cinematography pays homage to Andy Warhol, editing techniques such as repetition, long takes and the manipulation of time reinforces the connection between performance, self-expression and fashion.
The moving image does not have a monopoly on promoting fashion. Windows by Design identifies store windows as one of most effective fashion billboards during the festival.
Presented by City of Melbourne, the initiative pairs leading Australian creative with some of the City of Melbourne’s most recognisable brands and stores to transform their retail windows into a stylish landscape of artistic installations for the month of March.
‘We really try to encourage retailers to embrace the festival but also encourage collaboration. Three years ago the festival came out with a theme very much around collaboration as the future success of the industry,’ said Lewsey.
‘Windows by Design is a legacy of that thought process and is a way of getting collaborating artists to work together and produce really stimulating windows.’
Among the designers taking part in the program is Christopher Esber, who has partnered with David Jones to bring his modernised take on feminine dressing to the public. ‘Christopher has worked with David Jones but it’s more than just the textile and cut of his designs. It’s his whole vision and collection,’ said Lewsey.
The VAMFF Offsite Runway Series features new works by Nixi Killick.
VAMFF also caters to the independent sector of the fashion industry. In the Offsite Runway Series, a series of solo pop up shows styled across Melbourne reinvents the runway to support the unique creative visions of participating designers including Nixi Killick and Viktoria + Woods.
‘There are some very independently spirited designers and brands out there that don’t necessarily want to conform to the bigger showcases. We wanted to embrace that and one of the ways to do that is to let them go on their own journey and capture that within the program as one of the events,’ said Lewsey.
Indeed it is the independent self-produced events within the VAMFF cultural program that have often proved to be the most successful. Lewsey remembers a runway event held by Pageant at last year. ‘It was so different and a huge success. It’s really important during the festival that we can accommodate that,’ he said.
‘We’re not building a runway show for the sake of it. We’re carefully curating it and it’s no different to a museum or art gallery. We’re building a program that we think is relevant. That’s one of the most thrilling parts of VAMFF, that evolution of the festival each year.’
A full schedule of over 100 unique and inspiring cultural program activities runs from 1 to 31 March alongside the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival’s core program of runway, beauty and business events from 17 March to 23 March.For more information, including the full program and tickets visit the VAMFF website.
