In June 2020 Vision Australia held a Check in and Chat webinar on 'Getting into Fashion' with expert Chloe Naughton, Fashion Programmer at the Melbourne Fashion Festival, our very own Vildana Praljak and Polly Goodwin and a fantastic group of clients.
Watch the full recording of the webinar:
We had such a great response from viewers, we wanted to share some of the resources with you.
On this page:
- Read the full interview with Chloe Naughton on Vision Australia's Partnership with Melbourne Fashion Festival and trends ahead
- Chloe's top tips on Shopping for Sustainability and Style
- Telling your Tank Top from your Turtleneck: Chloe's jargon-busting terminology guide
Read the full interview with Chloe Naughton on Vision Australia's Partnership with Melbourne Fashion Festival and trends ahead
Q: How was it working with Vision Australia to make MFF more accessible?
So exciting!
We consider MFF to be accessible by everyone, but no one is perfect and there is always more that you can do.
This was really enjoyable to go one step further and really tailor an event that would give a really engaging experience memorable experience.
Incredible working with Vildana and Polly as they were the ones really advising and guiding us on ways that we can work together to make the festival or accessible for those who are blind or have low vision. Their views and suggestions were just so valuable and necessary.
Polly’s audio described (AD) runways were incredible.
We were really lucky to have Polly’s attention to detail transcribed so well. Reading the draft of the audio described runways, I felt as though I was reading about detail I would often miss as the model flies past me just in time for the next one to walk down.
Audio description of Melbourne's Fashion Festival 2020:
Download full AD transcripts here
Listen to the AD designer recordings here
As a festival it made us re-think every touch point and experience of the event from a attendee perspective and it was actually really exciting to put together a tailored package that not only met all the needs to the blind or low vision audience but that was also a lot of fun and it ended up being a very, very VIP experience that we put together including a Backstage tour with the production Manager, a walk-through of the collections prior to them showcasing on the runway (with the opportunity to touch) and ending with the opportunity to walk the runway - we were intending on really going behind the scenes!
Q: How did COVID-19 Impact MFF?
We were two days from the end of the festival. We had just finished the Summit - where thought leaders gave educational presentations and I was doing a final run through with Polly during the dress rehearsal ahead of that evening's audio described runways.
At 4:30pm our Acting CEO made the call that, from a public health and safety perspective, we had to finish early: From there we had to cancel 7 runways and our audio described runways and tours with Vision Australia.
This was a weird moment - Almost surreal. This type of thing has never happened before. The aftermath has been huge and now we are re-imagining our entire festival for 2021, with a digital contingency plan.
Q: Tell us about Fashion weeks going Digital. Is this the way forward?
Georgio Armani was the first to cancel his show in Milan in February.
This was the first major cancelation in the fashion Industry.
Harps Editor Eugene Kelly had to go into quarantine and couldn’t attend MFF
From there we started to see closures and cancellations around the world as everything came to an entire halt.
Following in the footsteps of Shanghai and Helsinki, Milan Men’s fashion Week will also be running digitally from June 19 to June 23rd.
Shanghai actually did something really similar to what MFF has been doing for almost 10 years. And that’s the ‘See now, Buy Now’ movement. Consumers were able to tune into the live stream online and buy product as they saw it coming down the runway. Crazy new technology.
Designers still want to connect to their customers. Ultimately brands need to make money to survive.
While I don’t see digital fashion weeks taking over. It will be largely included moving forward.
I think you can't take away that in person theatre experience that just doesn’t translate through the screen.
Dramatic, epic sound and set design. The story telling of the launch of a collection will always be needed to be seen and felt first hand (mostly)
You can reach more people through digital platforms so its also not about the amount of people you have at a runway. You could have 40 people at a runway that reaches 400 million.
Q: What is happening in the Fashion Industry more broadly?
Brands are really hurting form the economy stopping.
Fashion is sometimes ‘a nice to have’ when it comes to where will you spend your last dollars, especially if you have been financially affected COVID-19.
And now might not be the time that anyone goes out and buys all new ‘Investment Pieces”
But I also think if you are going to buy anything, especially during this period. That it is SO IMPORTANT to keep Australian dollars in Australia to support our industries here.
Brands who also largely have their product made overseas have faced huge issues with production and have had a supply issue with stock.
Whereas brands who are made locally in Australia have been able to keep to ‘some-what’ normal business and continue to supply to customers through their online stores with their product made in Australia.
Some key Australian brands and online stores to Shop Australian:
- Arnsdorf
- The Undone
- Kalaurie
- My Chameleon
- Romance Was Born
- The Iconic
- Christopher Esber
- Incu
- Anna Quan
- Carmargue Fashion
- ESSE
- SIR The Label
- David Jones
- Matteau
- Myer
Chloe's top tips on Shopping for Sustainability and Style
Information about being a sustainable shopper: https://goodonyou.eco/ Founder Sandra
Be inquisitive about the brands you buy from
- There's nothing wrong with asking them how and what they are doing to be sustainable in every area of their product.
- Where do they get their fabrics from? Are they dyed, what are their fabrics made from.
- Also who makes their clothes and is it off-shore? Ask which factory.
Any sustainable brand will be happy to share this information with you.
Unfortunately you can't always trust what you read on their website (sometimes).
Try having a ‘High Rotation Rack”
- It’s a rack maybe just outside of your wardrobe Items that you wear a lot, you must like and enjoy. Ask yourself why.
- Take note of the things you never wear.
- It's interesting to see maybe after a month what lands into your high rotation rack and what doesn’t.
- What you do everyday will also impact what you wear – something to consider.
Question every purchase
- Do you need it? (my answer is always YES, at first)
- Will you wear it at least 50 times? (that’s conservative) there are 356 days in a year.
- What’s the garment made from?
Make sure it’s a natural fibre that will break down at the end of its life, if possible. But don’t worry no one is perfect, I do wear some Polyester but I keep it to a minimal. You don’t have to do anything and it’s as good as new every time – no ironing needed. Black skivvy from COS and its 100% polyester. And I love it.
Start with basics
- The mentality around a wardrobe should be that you invest with the intention of building a wardrobe that lasts a lifetime.
- Each piece should be considered and needs to fill a void in your wardrobe.
- Basics are where are should spend the most money.
- More seasonal, trend-based purchases should actually be the pieces that you don’t invest so heavily into. You can find these at opp shops or your more mainstream department stores. Slightly less ethical, but hey no one is perfect and then you pair this with your quality investment pieces.
Look after your clothes
- Hang them up or fold them and keep them in the draw if they are a heavy stretchy material.
- It's expensive to get things dry cleaned, however do it for your good winter jackets. Because I am always raving about wearing natural fibres, I know these fibres generally need to be ironed more and that’s a pain in the butt sometimes. I do have a steamer that I use from time to time, but my top tip here is that when you get in the shower, hang your garment up somewhere in the bathroom and the steam from the shower can actually help get rid of some of those really obvious kinks. This will usually only work on thinner garments, it’s not about to get the crinkles out of your thick winter coats. But your linen or cotton tops/dresses/trousers will respond beautifully!
Be an outfit repeater
Wear the same things over and over again!
It's more satisfying when you wash a garment 100 times and it’s still serving you as good as new because you chose to buy a better-quality item.