L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival (LMFF) is regarded globally as the leading and exceptional consumer fashion event. In 2009 the Festival will exceed these expectations with an inspirational line up of guests and innovative platforms to support the Australian fashion industry.

The 2009 L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival Business Seminar becomes the ‘Inspiration Seminar’ bringing together leading global experts to share their experience and knowledge at Australia’s most anticipated industry networking forum. As the retail world struggles, LMFF recognises the need to provide inspiration to the fashion industry.

To deliver this, the Festival has secured international industry icon Margareta van den Bosch, Creative Advisor for H & M Worldwide.

Margareta will tackle a range of vital issues to inform and inspire attendees. Attracting her to Australia is a major coup by the Festival; Margareta has never been to Australia and is excited to share her expertise with business and the creative industries.

Festival Director Karen Webster comments; ‘This is an amazing triumph for the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival and reflects our significance on the international arena. We are honoured to bring Margareta to Australia and introduce her to the distinctive style of our country.’

Margareta van den Bosch has been described as a design guru. She will present the H & M creative story at the 2009 Business Seminar from early days of driving youth orientated trends to key strategies such as signing big-name designers. Recently Rei Kawakubo from Comme de Garçon has been added to the list of notable H & M collaborators: Karl Lagerfield, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli, Viktor & Rolf and Madonna to create collections for the brand. H & M is a global phenomenon and Margareta is tantamount to its success.

The Festival’s newest initiative: the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival Designer Forum will mark a new phase in supporting the growth of the Australian fashion industry. The LMFF Designer Forum will offer insights into how Australian designers can gain international success. Global experts of fashion retail and media will address the key steps to establishing a label within a competitive global environment and the opportunities and pitfalls of international expansion.

Another exciting addition to the LMFF programme is the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival Student Showcase. This catwalk show will provide leading fashion design students and recent graduates with a platform to present their collections. This showcase is a key forum for supporting the next generation of fashion brilliance and maintains LMFF’S position as a champion and supporter of Australian design talent.

The 2009 Festival Imagery developed by the creative genius of Paper Stone Scissors makes a bold statement; powerful, dramatic and visually enticing. When times are tough, being bold and creative is vital to surviving. Webster comments, ‘We need to make take a stance against mediocrity and low risk principles. The images are clear, fresh, vibrant and optimistic – a pleasure to engage with.’
Date: 15-22 March 2009