In a stunning move, Josh Goot and Dion Lee have both announced they will not be showing at the 2012 Australian Fashion Week – which is only two weeks away…
Josh Goot and Dion Lee have made waves in Australian fashion by pulling out of the 2012 Fashion Week abruptly – two weeks from the shows.
The culprits? More pressing obligations elsewhere – and the high costs of a show presentation.
Lee, the international darling of Australia’s new wave designers – he’s a favourite of overseas Vogue editorial stylists – said he needed to focus on his London show later this year. He was, however, a gentleman as always.
“I have presented solo shows at Australian Fashion Week for the past three years,” Lee said in a statement, “and each of these have been of great benefit to my business… I hope to return to the Australian show schedule in the near future.”
Goot’s decision is motivated by time constraints and a conservative outlook, apparently: he wants to “consolidate his position” with his previous designs rather than rush into an entirely new collection.
These shock drop-outs raise the question: are we pushing designers too hard? Many international designers have commented in the news recently that the cycle of shows – London, Milan, Paris – and the necessity to produce two collections a year (sometimes as many as four) is incredibly punishing and contributes to burn-out.
Indeed, Alex Perry, one of RESCU’s experts, isn’t showing at Fashion Week either, since he just showed a new collection in Melbourne in March, and cannot produce new material by April.
It is also, for Australian designers, a matter of conserving resources for places where they’ll be most useful – and Sydney’s Fashion Week is, alas, still less influential than the major European and American shows.
Despite international guests, high-profile models and talented designers, Australia is still a second-tier fashion country, though designers like Lee are working to change that.
The reasons for Lee and Goot’s drop-outs may be more complicated than they first appear. Rescu. will keep you updated as news arrives…
Image: Dion Lee’s 2011 show.
