Hopefully by now you’ve all picked up your latest edition of
madison and had a quick flick through, mentally post-it noting stories to come back to and devour in more depth.
Fingers crossed, one of those is my latest
madison ave roundtable feature (
Do Clothes Make the Woman, on page 66). For the last few issues I’ve had the privilege of coordinating these and dreaming up panel members that firstly, I can coax to take part in my discussion, and secondly, who are willing to be photographed while doing it.
While these shoots can often be a bit of a logistical nightmare balancing everyone’s schedules, they are always guaranteed to be a
lot of fun, even despite the topic of the day and any contrasting opinions (I put it down to my love of talking!). And this latest one took the cake. Well actually we ate a fruit platter and macarons ... so not precisely cake per se, but anyways ....
As March is our annual fashion issue, we the decided to host a discussion about how closely clothes are linked to our identity; whether clothes are something we simply ‘wear’ or an extension of our personality that makes a statement to the world about
who we ultimately are.
I immediately touched based with two people I consider doyennes of the Australian fashion scene (despite their respective modest ages) – Clare Press and Glynis Traill-Nash.
Press is founder of fashion label
Mrs Press, author of
The Dressing Table (a guide-book for everything stylish - see it
here) and a former magazine staff member herself (having worked at
Harper’s Bazaar and
Vogue). Meanwhile,
Traill-Nash is one of Australia’s most respected fashion journalists (past employers include
InStyle and
Grazia), who is currently enjoying a stint at the
The Sunday Telegraph.
Thankfully, both agreed to take part and what ensued can only be described as a match made in ACP photo-studio heaven. For a little over an hour we revisited long-lost fashion memories, confessed to our worst outfits of all time, mulled over style icons (both modern and from yesteryear), and agreed upon the power that fashion can possess ... especially in this doom-and-gloom post-GFC era.
I have never laughed so much in the pursuit of story and hopefully once you’ve read it (if you haven’t already, tut-tut), this will be translated through our giggle-riddled words. In all seriousness however, I hope the overriding conclusion we came to was communicated as well.
Here is the gist …
Fashion is the farthest thing from being fickle. It denotes our experience in the world – almost like a personal history – and possesses the power to give us the greatest of pleasure. Great style does not mean the latest must-have accessory or the most attention-seeking red carpet look. Great style can be conjured simply from minute detailing – like the cut of a beautiful vintage dress – or the joy of dressing up (as explored so enthusiastically by Clare Press). Most importantly, fashion and style are never out of date and a great source of joy just waiting for people to tap into and discover.
What were your thoughts on this month’s
madison avenue roundtable discussion? I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did hosting it.
Jessica Montague is madison’s features writer and sub-editor. You can follow her on Twitter here