How Melbourne Fashion Festival's Runway Director Prepares for Fashion Week​

You worked in Europe for several years before founding Event Gallery. Can you explain that time for us, what was it like?

My mother is French so France has always been a second home to me. In Paris, I worked a short stint in PR and Marketing (whilst crashing at my sister's apartment, she was a singer with the Paris Opera) and then, through friends of friends, interviewed for a personal assistant role in London, which turned into an event manager role and two years living in London.

During this time, I worked for London’s top charity and fundraising event organisers whose clients included Madonna, Mick Jagger, Prada and Gucci which was so inspiring.

You produce over 40 runways a year, and have worked with the likes of Melbourne Fashion Festival, Melbourne Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week. Can you share a career highlight with us?

There are so many special moments, but a career highlight was conceiving The Royal Botanic Runway for the Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens in 2014. Developed over two years, it was a self-produced project to raise much-needed funds for the gardens. I worked alongside an incredible mentor and the event was a huge success, showcasing several inspiring Australian designers.

What do you love most about your work?

Seeing it all come together after months of work. A show can last 10-30 minutes but the process, planning and creative discussions that lead to that moment make up the journey that people don’t see, and the parts I love the most. I get to work with a wide range of emerging and established creatives, stylists, musicians and designers. I also love the production teams I work with behind the scenes, the technical teams and the agencies.

What makes an impactful event?

An emotional feeling or experience at the event. It needs to be totally immersive, emotive and cohesive—the music, scent, set, designer looks, models, choreography and lighting all come together to tell a story to the audience, and the timing needs to be executed perfectly.

Live runways are a great platform to showcase collections in a different way. You can see the movement of how garments can be worn and styled in a different way, along with hair and makeup too.

When it comes to planning an event like PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival, what does your process look like?

We start working on PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival six months prior to the event—we receive a brief and designer list and start from there. We then curate teams for each runway depending on the creative direction, partner deliverables, budgets and overall Paypal Melbourne Fashion Festival directive for each show, as well as trends overseas. As a team, we seek inspiration from the designer collections and then work with a creative director and stylist to execute our vision. Our aim is to ensure that each designer has their own moment, while also creating a cohesive look across group shows.

When it comes to your wardrobe for PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival, what are you wearing?

I like to dress in neutral tones and mostly black for the festival. Comfort is a key factor in working on an event that requires long hours to execute the program—I lean towards relaxed silhouettes, breathable fabrics like cotton or silk and lots of layering.

What are you most looking forward to as part of this year's Festival?

Working with the teams that help bring it all together, the rehearsals, fittings and shows. It’s a very collaborative process and the feeling of the Australian fashion industry coming together to create something memorable for Australian designers is really rewarding.