Why Do You Do IT?

 With the end of the busiest week in Australia for fashion coming to a close with the speech of Peter Morrissey at Fashion Palette, I have to ask the question WHY DO YOU DO IT?

Why do you need the things that you do?
Why do you want the things that you do?
Why do you desire the things that you do?

The resounding theme that came out of this week  is, what is the motivation behind designing fashion, consuming fashion, avoiding fashion, falling all over yourself for fashion, being in the moment for fashion and making mistakes time and time again for fashion.

Why do you buy the brands that you buy? Are you  in control of your decision, is it just about how you feel from one day to the next that determines what you wear?

Does an update on twitter make you align yourself with a brand?
Does a snapshot of a collection on late night news inspire you to visit your nearest department store?

Does your weekly mag like Grazia lead you to a Saturday 8hr shopping spree or your monthly Instyle, Vouge, Harpers, or Cosmopolitan magazine make you want to completely throw out your wardrobe and start again.

Or is it the allure of instant gratification of online shopping that pushes you over the edge, scanning style blogs, looking at haute couture collection video’s from Paris and must have items of the moment on celebrities that are caught in all paces of their hectic lives on paparazzi and gossip sites like Mr Paparazzi.

How does the opening parties, the backstage interviews, the after parties, the opening of fashion week, the pre event launch, the event, the collection creation, the showing, the after party of the after party all contribute to what I experienced about 1hr ago.

A room of over 1000 young designers brought to tears and giving one of Australia’s icons of fashion a standing ovation. People were walking to the microphones one after the after in tears talking about their first time they purchased one his designs.

Talking about how a speech of his in a remote town in the outback of Australia lead them them to be in their final year of fashion design school. Peter said its easy to create a collection in Paris, but its not easy to be standing in a room full of people like you and hearing all the ways in which his designs have touched people’s lives.

His story is amazing and humorous, including recalling the story of how his parents in the last three years of their lives managed to accumulate close to £15,ooo worth of goods taken from their hotel stays as souvenirs that Peter had to pay for.

I think anyone with the privilege of hearing it live will appreciate just how one person can travel all of life’s social structures when one sets out with the simple idea of making the world a better place through creating clothes that people can wear.Peter came from humble beginnings to a 25 year career being close friends with Michael Hutchence from INXS and photographed with Princess Diana.

Fashion is not a living story until someone wears it according to Peter and Coco Chanel said similar when she said fashion is not fashion until it is seen on the street.

Brand loyalty, v’s Fashion Week… a customers thank you and being part of transformation as a result of something you created is I think what is missing from Fashion Week. Collection after collection is shown and the customer gets lost in translation.

It becomes more about who is sitting in front row, who is seen and not necessarily those that are fashion followers. They may be media members, having influence over how the message gets to market but the people that take this fashion to the street and make it their own should never be forgotten.

Peter raised an interesting point to this issue of what is the point of presenting a collection and having no cash left to fill orders for the collection and the cost of showing at a fashion week can be ultimately at the cost of the customer.

Peter urged young designers not to make that mistake, to find backers, and to learn how to stand and be seen while still seeing everyone, especially the customer.

The international fashion illustrator Arturo Elena, whose enchanting images are featured above was also speaking at Fashion Palette and I had the opportunity to meet him and discuss an illustration collaboration for Harlette.  Will keep you posted on this.