March 2, 2025 • 30 mins
Celebrating the Women of the Melbourne Fashion Festival.
Caroline Ralphsmith – known to all as Ralph – has had a rich and layered career that started over 30 years ago in manufacturing, flowed through to finance, strategy consulting, insurance, sport, and major event leadership, and ultimately led to the fabulous Melbourne Fashion Festival today.
However, the foundations remained consistent - a relentless focus on problem solving, creativity, innovative thinking, strategy, teamwork, a can-do approach and having fun.
Australia is home to some remarkable women.
They’re raising foster families. Running cattle stations. Living inspirational lives. Yet, many of their tales of triumph are never profiled, never celebrated. So we’re changing that… every week.. through our Women Of Influence Podcast.
Women of Influence Podcast with Kate Meade for iHeart Radio
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Women of Influence podcast. I'm your host,
Kate Meete, and it is so great to be back
in your ears. I would like to acknowledge the traditional
owners of the land in which this podcast was recorded,
and I pay my respects to their elders past and present,
and the Aboriginal elders of other communities who may be
(00:20):
listening today.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is a.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Special five part series in partnership with the Melbourne Fashion Festival,
celebrating the extraordinary women of the Melbourne fashion industry. Australia
is home to some remarkable women. They're raising foster families,
running cattle stations, living inspirational lives. Yet many of their
tales of triumph are never profiled and never celebrated. So
(00:46):
we're changing all that through our Women of Influence podcast.
For more information about our Women of Influence the Melbourne
Fashion Festival edition, please check out our show notes and
of course the Women of Influence socials. And as always,
if you have a woman in your life that needs
to be celebrated and we all need to hear her story,
(01:08):
please connect with us. We would love to hear from you.
Thank you so much always for your support and I
hope that you smile as much as I did recording
these episodes. These episodes were recorded via zoom in Melbourne,
and you know I love address.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Ralph. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Be here now. Twenty twenty three was when you first
took over this mammoth role, and we will get to
that later because really the first question is how did
we get here. Take me back to the feel of
the fabric and making your own dresses to go to
your own events. With that thought in your mind, go
(02:00):
you know, I just don't want to be wearing what
everyone else is wearing.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
I think it's all started back when my mum did
a dressmaking course as part of her education journey. She
never became an actual official dressmaker as such, but she
herself also made her own clothes and used to tell
lovely stories of how her dad would let her not
wear shorter skirts, so she'd make a little short skirt,
pop it under a long skirt and then whipped the
(02:25):
long skirt off and have a little short milli underneath
that she'd made herself, and so those stories I think
inspired me.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
She always had a sewing.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Machine on the inn of our kitchen bench, and I
learned how to sew through her. And so many of
the stores aren't there now, but just poring over the
limb crafts of the world and looking for a bargain
of a bit of a bolt of fabric and working
on what to do with it. And for me, it
came most to a head at the end of school
and UNI days, when there were all these lovely university
balls that everyone seemed to be able to afford a
(02:54):
new dress for.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
But I was earning.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
I think about six dollars an hour sports go, and
couldn't we afford them, And so my mum would help
me find a beautiful, shiny green taffeta or something to
whip into some very blousey looking, probably quite an ugly
looking thing. But as a result, I was always able
to have something that was a bit different and a
bit new. And some of them worked well and some
(03:18):
of them didn't. But that sense of creating your own,
you know, your own image stuck with me from then on,
and I loved it.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I'm curious about mums because they shape so much of
not just who we are, but those those lessons that
sometimes spill out of our mouths before we even know it.
And I think about my mum at times, and she
would say, you know, she was obsessed with girdles. You know,
you would just would not allow to go out unless
you had a girdle. And I grew up having to
(03:47):
grab the back of her one piece and olwysted up
as high as I could, and things like that. You know,
they stay with you as adult women. You know, what
was your mum's fashion tip? You know, take me back
to if she was working on the sewing machine and
teaching her at that time, she would have had very
clear doos and doats about not just fabric, but the
(04:10):
way something sits on a woman.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
She was very much about making sure that you finished
things off as well as you could as a homemade
dress designer, so quality was really important to her finding fabrics.
We often would find a fabric that was really good
quality and was a bargain then necessarily being the coolest
or the nicest of the day. So I certainly ended
up some very nice, well made outfits that perhaps was
(04:32):
still a little bit daggy, and particularly because they were
made by me, probably even more so.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
But that sense of quality and that sense of doing
things well.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
And you made mentioned of it before, but I think
from a fairly young age, I.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Can tell of something silk or pretending to be silk.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
I can tell if someone something's got really beautiful quality
behind it, just because I've spent a lot of time
doing those things and feeling the fabric. I think from
her point of view was just she had a natural
element of style, and I didn't really realize it until
a few years later. I remember looking back at a
photo of my mom and dad going out.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
My mum was wearing a.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Hot pink white buttoned pants suit with short sleeve. A
little bit I don't know, as if she was going
in a safari somewhere where everything was pink, but I
know that when I saw her when the photos, no
one else was wearing that stuff. And at the time
that was just what she did, That's what she wore.
But I look back on that now and think it's
just one of those you just absorbed that stuff without
even realizing it. And Mum didn't mind standing out. She
(05:29):
liked looking great and she was very confident in her
in style. And I think that is a little contagious
as well, you know, when you grow up with that
around you.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
People can't see us at the moment and we're recording,
but we've both been using our fingers a lot when
we're making a gesture in terms of the touch and
the feel of fabric. So you can spot a certain fabric.
You talked about the silk and things like that. Tell
me what it feels like in your fingers.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Yeah, there's and there's obviously different weights of silk as well,
but that's slipperiness, the the weight that even if you
crush it with your hands, it doesn't necessarily crush. Beautiful
quality silk has that heft to it that both gives
you the resilience you can get in the car and
put a seatbt on and not be worried that by
the time you get the five minutes down the road
(06:15):
you look like a crushed mess.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You can see that, you can feel it.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
In a fact, you can see the way it moves
and hangs, and if it's all made well as well,
you also notice that in the hanging of it, that
there's something very special about putting on a beautiful silk,
or even a very beautiful wall that is not as
heavy as it might look. But still retains its shape.
Those things I think are really important. They're also expensive,
and so it's one of those things that it is
(06:39):
a bit of a luxury to have them.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
But I don't know.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
I'm a bit of a fan of recycling and up cycling,
and so looking and scanning along lines of pieces that
are a little older and spotting some of those quality pieces.
I think is it's I love the hunt, and I
think the hunt quality helps if you've got a sense
of what you're looking for.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
You mentioned sports Girl earlier, with that your very first job.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
I think I had a really bad cafe job at
Knox City shopping Center that I can't remember. I'm sure
I was fired. I actually can't remember it. I didn't
last very long. It was very grimy and not me
at all. But let's say sports Girl was my first
real job, because I think i'm blocking that other one.
And I started there in your tent, so about as
soon as you could legally work. I was doing sort
(07:23):
of Thursday nights, Friday nights and Saturday mornings in the
beautiful Big Spots got at the time, which was in
Colin Street was I.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Think it was sports Girl Center, and it's evolved over
Australian fashion. When you look at it as a whole
and as a brand and as a company, what did
you learn in that role that was important, just personally,
something that you've taken with you all the way through.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
As a sales assistant, you can be really borded to
stand there, or you can decide to really get connected,
and I get bored quite quickly. So I found myself
having doing one or two things, either having good conversations
and over time learning how a conversation with a customer
can either be annoying or actually helpful, So making sure
that someone knows that you're there, but also helping maybe
(08:07):
suggest that when they're picking up something that looks a
certain way, giving them some ideas of word, they might
find something similar to that, and then really getting them
to if they're looking for it, to trust you. And then,
because I knew the stuff so well, the idea of
being able to pull things out and pull out your
favorites or even maybe some things that weren't favorite but
you could see might be something good for somebody else.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Doing that.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Otherwise it was reorganizing remove like just playing and creating
something to do, physically moving things around, making sure everything's tidy,
that sense of really having something to do that possibly
made it all look so tidy people didn't want to
even touch it.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Perhaps at the time.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
It's a little bit like at home when I plumped
my couch and then my kids sit on it. I
just want to shoot myself, like I just plumped the couch,
What are you doing? Sitting on the couch might have.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Been the same thing.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
All of the hangars would have been lined up perfectly,
So when it comes to me came in and moved them,
I'm like, God, I've got to go back and do
the hangers again.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
But keeping yourself.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
Busy and I think hopefully doing something that supports the
customer experience in the process was probably what I took
away from that.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
My apologies for jumping around a little bit. You spoke
about something too, about the making of your own dresses
for these balls, and mention one of my favorite words,
which is creativity. With creativity, I'm always fascinated around this space,
these conversations around it. Are you born creative or do
(09:27):
you get creative? You might not be good at something
at the beginning, but you have a flare or a
taste for something, and that's what keeps driving you through.
What's your thoughts on creativity, because let's face it, fashion
in Australia is and fashion in Melbourne is one of
the hubs of creativity. All up.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
I think there are some people that just gravitate to
creative stuff, whatever that might be. It might be art,
it might be creating something else. But I also think
you can be introduced to it or learn and watch
and feel and grow with creativity. So I don't think
it needs to be one thing or the other. And
I would consider myself, I would consider mus probably a
(10:12):
creative thinker, but I'm not a designer. I'm not a
creative designer. But creativity can be and you know, with
absolute love to all the accountants out there, you can
be and I don't mean creative accounting in the illegal sense,
but you know, seeing about how to creatively use your
your own skills to help others. I think creativity comes
in lots of different ways, and you don't have to
(10:34):
necessarily be in the arts to be creative.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
And I've certainly seen that.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
For the first twenty years of my career, I wasn't
at all doing much creative in a career sense, but
the idea of problem solving and thinking about things differently
and pulling in lateral thoughts and encouraging others to do
that and see people learn in that process and come
up with some solutions to what might.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Be quite dry topics sometimes.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
But that sense of creating a solution to things I
found que addictive quite early on. And it hasn't always
been to do the physical creativity. You know, when I
make my own clothes, I was always using a simplicity
passion or something I would try and do a few
I might add a frill here, or I might try
and change things, and that's why some of them didn't
always work, because I would add a flourish that perhaps
(11:16):
didn't quite land. But I would never claim to be
anything like the beautiful designers that we now deal with today.
But I think I have really got a sense of
recognizing that individuality and that creativity, and because I get
energy from it, I love it. So I gravitate to
creative people and creative things, no matter where they are.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
So twenty twenty three you've taken on Melbourne Fashion Festival.
I mean you just have to take it on board, right,
You just have to hear it all is now go forth,
and now we're a couple of years down the track,
you get to maybe start putting those fingerprints over this.
And I am seeing different programs and little initiatives starting
(11:54):
to weave its way into this festival. What's something that
you've been proud of in this time time since taking
over the event?
Speaker 4 (12:02):
So I started, not only did I start in twenty three,
but I started in August of twenty three, and as
you know, the festival.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Star sorry it's a short run up.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
And then in fairness to my team, most of my
team started even later than that. And so the first
one that we did it was it was the first
one that was largely untouched by any COVID hangover, but
there was. It was a really it was a huge challenge,
not just because trying to do a major event is
a challenge anyway, but everybody was coming out of COVID.
There was lots of demand and so just navigating finding
(12:36):
who can help us to do A B and C
with pretty much no corporate memory because COVID had really
reduced the team to something very small. My predecessor had
become unwell. He's healthy now, thank goodness, but he had
moved on, his team had moved on, so without really
sort of a little bit like the blind lid in
the Blind with a very short runway, no pun intended.
(12:57):
And so the fact that we actually landed really lovely
event in that year is something to be It's not
my most proud achievement, but the fact we got to
it and we managed to get the support for the
industry that we wanted to really provide, and we ought
to do that in that year. I am both very
relieved but also very proud that we were able to
(13:18):
do that. The cycle is that you just work through
delivering something and then quite quickly work out well, what worked,
what didn't work, what's changing around us that we need
to listen to, who's changing around us that we need
to sort of watch and sort of consider, and then
how do we very quickly get ready for it again.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So people often ask me what do I do when
the festival's not on.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
It is intensely full time the whole time, just with
different things in different moments, and so I hope my
proudest moment is about to happen, to be honest, because
I've been proud of this will be my third festival.
Have been proud of both of them, but the team
that we have now are just so extraordinary, and everything
that we're doing and planning for I can see is
just elevated from where we were even last year. So
(14:00):
I am very excited to sort of look at how
we've adjusted this fabulous major event that is unlike other
fashion mix around the world, which are largely for press
or for industry, this is about the consumer coming and
absolutely loving what they're seeing and recognizing fashion as a
creative art, but as a creative art that's a bit
more like a sport. So we've sort of pointed the
(14:22):
term fashion is a spectator sport a little bit in
that you absolutely can come and watch these gorgeous pieces
on the runway, you can buy them at the same time, too,
but really getting engaged, sharing.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
If you think something's amazing, whooping, if.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
That's what takes your fancy, and really creating this wonderful
mix of what is a major event, fashion creativity, and
a tiny bit of sport in the in a very
loose sense, you know, we've got our heroes of the
designers or the retailers that are surviving this industry because
it's tough, and so really making sure we're putting something
in front of everyone that really adds that economic value
(14:57):
to them pretty quickly and keeps our industry strong and
health see, is what we're aiming for, and I'm hoping
this year we're going to do it better than ever.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You mentioned sport there, and I did see that at
the time of this recording that you've got a couple
of AFL and AFLW players being represented on runways and
it's one of those funny things that when you go
through the breadth of the program, it's again I kept
thinking about you cannot be what you cannot see. You've
got accessible shows. Number one, you're representing people with disability,
(15:30):
lots of different backgrounds. Women over the age of forty,
you know, will be gracing the runway. You know that
never existed twenty years. Heaven forbid, when did those conversations happen?
Because they are the news GRIBs, right, they are the
things that people say, Wow, you know, I'm sorry, what
a shame that that made the news that Wow, we've
(15:52):
got a person in a wheelchair for the first time,
you know, and you think, wow, why weren't we doing this? Earlier,
but when these conversations start happening in terms of okay,
at Melbourne Fashion Festival, we want to make sure that
we are not just diverse, but we are making sure
that it is the consumers can see themselves in these
(16:15):
pieces as well as be taken away by the grandeurine
fantasy that can be a fashion show.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
So when I first started, we did adjust a little
bit the strategy around creating shows that had a reason
for being. So we have been a long standing and
highly successful consumer show for many many years. In fact,
this will be our twenty nights. But when I started
in twenty three, we really gathered around this idea that
we will have twelve perium wrong ways, and we want
(16:44):
each of them to have a reason for you to
come and enjoy it, and that means that they'll be different.
So you might want to come to many of them
because they will actually be different, not just because of
the wonderful designers that differ. But if you are passionate
about sustainability or circularity or in fashion, we've got something
for you. If you're passionate about a beautiful gown that
you'll never be able to afford, we'll have a little
(17:05):
secret surprise coming up soon, but beautiful dresses that are
worth many, many, many, many thousands of dollars. That's such
a beautiful opportunity to see something you wouldn't otherwise see.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Then we've got something for you.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
If you want to see brilliant First Nations designers, we've
got something for you. In fact, hopefully we've got many
things for you and many reasons to come, because as
a festival, we want people to come and enjoy it
for the purpose of enjoying it, not only because the
design is there, but because it gives you a sense
of real community and connection with that community. And so
(17:37):
the couple of ways we do that is to say,
what's really important at the moment in fashion? What are
the topics we feel proud about or we feel are
important to be proud about or to be at least
putting on the table to work with everyone on, such
as circularity and really thinking about some of the challenges
that the fashion industry has. We have an opportunity to
put a whole suite of designers and retailers on a
runway that are absolutely flying the flag around that. So
(18:00):
for me, that's a real sense of both responsibility but
also an opportunity for joy to see that sense of upcycling,
recycling and rewaring and having them all together, because we'll
have someone like eight or nine designers in that runway,
the f the invisible runway, which is lumen of a
certain age, and I don't know that it's forty.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
I know that it's definitely.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Oh, I've made it. I've made an assumption. Sorry, I don't.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
I've been a little bit avoiding of it, because honestly,
it's any woman and you can be you can be
any agent feel very visible. And I think you can
also be any agent be you know, not feel visible,
but that sense, you know, dars really feel like we
have something like eighty two.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Percent of our audience or female. And so how do.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
We use that opportunity to show how you can actually
look amazing and how someone that's in the fifty sixty, seventies,
even eighties can perhaps have a really bright color eyeshadow
and a gorgeous red jacket and look absolutely fabulous. And
how do you how do you do that? How do
you carry it? And what about if you perhaps you
don't like the way you're the bottom half of you looks,
(19:00):
But then if you love how the top off it?
How do I go about that? What can I wear
as an older woman? And to me you've had mentioned
you can't be what you can't see. But I think
there's that sense of just sometimes we just need a
little bit of guidance on how to go about things.
And if you've got a show like we have, and
you've got so many looks coming out, you can pick
and choose and say that looks great on her, but
it wouldn't we wait for me?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
But goodness, that looks amazing? How do I do that?
Speaker 4 (19:23):
And so allowing us to be celebratory of ourselves, our
mothers and our grandmothers, and having even younger women and
men celebrate older women as well, I think is fantastic.
And so that's another area that we felt really passionate about.
We're very passionate about supporting first nation designers as well.
The creativity that sits in that part of the world
is just extraordinary and it's so unique obviously to Australia.
(19:46):
So making sure that platform is bigger opportunity as possible
is something really important AFL. On the other hand, we
also look left and right, we have all these amazing
major events that's sit in Melbourne. So we really try
and partner with as many of those major events as
possible and hopefully bring a bit of style to them,
but also give them a chance to do something fun
with us. And so this is actually a partnership with
the AFL that we're doing on the Saturday night and
(20:08):
a local brand called Homie that's very committed to being
local and doing the right thing by fashion and so
AFL have combined with them and they're got a whole
new range of their merchandise coming out and so we're
going to pep that into the runway and as part
of that we've got all these amazing you know, AFL stars.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
It will be walking.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
So these things come are about in different ways. Sometimes
it's purely for the joy of something in fashion. We
have a brand new runway this year called Resort Where
because that's what Australians do so well and we all
want to think about holidays. So it comes organically both
through people share with us our observations and work that
we do.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Some of the team ideas, we throw.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
A lot of things against the wall and then over
time we work through them and they land in the
final program.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Welph when the festival is happening, do you ever get
to take that sit down for a minute and take
a book with and go, yeah, wow, look what we've done.
The exhibition building is one of the most beautiful in
the world. But in a previous life, when I used
to work in festivals and events and things like that,
(21:10):
it was very rare to be able to sit. But
some of my greatest memories was standing at the Melbourne
Town Hall and watching it absolutely filled with people and
just thinking, Wow, this is happening. This dream has come alive.
You know. Do you get a chance to really pause
and reflect on look at this, Look what we did
(21:31):
together as a city, as a team, as an industry.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
I think I think the answer is yes, And I
also think you have to engineer that as well.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
It's a bit like life, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
If you don't stop and pause and enjoy it, then
suddenly it's gone and you've missed that opportunity.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So sometimes you have to remind yourselves.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
I think we also have some beautiful partners and designers
and seeing their joy on the runway, if they're a
designer or a partner, really seeing.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Their clients enjoying what they're seeing.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
That's a really great remind because for us, we've seen
a lot of it, and so it's hard not to
worry about whether some lighting issue won't happen or something
mightn't go wrong. But seeing the joy from others is
a really nice way just to remind us, well, it
is something special. And I think for our team that
you know, long after the ramways have finished that social
(22:19):
media going out, there's a whole that stuff that happens
in the hours afterwards. Finding that moment and making sure
that they take that as well is so important to
keep you motivated.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
We're not for profit, we don't pay a bucket lot
of money.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
You've got to love what you do, and if you
don't take the moment to enjoy it, it's a little
harder to love what you do.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
So yeah, it's a.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Really it's a great reminder actually, okay, but it is
a really important part of enjoying and being committed to
delivering something as wonderful as this.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
You mentioned it earlier and it just reminded me then
when you talked about this event is twelve months in
the making, and because I was thinking, oh, I wonder
what Ralph's downtime looks like if you like a long
walk in a bush somewhere. Does she get to the beach?
Is she running long bars? What does it look like
before we get to that? It is twelve months of
(23:08):
the year, And what people don't know is the hustle.
You mentioned that you're not for profit organization. Contracts need
to be renegotiated in terms of funding, you know, not
just with the government's local sponsorship, in terms of businesses
and all of that. What don't we know about this
event in terms of the twelve month preparation that it
(23:30):
takes to execute.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Yeah, well, I think and my role is a little
different than the vast majority of the team. So we
obviously have a fantastic partnerships team that spend the whole
year making sure that they share our ideas, they attract
fabulous partners that work for us, make sure the delivery
of what they receive throughout the festival works, Tell them
(23:52):
how great it was, make sure they've got all the
right outcomes that we needed to, and then talk to
them about how we can secure them again for next year.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
If they're on new con Trac. At the model, we
get around about twenty one twenty.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Two percent of our money from government, so eighty percent
of our money is coming from either partners or from
ticket sales, and so really making sure that we're delivering
great value for partners is a really big.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Part of it.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
And we are a very small team, and I think
if you're competing against the big beasts of the Grand
Prix in the AFL that do this so wonderfully.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
My core team is around about ten people.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
During the year, it expands and we have some great
contractors that come at the end, but it's it's a
small but mighty team. So that's a really important part
of it. It's also making sure that we're connected with
government and we are actually providing for the investment they
make in us. We're really giving them what they need
and that their investment is worthwhile. And that takes a
long time, and lots of connections and communications and those
(24:47):
sorts of things.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
And then there's also these we have a lot of
well we deliver it end to end.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
We have fantastic suppliers that also do that, and we
are a small team, so we're often begging for a
discount here, begging for scraps over there, and keep keeping
those relationships really solid and having people enjoy working with
us and having our team enjoy being part of the
team is critical because we can't throw.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Money at things.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
We're just not in the business of that. So I
think there's huge grounds well of just making sure relationships
are in good shape. You're watching the play, you know,
things are moving, and ensuring that we are sustainable financially
is a huge part of what I need to do
day and day out.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yeah, and it's not my fun as part.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Some parts are really fun, but it's not quite as
much fun as seeing what ends up happening on the runway.
So it's lovely to see it all come together.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Now.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Something I'm not sure about and I probably should have
checked before we started talking about this, is the designers
that you have, the labels that are represented in the
huge numbers of you know brands represented. Are they applying
or are they being invited? How does this work and
how do you balance the Melbourne Victorian based ones as
(25:58):
opposed to our inter state or international represented brands.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
So all of our designers are Australian. We are very
much about squarely supporting the local industry and making sure
we're giving every opportunity for our local designers to succeed.
About sixty percent of them are Victorian. That changes a
little bit in and out. We are in Victoria and
we are supported by the Victorian government, so really making
sure that we're providing the true local designers as much
(26:24):
support as well. But to be a proper national festival,
which we are, it's important to us and it's also
beyond Victoria. So the way it works is we design
the program based on what has worked in the past,
what we've observed is good and exciting and new and
fresh that we want to try.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
We land on.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
That, and then we formally invite designers to participate. That said,
some designers come and talk to us too and ask
if they can be part of it, and then we
go through a process to see do we have the
right space for them this year and if we do,
are they of the right quality, are they going to
be able to deliver?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Is it right for them as well as us?
Speaker 4 (26:54):
But our desire is to say yes to as many
people as possible. That's really what we want to be
able to do. So it's certainly an open door to
the degree that someone's ready for us, And even if
they're not ready for a premium runway. We have a
whole independent program where we can support them to do
something smaller. We can really provide them guidance onto what
to do, so they could be perhaps considered next year,
(27:15):
but give them opportunities in our independent program too to
get some visibilities. So we really are trying to make
sure that there's something for everybody and that everybody's welcome
and we want everyone to come, and so we are
very much about trying to be as positive and optimistic
about everyone that approaches us as possible.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
So, Ralph, when you're not thinking, breathing everything Melbourne Fashion Festival,
which I don't imagine, there's a time that you're not
actually and particularly at this time of year, what does
downtime look for you?
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Yeah, so I there's many downtimes, right, you know, when
you get home at night and the chance to sort
of sit down and have a rest or watch something
really tacky or at the moment I'm watching Seinfeld real
Ones because it's mindless and it allows my.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Brain to go so more else. But they're very they're
small moments for me.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
We do have obviously times where in the year it's
not as intense or not as intense for different parts
of the team. So I always try and get a
lovely big break to travel somewhere in the middle of
the year, so and that differs.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
So this year I'm hoping to.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Go to the Glaphics Islands and do a walk up
much you PITCHU and a few things in South America.
So that's our current plan. But I could just as
easily be watering the shops of Paris or anywhere else
that has wonderful fashion and having a good look at
it and spending way too much money, particularly with our dollar,
which is all a little bit rubbish.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Makes it all very expensive at the moment.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
But I really love to combine walking, eating and a
little bit of fashion in whatever I do.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
And so yeah, a good Higer good walk is great.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
But I also love you know, some fantastic restaurants booked
in Mexico City as well, for example, So yeah, that's me.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Well, I will thank you for joining us on the podcast.
We love sharing women's stories and getting just even just
a little insight into what makes them tick and what's important.
We've recorded this in the lead up to the event
kicking off, so your time is very precious at the moment,
So thank you so much for this and I can't
(29:19):
wait to get to as many shows as I can.
And particularly it's the emerging, the emerging designers, I think
that always capture my interests. There's something about the way
the gen Z are viewing the world in everything from
work to design.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
I can't wait to much.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
There's so much creativity in those guys. And this year,
I don't know whether you have read, but we have
a national design reward that we've been doing for a
very very long time and that's normally done sort of
a little bit smaller bit more of an industry one.
And then we announced the winner. Well, those designs were
the very first time are going to be on our runway,
so they get an in room audience of fifteen hundred
for the very first time, and of course all the
(29:56):
press and visibility that goes with that because it's they're
so exciting and it's so it's just wonderful to be
able to see their creations on the runway with all
the fantastic lighting come up so.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
That NAT's leet out, so you have just out, you
have just leat up talking.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
About so yeah, and that same night we have the
graduate showcase, so they're even morally in their career. And
there are some extraordinary things there, not always super practical,
but isn't it wonderful to have impracticality sometimes in our lives?
Speaker 2 (30:25):
So so amazing.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
So and we've we've really got lots of earlier designs
all throughout the week, so lots for you to come
and enjoy.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Okay, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Thank you very much for having been a joy
Welcome to the Women of Influence podcast. I'm your host,
Kate Meete, and it is so great to be back
in your ears. I would like to acknowledge the traditional
owners of the land in which this podcast was recorded,
and I pay my respects to their elders past and present,
and the Aboriginal elders of other communities who may be
(00:20):
listening today.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is a.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Special five part series in partnership with the Melbourne Fashion Festival,
celebrating the extraordinary women of the Melbourne fashion industry. Australia
is home to some remarkable women. They're raising foster families,
running cattle stations, living inspirational lives. Yet many of their
tales of triumph are never profiled and never celebrated. So
(00:46):
we're changing all that through our Women of Influence podcast.
For more information about our Women of Influence the Melbourne
Fashion Festival edition, please check out our show notes and
of course the Women of Influence socials. And as always,
if you have a woman in your life that needs
to be celebrated and we all need to hear her story,
(01:08):
please connect with us. We would love to hear from you.
Thank you so much always for your support and I
hope that you smile as much as I did recording
these episodes. These episodes were recorded via zoom in Melbourne,
and you know I love address.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Ralph. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Be here now. Twenty twenty three was when you first
took over this mammoth role, and we will get to
that later because really the first question is how did
we get here. Take me back to the feel of
the fabric and making your own dresses to go to
your own events. With that thought in your mind, go
(02:00):
you know, I just don't want to be wearing what
everyone else is wearing.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
I think it's all started back when my mum did
a dressmaking course as part of her education journey. She
never became an actual official dressmaker as such, but she
herself also made her own clothes and used to tell
lovely stories of how her dad would let her not
wear shorter skirts, so she'd make a little short skirt,
pop it under a long skirt and then whipped the
(02:25):
long skirt off and have a little short milli underneath
that she'd made herself, and so those stories I think
inspired me.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
She always had a sewing.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Machine on the inn of our kitchen bench, and I
learned how to sew through her. And so many of
the stores aren't there now, but just poring over the
limb crafts of the world and looking for a bargain
of a bit of a bolt of fabric and working
on what to do with it. And for me, it
came most to a head at the end of school
and UNI days, when there were all these lovely university
balls that everyone seemed to be able to afford a
(02:54):
new dress for.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
But I was earning.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
I think about six dollars an hour sports go, and
couldn't we afford them, And so my mum would help
me find a beautiful, shiny green taffeta or something to
whip into some very blousey looking, probably quite an ugly
looking thing. But as a result, I was always able
to have something that was a bit different and a
bit new. And some of them worked well and some
(03:18):
of them didn't. But that sense of creating your own,
you know, your own image stuck with me from then on,
and I loved it.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I'm curious about mums because they shape so much of
not just who we are, but those those lessons that
sometimes spill out of our mouths before we even know it.
And I think about my mum at times, and she
would say, you know, she was obsessed with girdles. You know,
you would just would not allow to go out unless
you had a girdle. And I grew up having to
(03:47):
grab the back of her one piece and olwysted up
as high as I could, and things like that. You know,
they stay with you as adult women. You know, what
was your mum's fashion tip? You know, take me back
to if she was working on the sewing machine and
teaching her at that time, she would have had very
clear doos and doats about not just fabric, but the
(04:10):
way something sits on a woman.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
She was very much about making sure that you finished
things off as well as you could as a homemade
dress designer, so quality was really important to her finding fabrics.
We often would find a fabric that was really good
quality and was a bargain then necessarily being the coolest
or the nicest of the day. So I certainly ended
up some very nice, well made outfits that perhaps was
(04:32):
still a little bit daggy, and particularly because they were
made by me, probably even more so.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
But that sense of quality and that sense of doing
things well.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
And you made mentioned of it before, but I think
from a fairly young age, I.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Can tell of something silk or pretending to be silk.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
I can tell if someone something's got really beautiful quality
behind it, just because I've spent a lot of time
doing those things and feeling the fabric. I think from
her point of view was just she had a natural
element of style, and I didn't really realize it until
a few years later. I remember looking back at a
photo of my mom and dad going out.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
My mum was wearing a.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Hot pink white buttoned pants suit with short sleeve. A
little bit I don't know, as if she was going
in a safari somewhere where everything was pink, but I
know that when I saw her when the photos, no
one else was wearing that stuff. And at the time
that was just what she did, That's what she wore.
But I look back on that now and think it's
just one of those you just absorbed that stuff without
even realizing it. And Mum didn't mind standing out. She
(05:29):
liked looking great and she was very confident in her
in style. And I think that is a little contagious
as well, you know, when you grow up with that
around you.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
People can't see us at the moment and we're recording,
but we've both been using our fingers a lot when
we're making a gesture in terms of the touch and
the feel of fabric. So you can spot a certain fabric.
You talked about the silk and things like that. Tell
me what it feels like in your fingers.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Yeah, there's and there's obviously different weights of silk as well,
but that's slipperiness, the the weight that even if you
crush it with your hands, it doesn't necessarily crush. Beautiful
quality silk has that heft to it that both gives
you the resilience you can get in the car and
put a seatbt on and not be worried that by
the time you get the five minutes down the road
(06:15):
you look like a crushed mess.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You can see that, you can feel it.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
In a fact, you can see the way it moves
and hangs, and if it's all made well as well,
you also notice that in the hanging of it, that
there's something very special about putting on a beautiful silk,
or even a very beautiful wall that is not as
heavy as it might look. But still retains its shape.
Those things I think are really important. They're also expensive,
and so it's one of those things that it is
(06:39):
a bit of a luxury to have them.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
But I don't know.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
I'm a bit of a fan of recycling and up cycling,
and so looking and scanning along lines of pieces that
are a little older and spotting some of those quality pieces.
I think is it's I love the hunt, and I
think the hunt quality helps if you've got a sense
of what you're looking for.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
You mentioned sports Girl earlier, with that your very first job.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
I think I had a really bad cafe job at
Knox City shopping Center that I can't remember. I'm sure
I was fired. I actually can't remember it. I didn't
last very long. It was very grimy and not me
at all. But let's say sports Girl was my first
real job, because I think i'm blocking that other one.
And I started there in your tent, so about as
soon as you could legally work. I was doing sort
(07:23):
of Thursday nights, Friday nights and Saturday mornings in the
beautiful Big Spots got at the time, which was in
Colin Street was I.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Think it was sports Girl Center, and it's evolved over
Australian fashion. When you look at it as a whole
and as a brand and as a company, what did
you learn in that role that was important, just personally,
something that you've taken with you all the way through.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
As a sales assistant, you can be really borded to
stand there, or you can decide to really get connected,
and I get bored quite quickly. So I found myself
having doing one or two things, either having good conversations
and over time learning how a conversation with a customer
can either be annoying or actually helpful, So making sure
that someone knows that you're there, but also helping maybe
(08:07):
suggest that when they're picking up something that looks a
certain way, giving them some ideas of word, they might
find something similar to that, and then really getting them
to if they're looking for it, to trust you. And then,
because I knew the stuff so well, the idea of
being able to pull things out and pull out your
favorites or even maybe some things that weren't favorite but
you could see might be something good for somebody else.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Doing that.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Otherwise it was reorganizing remove like just playing and creating
something to do, physically moving things around, making sure everything's tidy,
that sense of really having something to do that possibly
made it all look so tidy people didn't want to
even touch it.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Perhaps at the time.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
It's a little bit like at home when I plumped
my couch and then my kids sit on it. I
just want to shoot myself, like I just plumped the couch,
What are you doing? Sitting on the couch might have.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Been the same thing.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
All of the hangars would have been lined up perfectly,
So when it comes to me came in and moved them,
I'm like, God, I've got to go back and do
the hangers again.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
But keeping yourself.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
Busy and I think hopefully doing something that supports the
customer experience in the process was probably what I took
away from that.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
My apologies for jumping around a little bit. You spoke
about something too, about the making of your own dresses
for these balls, and mention one of my favorite words,
which is creativity. With creativity, I'm always fascinated around this space,
these conversations around it. Are you born creative or do
(09:27):
you get creative? You might not be good at something
at the beginning, but you have a flare or a
taste for something, and that's what keeps driving you through.
What's your thoughts on creativity, because let's face it, fashion
in Australia is and fashion in Melbourne is one of
the hubs of creativity. All up.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
I think there are some people that just gravitate to
creative stuff, whatever that might be. It might be art,
it might be creating something else. But I also think
you can be introduced to it or learn and watch
and feel and grow with creativity. So I don't think
it needs to be one thing or the other. And
I would consider myself, I would consider mus probably a
(10:12):
creative thinker, but I'm not a designer. I'm not a
creative designer. But creativity can be and you know, with
absolute love to all the accountants out there, you can
be and I don't mean creative accounting in the illegal sense,
but you know, seeing about how to creatively use your
your own skills to help others. I think creativity comes
in lots of different ways, and you don't have to
(10:34):
necessarily be in the arts to be creative.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
And I've certainly seen that.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
For the first twenty years of my career, I wasn't
at all doing much creative in a career sense, but
the idea of problem solving and thinking about things differently
and pulling in lateral thoughts and encouraging others to do
that and see people learn in that process and come
up with some solutions to what might.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Be quite dry topics sometimes.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
But that sense of creating a solution to things I
found que addictive quite early on. And it hasn't always
been to do the physical creativity. You know, when I
make my own clothes, I was always using a simplicity
passion or something I would try and do a few
I might add a frill here, or I might try
and change things, and that's why some of them didn't
always work, because I would add a flourish that perhaps
(11:16):
didn't quite land. But I would never claim to be
anything like the beautiful designers that we now deal with today.
But I think I have really got a sense of
recognizing that individuality and that creativity, and because I get
energy from it, I love it. So I gravitate to
creative people and creative things, no matter where they are.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
So twenty twenty three you've taken on Melbourne Fashion Festival.
I mean you just have to take it on board, right,
You just have to hear it all is now go forth,
and now we're a couple of years down the track,
you get to maybe start putting those fingerprints over this.
And I am seeing different programs and little initiatives starting
(11:54):
to weave its way into this festival. What's something that
you've been proud of in this time time since taking
over the event?
Speaker 4 (12:02):
So I started, not only did I start in twenty three,
but I started in August of twenty three, and as
you know, the festival.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Star sorry it's a short run up.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
And then in fairness to my team, most of my
team started even later than that. And so the first
one that we did it was it was the first
one that was largely untouched by any COVID hangover, but
there was. It was a really it was a huge challenge,
not just because trying to do a major event is
a challenge anyway, but everybody was coming out of COVID.
There was lots of demand and so just navigating finding
(12:36):
who can help us to do A B and C
with pretty much no corporate memory because COVID had really
reduced the team to something very small. My predecessor had
become unwell. He's healthy now, thank goodness, but he had
moved on, his team had moved on, so without really
sort of a little bit like the blind lid in
the Blind with a very short runway, no pun intended.
(12:57):
And so the fact that we actually landed really lovely
event in that year is something to be It's not
my most proud achievement, but the fact we got to
it and we managed to get the support for the
industry that we wanted to really provide, and we ought
to do that in that year. I am both very
relieved but also very proud that we were able to
(13:18):
do that. The cycle is that you just work through
delivering something and then quite quickly work out well, what worked,
what didn't work, what's changing around us that we need
to listen to, who's changing around us that we need
to sort of watch and sort of consider, and then
how do we very quickly get ready for it again.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So people often ask me what do I do when
the festival's not on.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
It is intensely full time the whole time, just with
different things in different moments, and so I hope my
proudest moment is about to happen, to be honest, because
I've been proud of this will be my third festival.
Have been proud of both of them, but the team
that we have now are just so extraordinary, and everything
that we're doing and planning for I can see is
just elevated from where we were even last year. So
(14:00):
I am very excited to sort of look at how
we've adjusted this fabulous major event that is unlike other
fashion mix around the world, which are largely for press
or for industry, this is about the consumer coming and
absolutely loving what they're seeing and recognizing fashion as a
creative art, but as a creative art that's a bit
more like a sport. So we've sort of pointed the
(14:22):
term fashion is a spectator sport a little bit in
that you absolutely can come and watch these gorgeous pieces
on the runway, you can buy them at the same time, too,
but really getting engaged, sharing.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
If you think something's amazing, whooping, if.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
That's what takes your fancy, and really creating this wonderful
mix of what is a major event, fashion creativity, and
a tiny bit of sport in the in a very
loose sense, you know, we've got our heroes of the
designers or the retailers that are surviving this industry because
it's tough, and so really making sure we're putting something
in front of everyone that really adds that economic value
(14:57):
to them pretty quickly and keeps our industry strong and
health see, is what we're aiming for, and I'm hoping
this year we're going to do it better than ever.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You mentioned sport there, and I did see that at
the time of this recording that you've got a couple
of AFL and AFLW players being represented on runways and
it's one of those funny things that when you go
through the breadth of the program, it's again I kept
thinking about you cannot be what you cannot see. You've
got accessible shows. Number one, you're representing people with disability,
(15:30):
lots of different backgrounds. Women over the age of forty,
you know, will be gracing the runway. You know that
never existed twenty years. Heaven forbid, when did those conversations happen?
Because they are the news GRIBs, right, they are the
things that people say, Wow, you know, I'm sorry, what
a shame that that made the news that Wow, we've
(15:52):
got a person in a wheelchair for the first time,
you know, and you think, wow, why weren't we doing this? Earlier,
but when these conversations start happening in terms of okay,
at Melbourne Fashion Festival, we want to make sure that
we are not just diverse, but we are making sure
that it is the consumers can see themselves in these
(16:15):
pieces as well as be taken away by the grandeurine
fantasy that can be a fashion show.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
So when I first started, we did adjust a little
bit the strategy around creating shows that had a reason
for being. So we have been a long standing and
highly successful consumer show for many many years. In fact,
this will be our twenty nights. But when I started
in twenty three, we really gathered around this idea that
we will have twelve perium wrong ways, and we want
(16:44):
each of them to have a reason for you to
come and enjoy it, and that means that they'll be different.
So you might want to come to many of them
because they will actually be different, not just because of
the wonderful designers that differ. But if you are passionate
about sustainability or circularity or in fashion, we've got something
for you. If you're passionate about a beautiful gown that
you'll never be able to afford, we'll have a little
(17:05):
secret surprise coming up soon, but beautiful dresses that are
worth many, many, many, many thousands of dollars. That's such
a beautiful opportunity to see something you wouldn't otherwise see.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Then we've got something for you.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
If you want to see brilliant First Nations designers, we've
got something for you. In fact, hopefully we've got many
things for you and many reasons to come, because as
a festival, we want people to come and enjoy it
for the purpose of enjoying it, not only because the
design is there, but because it gives you a sense
of real community and connection with that community. And so
(17:37):
the couple of ways we do that is to say,
what's really important at the moment in fashion? What are
the topics we feel proud about or we feel are
important to be proud about or to be at least
putting on the table to work with everyone on, such
as circularity and really thinking about some of the challenges
that the fashion industry has. We have an opportunity to
put a whole suite of designers and retailers on a
runway that are absolutely flying the flag around that. So
(18:00):
for me, that's a real sense of both responsibility but
also an opportunity for joy to see that sense of upcycling,
recycling and rewaring and having them all together, because we'll
have someone like eight or nine designers in that runway,
the f the invisible runway, which is lumen of a
certain age, and I don't know that it's forty.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
I know that it's definitely.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Oh, I've made it. I've made an assumption. Sorry, I don't.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
I've been a little bit avoiding of it, because honestly,
it's any woman and you can be you can be
any agent feel very visible. And I think you can
also be any agent be you know, not feel visible,
but that sense, you know, dars really feel like we
have something like eighty two.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Percent of our audience or female. And so how do.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
We use that opportunity to show how you can actually
look amazing and how someone that's in the fifty sixty, seventies,
even eighties can perhaps have a really bright color eyeshadow
and a gorgeous red jacket and look absolutely fabulous. And
how do you how do you do that? How do
you carry it? And what about if you perhaps you
don't like the way you're the bottom half of you looks,
(19:00):
But then if you love how the top off it?
How do I go about that? What can I wear
as an older woman? And to me you've had mentioned
you can't be what you can't see. But I think
there's that sense of just sometimes we just need a
little bit of guidance on how to go about things.
And if you've got a show like we have, and
you've got so many looks coming out, you can pick
and choose and say that looks great on her, but
it wouldn't we wait for me?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
But goodness, that looks amazing? How do I do that?
Speaker 4 (19:23):
And so allowing us to be celebratory of ourselves, our
mothers and our grandmothers, and having even younger women and
men celebrate older women as well, I think is fantastic.
And so that's another area that we felt really passionate about.
We're very passionate about supporting first nation designers as well.
The creativity that sits in that part of the world
is just extraordinary and it's so unique obviously to Australia.
(19:46):
So making sure that platform is bigger opportunity as possible
is something really important AFL. On the other hand, we
also look left and right, we have all these amazing
major events that's sit in Melbourne. So we really try
and partner with as many of those major events as
possible and hopefully bring a bit of style to them,
but also give them a chance to do something fun
with us. And so this is actually a partnership with
the AFL that we're doing on the Saturday night and
(20:08):
a local brand called Homie that's very committed to being
local and doing the right thing by fashion and so
AFL have combined with them and they're got a whole
new range of their merchandise coming out and so we're
going to pep that into the runway and as part
of that we've got all these amazing you know, AFL stars.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
It will be walking.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
So these things come are about in different ways. Sometimes
it's purely for the joy of something in fashion. We
have a brand new runway this year called Resort Where
because that's what Australians do so well and we all
want to think about holidays. So it comes organically both
through people share with us our observations and work that
we do.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Some of the team ideas, we throw.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
A lot of things against the wall and then over
time we work through them and they land in the
final program.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Welph when the festival is happening, do you ever get
to take that sit down for a minute and take
a book with and go, yeah, wow, look what we've done.
The exhibition building is one of the most beautiful in
the world. But in a previous life, when I used
to work in festivals and events and things like that,
(21:10):
it was very rare to be able to sit. But
some of my greatest memories was standing at the Melbourne
Town Hall and watching it absolutely filled with people and
just thinking, Wow, this is happening. This dream has come alive.
You know. Do you get a chance to really pause
and reflect on look at this, Look what we did
(21:31):
together as a city, as a team, as an industry.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
I think I think the answer is yes, And I
also think you have to engineer that as well.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
It's a bit like life, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
If you don't stop and pause and enjoy it, then
suddenly it's gone and you've missed that opportunity.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So sometimes you have to remind yourselves.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
I think we also have some beautiful partners and designers
and seeing their joy on the runway, if they're a
designer or a partner, really seeing.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Their clients enjoying what they're seeing.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
That's a really great remind because for us, we've seen
a lot of it, and so it's hard not to
worry about whether some lighting issue won't happen or something
mightn't go wrong. But seeing the joy from others is
a really nice way just to remind us, well, it
is something special. And I think for our team that
you know, long after the ramways have finished that social
(22:19):
media going out, there's a whole that stuff that happens
in the hours afterwards. Finding that moment and making sure
that they take that as well is so important to
keep you motivated.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
We're not for profit, we don't pay a bucket lot
of money.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
You've got to love what you do, and if you
don't take the moment to enjoy it, it's a little
harder to love what you do.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
So yeah, it's a.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Really it's a great reminder actually, okay, but it is
a really important part of enjoying and being committed to
delivering something as wonderful as this.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
You mentioned it earlier and it just reminded me then
when you talked about this event is twelve months in
the making, and because I was thinking, oh, I wonder
what Ralph's downtime looks like if you like a long
walk in a bush somewhere. Does she get to the beach?
Is she running long bars? What does it look like
before we get to that? It is twelve months of
(23:08):
the year, And what people don't know is the hustle.
You mentioned that you're not for profit organization. Contracts need
to be renegotiated in terms of funding, you know, not
just with the government's local sponsorship, in terms of businesses
and all of that. What don't we know about this
event in terms of the twelve month preparation that it
(23:30):
takes to execute.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Yeah, well, I think and my role is a little
different than the vast majority of the team. So we
obviously have a fantastic partnerships team that spend the whole
year making sure that they share our ideas, they attract
fabulous partners that work for us, make sure the delivery
of what they receive throughout the festival works, Tell them
(23:52):
how great it was, make sure they've got all the
right outcomes that we needed to, and then talk to
them about how we can secure them again for next year.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
If they're on new con Trac. At the model, we
get around about twenty one twenty.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Two percent of our money from government, so eighty percent
of our money is coming from either partners or from
ticket sales, and so really making sure that we're delivering
great value for partners is a really big.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Part of it.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
And we are a very small team, and I think
if you're competing against the big beasts of the Grand
Prix in the AFL that do this so wonderfully.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
My core team is around about ten people.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
During the year, it expands and we have some great
contractors that come at the end, but it's it's a
small but mighty team. So that's a really important part
of it. It's also making sure that we're connected with
government and we are actually providing for the investment they
make in us. We're really giving them what they need
and that their investment is worthwhile. And that takes a
long time, and lots of connections and communications and those
(24:47):
sorts of things.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
And then there's also these we have a lot of
well we deliver it end to end.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
We have fantastic suppliers that also do that, and we
are a small team, so we're often begging for a
discount here, begging for scraps over there, and keep keeping
those relationships really solid and having people enjoy working with
us and having our team enjoy being part of the
team is critical because we can't throw.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Money at things.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
We're just not in the business of that. So I
think there's huge grounds well of just making sure relationships
are in good shape. You're watching the play, you know,
things are moving, and ensuring that we are sustainable financially
is a huge part of what I need to do
day and day out.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yeah, and it's not my fun as part.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Some parts are really fun, but it's not quite as
much fun as seeing what ends up happening on the runway.
So it's lovely to see it all come together.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Now.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Something I'm not sure about and I probably should have
checked before we started talking about this, is the designers
that you have, the labels that are represented in the
huge numbers of you know brands represented. Are they applying
or are they being invited? How does this work and
how do you balance the Melbourne Victorian based ones as
(25:58):
opposed to our inter state or international represented brands.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
So all of our designers are Australian. We are very
much about squarely supporting the local industry and making sure
we're giving every opportunity for our local designers to succeed.
About sixty percent of them are Victorian. That changes a
little bit in and out. We are in Victoria and
we are supported by the Victorian government, so really making
sure that we're providing the true local designers as much
(26:24):
support as well. But to be a proper national festival,
which we are, it's important to us and it's also
beyond Victoria. So the way it works is we design
the program based on what has worked in the past,
what we've observed is good and exciting and new and
fresh that we want to try.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
We land on.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
That, and then we formally invite designers to participate. That said,
some designers come and talk to us too and ask
if they can be part of it, and then we
go through a process to see do we have the
right space for them this year and if we do,
are they of the right quality, are they going to
be able to deliver?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Is it right for them as well as us?
Speaker 4 (26:54):
But our desire is to say yes to as many
people as possible. That's really what we want to be
able to do. So it's certainly an open door to
the degree that someone's ready for us, And even if
they're not ready for a premium runway. We have a
whole independent program where we can support them to do
something smaller. We can really provide them guidance onto what
to do, so they could be perhaps considered next year,
(27:15):
but give them opportunities in our independent program too to
get some visibilities. So we really are trying to make
sure that there's something for everybody and that everybody's welcome
and we want everyone to come, and so we are
very much about trying to be as positive and optimistic
about everyone that approaches us as possible.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
So, Ralph, when you're not thinking, breathing everything Melbourne Fashion Festival,
which I don't imagine, there's a time that you're not
actually and particularly at this time of year, what does
downtime look for you?
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Yeah, so I there's many downtimes, right, you know, when
you get home at night and the chance to sort
of sit down and have a rest or watch something
really tacky or at the moment I'm watching Seinfeld real
Ones because it's mindless and it allows my.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Brain to go so more else. But they're very they're
small moments for me.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
We do have obviously times where in the year it's
not as intense or not as intense for different parts
of the team. So I always try and get a
lovely big break to travel somewhere in the middle of
the year, so and that differs.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
So this year I'm hoping to.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Go to the Glaphics Islands and do a walk up
much you PITCHU and a few things in South America.
So that's our current plan. But I could just as
easily be watering the shops of Paris or anywhere else
that has wonderful fashion and having a good look at
it and spending way too much money, particularly with our dollar,
which is all a little bit rubbish.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Makes it all very expensive at the moment.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
But I really love to combine walking, eating and a
little bit of fashion in whatever I do.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
And so yeah, a good Higer good walk is great.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
But I also love you know, some fantastic restaurants booked
in Mexico City as well, for example, So yeah, that's me.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Well, I will thank you for joining us on the podcast.
We love sharing women's stories and getting just even just
a little insight into what makes them tick and what's important.
We've recorded this in the lead up to the event
kicking off, so your time is very precious at the moment,
So thank you so much for this and I can't
(29:19):
wait to get to as many shows as I can.
And particularly it's the emerging, the emerging designers, I think
that always capture my interests. There's something about the way
the gen Z are viewing the world in everything from
work to design.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
I can't wait to much.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
There's so much creativity in those guys. And this year,
I don't know whether you have read, but we have
a national design reward that we've been doing for a
very very long time and that's normally done sort of
a little bit smaller bit more of an industry one.
And then we announced the winner. Well, those designs were
the very first time are going to be on our runway,
so they get an in room audience of fifteen hundred
for the very first time, and of course all the
(29:56):
press and visibility that goes with that because it's they're
so exciting and it's so it's just wonderful to be
able to see their creations on the runway with all
the fantastic lighting come up so.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
That NAT's leet out, so you have just out, you
have just leat up talking.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
About so yeah, and that same night we have the
graduate showcase, so they're even morally in their career. And
there are some extraordinary things there, not always super practical,
but isn't it wonderful to have impracticality sometimes in our lives?
Speaker 2 (30:25):
So so amazing.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
So and we've we've really got lots of earlier designs
all throughout the week, so lots for you to come
and enjoy.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Okay, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Thank you very much for having been a joy
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