Congratulations to Simone and Nicky Zimmermann.
The sisters were officially the hottest thing off the catwalk on Day Three of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, taking out the 2014 Australian Fashion Laureate for their unrivalled achievements in nonchalantly sexy wares.
On a schedule crowded with young talent, Simone and Nicky Zimmermann are comparative veterans. Having been in business 23 years, they’re showing no sign of slowing – recently opening a large boutique in Soho and making New York Fashion Week their home base. “There’s a certain longevity that comes with us,” Nicky told The Australian yesterday. “I think that people can see that there’s a continual building on what we’ve done before. No matter what we do, we’re always trying to get better at it.”
But that’s not to say Australia’s rising talent wasn’t worthy of a nod. For the first time in the Laureate’s seven-year history, 2014 added four new categories in recognition of professional achievement in the categories of Retailer, Emerging Designer, Menswear and Womenswear.
Dion Lee took home the womenswear prize, though the designer’s mainline was absent from the MBFWA runway this year (his Line II diffusion showed Wednesday to very enthusiastic reviews). Arthur Galan won for menswear, Christopher Esber (another highlight) for emerging, and Scanlan & Theodore for retailer of the year.
With so many of our established labels falling by the wayside, it’s nice to see we can still lay claim to some history.
