Interview: Yasmin Sewell On Collaborations, How To Get A Break And Her New Book Deal


It’s hard not to have a giant crush on Yasmin Sewell. She’s effortlessly stylish and achingly tasteful and has terrific hair. She is referred to as a “fashion forecaster” which essentially means she knows – or decides – what we will all be wearing in six months time. The power! The Australian-born regular on Best Dressed lists around the world and two-time judge for the British Fashion Awards, has been based in London for over a decade and now she is lending her expertise to Westfield for a new project called “The Collaboration”.

For “The Collaboration” Westfield is uniting key players in fashion (including stylist/fashion writer Peter Simon Phillips and stylist/blogger Romy Freedman) to inspire shoppers. Pedestrian recently spoke to Yasmin about her favourite Australian designers, fashion’s “next big thing”, and how international retail giants like Zara and TopShop influence the local retail market, as well as advice for how to break into the industry…

PEDESTRIAN: You’ve championed brands and designers such as Rick Owens, Acne and Christopher Kane as well as being part of the judging panels and boards of numerous fashion awards, are there any signs that you look for as an indicator that someone will be “the next big thing” in fashion? YASMIN: A unique point of view is probably the thing that will stand out the most, I’ll never get inspired by a designer that hasn’t got their complete own sensibility. This combined with a knowledge of business and market awareness are usually a pretty successful combination. A little sparkle in their eyes doesn’t hurt also!

Are there any emerging Australian designers that you think are destined for greatness? Dion Lee is looking very strong I also like Life with Bird and swimwear brand We are Handsome, there are many actually. I particularly love Bassike, for classics and jeans, they are a great example of doing what they do specifically and so well.

Bassike

Zara has recently launched flagship stores in Sydney and Melbourne and there’s rumours that TopShop is on its way to Australia as well. You’ve expressed fondness for both how do you think the international high street brands will impact the Australian retail market? They are both very strong brands who take risks and offer a very diverse selection of product, this is because it is so competitive around the world they have to keep churning out high fashion designs to stay in the game. Its a little bit different in Oz as our high street brands tend to stick to a certain aesthetic that is very “them” and we cover a lot of basics. I think the quality of our high street stores is actually better but perhaps these internationals will push Australians to offer more eccentric and fashion forward ideas, combined with the quality and price point I think our market would respond positively to this.

One of the many hats you wear is your role as a trend forecaster can you tell us about some of the upcoming trends that you’re seeing emerge for the Australian Spring/Summer? Well this is what the Westfield campaign is all about! In a nutshell, the most standout trends for me were colour worn in a very sophisticated way and very much about colour blocking, stand out print for day and night, craftsmanship has made comeback with a return to textile and fabric and were loving this in shades of white and a new take on very sexy resort dressing.

Are there any non-fashion based trends that you think we should look out for? In regards to interiors and retails spaces it’s all about lighting, there are some really new and innovative techniques out there right now that are totally out of the ordinary and also quite colour based. I’m feeling neon in many aspects of my life!

We have a Creative Jobs Website as part of Pedestrian helping young Australian’s find their dream jobs what’s your advice for people looking to break into the fashion industry (into behind-the-scenes, non-designer roles)? Experience is key, it’s really hard to know what you want to do until you try it. I started my career doing work experience and I quickly understood that buying and retail were my thing, I would never have known that until I stepped in and try things out. Also, if you’ve got common sense and work hard if you do offer yourself for free, generally great companies will either take you on or recommend you to other companies. Just get to work basically anyway you can.

You maintain an active Twitter account, what impact if any do you think Social Media and technology is having over fashion? Well its obviously having an effect on many things, how we work, communicate and market everything. All this technology is about connection and communication. That can only be beneficial. I see no downsides.

You’ve mentioned that you’re looking to expand and open up new divisions of your business and curate a book can you talk us through some of the details of these new enterprises? I’m curating a Phaidon fashion book, it’s a follow on from their Sample book they published about 8 years ago showcasing 100 of the greatest and upcoming fashion designers of today, this will be current version of that. My business is growing and I have new team members now in place with the intention of expanding the trend offer we provide and making it available to a wider audience. The consultancy division of my business is expanding also.

“LOL”

Image by Tommy Ton

You’re working with Westfield on their upcoming campaign can you talk us through how this came about and what you have planned? The Westfield collaboration came about this year and it’s a seasonal project. I’ve been saying a lot that it’s very up my street as the whole concept is about forecasting the seasonal trends that are hot for the Westfield shopper and Aussie market, just the kind of work I love doing. Working with the Westfield team and super talented Australian stylists, bloggers, creatives was a dream. All in all a really enjoyable and inspiring project.

And finally do you really collect pop-up books – if yes how did this come about? Yeah I do. I just love them, how can you not? Maybe I should create a fashion pop up with Phaiden publishing.. who knows?

For more information on The Collaboration head to www.westfield.com.au

Main image by Tommy Ton

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV