History
The event was the brainchild of PR consultant and former ski magazine reporter Simon Lock. Launched in 1995, in its debut year the event featured shows by Australian designers including Akira Isogawa, Alex Perry and Wayne Cooper. The event had mixed success; British fashion writer Susan Owens wrote a scathing review dubbing it "Fashion Weak" and writing that 25 broken-hearted designers had thrown away their money.
In 2005, event founder Simon Lock sold the event and its parent company Australian Fashion Innovators to the New York-based International Management Group. The deal was rumoured to have been worth several million dollars.
Rosemount Estate wineries acquired naming rights from Mercedes-Benz in 2006 and the event was renamed Rosemount Australian Fashion Week (RAFW), but the principal sponsorship passed back to Mercedes-Benz in 2011.
Lock worked with IMG for the next five years before departing the company in 2010. In 2011 he was presented with the Australian Fashion Laureate award, the first non-designer to receive it. At the time he was building a ski hotel in Japan and spending more time with his children. In 2012 TV production company Mosman Media produced a half hour TV special of Fashion Week which was Telecast on Foxtel in primetime and produced by Rod Cleland and hosted by Holly Brisley and Courtney Dober. This was the first full TV production of Fashion Week in its history.
Read more about this topic: Australian Fashion Week
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