Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival Ideas Program collaborated with Melbourne based agency Fashion Equipped to present a creative and collaborative forum discussing the Future of Fashion in 2020 with industry leaders including Yianni Giovanoglou from WGSN, Katie Pratt founder and director of Elliatt, Lana Wilkinson Fashion Stylist and founder of By Lana Wilkinson, Jess and Stef Dadon founders of shoe label Twoobs, James Bartle founder of Outland Denim and Cathryn Wills founder of Sans Beast.
Fashion Equipped was founded by Elizabeth Formosa in 2012 and combines a unique consulting service that supports emerging designers, brands and entrepreneurs with the skills required to grow and maintain a successful fashion business.
Developing your brand/label requires strong visualization, an inherent sense of artistic direction and creativity whilst also possessing the knowledge of key fashion business elements including marketing and sales.
Fashion Equipped has become a global trend authority in the fashion industry and today’s impressive industry panel spoke about the ups and downs and what it takes to become successful as a leader in the fashion industry.
Lana Wilkinson – Fashion Stylist and Founder of By Lana Wilkinson
Fashion stylist and founder of By Lana Wilkinson shoes has quickly become Australia’s leading celebrity stylist and is now regarded as an industry expert in her field. Lana is known for creating iconic looks on some of Australia’s leading ladies including Ruby Rose, Rebecca Judd, Elise Knowles, and Jessie Murphy to name a few.
Today Lana leads the industry panel and discussed what it takes to build a brand. Lana said, “everybody here knows the work that goes into building a brand and sometimes it feels like you’re doing it forever. I’m now a shoe designer as well which is great and something I always wanted to do. My background was originally in retail marketing and PR of all things, I was the story of Fake it till you Make It. I decided I wanted to do some styling on the side and it was a lot of freelancing and I say for free as I was working for free and I was trying to build everything up which feels like forever ago now. And fast forward after a lot of experiences some good and some bad I now get to work with celebrities and major corporations, I feel fortunate to have worked with brilliant people both in front and behind the scenes in the creative sphere”.
Lana’s extensive portfolio over many years confirms hard work, dedication and formulating a strong work ethic that proves anything is achievable.
Fashion Equipped is to be congratulated on their comprehensive industry forum and providing an opportunity to hear from successful industry experts that will provide the next generation of fashion businesses the knowledge and mentoring to become successful with key industry advice and opportunities for all.
Melinda Sullivan
Images Sam Tabone
