Amid the chaos of Melbourne Fashion Week, runway producer and Kialla export Amelia Hermawan looked around at her Moth Design colleagues and realised just how many of them hailed from the Goulburn Valley.
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The Melbourne studio works across the hospitality and retail sectors, designing interiors and exhibitions, and offering creative direction.
“One of our strengths is creating events and temporary spaces,” Ms Hermawan said.
“With designers, producers and makers all under one roof, we can collaborate closely to create memorable experiences.”
Led by company director Kate Hannaford, Moth Design produced premium runways, delivering six shows, each with their own concept, cast and crew, at Melbourne Fashion Week in October.
Simone Thomson, designer
Additionally, it produced the event’s ‘fashion capsules’, which were curated exhibition displays dotted around Melbourne. One of which, in the forecourt of the Melbourne Town Hall, featured former Shepparton designer Simone Thomson.
“It is surreal to be included in such a talented group of First Nations women designers who have drawn on their lived experiences and their matriarchal inspirations that have ultimately shaped how they design today,” Thomson said.
“Melbourne Fashion Week is such an iconic event to be included in, and to be given this opportunity to display your pieces in public to such a wide range of communities is invaluable.”
Thomson described Melbourne’s style as “edgy, eclectic and nuanced”, but said a lot of her inspiration came from watching her mum and siblings dress with “Hollywood glamour” when they attended NAIDOC balls and cabaret events in the Goulburn Valley when she was growing up.
“Everyone would always dress up in their flashest outfits and get creative according to what they had,” Thomson said.
She said most creatives she knew originated from regional areas, and believed people with such backgrounds were forced to push their creativity to higher levels because they did not have as many opportunities as their city-based counterparts.
She said she believed it was important for fresh designers to forge their own journey by following their instincts and passions, rather than following trends.
“Your point of difference is what sets you apart,” Thomson said.
Amelia Hermawan, runway producer
Ms Hermawan agreed that the mettle of country kids gave them an advantage in the industry.
“Country kids are built tough, and that resilience really comes in handy in this industry, which demands perseverance,” she said, also citing a quieter lifestyle as providing more head space to dream big.
While she missed being close to nature and the strong sense of community in her former country lifestyle, she said Melbourne was a melting pot of people from “everywhere”.
Moth Design’s Melbourne Fashion Week team had “incredibly diverse backgrounds”.
“Inclusivity is key to everything we do,“ Ms Hermawan said.
Robert Baxter, model
Model Robert Baxter says they got used to “being different” in Shepparton, which helped them to fully realise their potential on the city catwalks.
“When I moved to Melbourne, I felt free to push things even further,” they said.
Remembering Shepparton as being “very casual and comfy”, Baxter found creative outlets through dance, music and theatre in their early days, which ultimately led them to a gateway into the fashion industry.
“I think Shepparton is the perfect size for a young person,” Baxter said.
“There are opportunities, but not so many people that you get drowned out. It gave me space to lay the groundwork and prepare to become the model and pop star I am now.”
While they miss their mum’s cooking, they said they loved representing their communities and showcasing Australian talent under the bright lights.
“And showing off my long legs; it’s a win-win,” Baxter said.
In somewhat of a country-to-the-city fairytale, Baxter walked in a Melbourne Fashion Week show this year that was styled by Gideon D. Wilonja, a stylist with whom they were in high-school productions back in Shepparton.
“Gideon even styled my cover shoot for my single Suspicious,” Baxter said.
“It’s such a full-circle moment, and I love that so many Shepp legends are working on this together.”
Baxter said regional creatives might not always believe they could make it, or felt they had to relocate to the city to succeed, but urged people not to dismiss their dreams.
“It’s not going to be easy, but you can do whatever you set your mind to,” they said.
“Creative work doesn’t always mean a steady income, but if you love it, it’s worth it.”
Gideon D. Wilonja, stylist
Gideon D. Wilonja had a moment of reminiscence as he stood backstage at this year’s Melbourne Fashion Week, watching his vision come to life.
“Knowing that just a few years ago I was a kid in Shepparton watching runways on YouTube at 2am in my room instead of finishing my homework, and now I get the chance to create those runways,” he said.
“It’s full-circle proof that imagination can take you anywhere.”
While he doesn’t believe Shepparton is known for style in a mainstream sense, he said there was a quiet kind of creativity that ran deep in the Goulburn Valley’s heart.
“It lives in the people, in how they move, build, make and dream,” Wilonja said.
He said growing up regionally had its limitations, which fostered creative thinking.
He learned to make something from nothing and use storytelling, texture and emotion as forms of self-expression.
He credits church, community events and watching people — particularly in the African community — dress for special occasions.
“My mum and aunties loved to dress up, and seeing them put effort into colour and fabric choices made me realise how style could be a language of self-worth and celebration.”
While he misses the open skies and familiarity of people and their backgrounds in Shepparton, his move to the city gave his dreams space to grow bigger.
Richard Coates, company director
Company director Richard (Dic) Coates agreed that there was more opportunity in the city.
He said “no-one cares where you’re from” once you’ve got your foot in the fashion door, but to build your career in the first place, you needed to find ways to network and participate outside your home town because the industry still largely lived in bigger cities.
The Shepparton export, who now runs the design and production business with his partner, Ms Hannaford, said he missed the slower pace and grounding effect of regional Victoria, but was drawn to the energy in Melbourne.
He said being a part of Melbourne Fashion Week meant a lot to him personally and the couple’s business as a whole, and, despite the avalanche of administrative and logistical work to produce it, he was grateful to be able to explore the unique creative elements that came with it, which were usually in contrast to their other projects.
“There’s the opportunity to work with a lot of creatives both emerging and established and there’s always a buzz around the runway shows, which can be a lot of fun,” Mr Coates said.
After plenty of experience working with artists and designers, Mr Coates is unable to guess where anyone is from based on their attitudes or creative choices.
He said if people were willing to work hard, and he emphasised “properly hard”, doors would open for them no matter their background.
While he said there were some great tertiary courses people could enrol in, he believed participation was an absolute key to achieving anything in the industry.
“Volunteering to work at the various fashion festivals is a great start,” he said.
The group concurred that working with people from their home town created a kind of camaraderie among the country exports and reminded them how far they’d come, professionally and geographically.
“Working on these glamorous events, sometimes we just look at each other and laugh, knowing we all started in the same place,” Ms Hermawan said.
“Swimming lessons at Aquamoves, shopping at Maude St Mall, sausage sizzles with the Rotary Club — it keeps us grounded for sure.”