Evolve now or never. Brand adaptation in 2020, according to Friends with Frank.
Sauce in conversation with Melbourne-based label, Friends with Frank’s Creative Director, Julia McCarthy
Our outfittings, sanity and creativity have inevitably surrendered and devolved at times this year. It has been almost liberating to drape our bodies in garish matching tracksuits or varied pinot-stained pieces of leisurewear. But the toxic positivity and silver lining lockdown sentiment has been kissed goodbye. For those Melburnians still under house arrest over the way, inspiration is coming from a sense of binding community and togetherness, rather than anyone’s individual quotidian triumphs. But god, we miss the tactile reverie that is dressing up and dallying about in magnificent garbs.
In a year of so much devolution, it’s been fascinating to watch small businesses on the Aus/NZ fashion circuit evolve in such intrepid ways. The word ‘pivot’ is at swear-jar-tier, but we’ve got to admit there is something so agile about the way in which our favourite labels across the way have made huge sartorial moves during this big, nebulous haze of a past few months. One Melbourne-hailing brand we’ve been watching is Friends with Frank.
After establishing themselves as a go-to vault for timeless winter outerwear, Melbourne-based brand Friends with Frank is for the first time offering a Spring capsule collection of easy-to-wear apparel. But how do you perform a brand 180 in a climate of such immense unrest, uncertainty and undress? Is now really the time to try something so irrevocable and new?
According to the label’s Creative Director, Julia McCarthy, the answer is yes. Friends with Frank’s Spring apparel is the antidote to fleeting new-season fashion, seeking to propel Australia and New Zealand’s shared penchant for slow and carefully-curated wardrobes (that don’t have an expiry date). It’s trans-seasonal dressing with edited ease. And it’s here to stay.
Today, Sauce calls in with Julia to indulge in all things brand evolution, executing a creative campaign shoot in the throes of lockdown, and what this new collection means for its wearers.
If outerwear is this brand’s bread and butter, how big of a deal was it to shift lanes during a global pandemic?
“We have a really strong following of women who understand and appreciate what we’re doing – that is, creating classic-feel pieces that are versatile and can stand on their own or be layered,” says Julia.
“Our customers have expressed interest in us bringing this philosophy to apparel for some time now, but we wanted to make sure that as a design and development team, and as a business, we were ready. At the end of the day, it is just a capsule range, but it definitely marks a new chapter for the business and is a sign of things to come.”
The Spring Capsule photoshoot was executed by a coterie of Australian creatives. We were desperate to know, how did Friends with Frank pull off a sleek, stellar shoot in a time of strict distancing and minimal-to-no-prospect of celebratory drinks?
“Ah. That has been one of our biggest challenges over the past six months. We had coordinated an amazing team and talent here in Melbourne and had a date locked in. Then, with less than a week to go, we received the announcement that Melbourne would be going into stage-four lockdown, which ruled out the shoot,” says Julia.
Our incredible Marketing Manager, Erin Fitzgerald, was on the phone pretty much immediately after the Victorian government’s press conference. And luckily at short notice, we were able to call upon an amazing creative team in Sydney, including Talisa Sutton, Creative Director at Badlands Studio and Freddie Fredricks - a freelance Stylist, who we’d worked and developed a great relationship with from previous campaign shoots. Despite all the challenges, we actually came out with a shoot we were all incredibly happy with. And it was thanks to the hard work - as well as countless zooms, phone calls and briefing documents - between Erin and our FWF team here in Melbourne, and the amazing Sydney crew, who went above and beyond.”
Friends with Frank’s garments are known for their flowing fluid lines, structured tailoring and neutral tones. In a deluge of other Melbourne-bred slow-fashion labels, what makes this one inimitable?
“We design for our customer. Yes, we are a fashion label. But our primary purpose is to make clothes that our customers love wearing. Pieces that make them feel good, not that make a splash on the runway or are completely on-trend during that current season. We compel through simplicity,” says Jules.
“And we also put a lot of effort into making sure that our production process, and the way our business operates more generally. We want to go about our business in a way that makes people feel good, whether it’s our customers, our suppliers, or the creatives and other small businesses we work with.”
It’s a trite but important question: where to next for the label? In an increasingly political fashion climate, how does Julia seek to improve her sustainability practices and diversity of creative talent canvassed across future collections?
“We feel that we have a responsibility to run our business in a way that makes us proud and lets our customers feel good about choosing Friends with Frank. Of course, this involves a lot of effort, and there’s always more to do. But we really do take the idea of continuous improvement seriously. A couple of focuses for us over the next little while include more use of recycled and otherwise sustainable materials (like our quilted polyester Lillian coat and Cecile jacket in the Spring range), as well as establishing a program in response to the BLM movement so that we can do our bit in promoting social equality,” she says.
Things have definitely been different in fashion this year. A veritable rug has been pulled out from under the feet of fumbling labels forgoing tact, creativity, candour and diversity. When so much is changing, shifting and rerouting, a label’s leader can be left feeling parched for ideas that will ensure relevance but also sell to the status quo. When probed for ways to stay inspired, Jules admits she’s feeling deprived of external sources of marvel, magic and magnetism. But there’s hope.
“Any given year would usually involve travel with my husband to a new place, where we love soaking in different landscapes, architecture, fashion and cultures. The restrictions on travel have been a roadblock to that tried and tested formula. Fortunately, though, I have been doing this (range development) for a good few years now, so I have been able to fall back on my established creative processes (even if our house sometimes looks like a factory).”
“Our series of lockdowns has also been a great time to revisit precious travel memories with loved ones. In usual times, in dreaming about the next trip you tend to forget how rich your existing memories are. I know it sounds cliched, but there is so much beauty in our lives. But like everyone else, I too often get too caught up in being busy, and it becomes all too easy to miss the beauty right in front of us. What I love about fashion is that it brings my attention back to what’s beautiful in my everyday life, and there’s plenty of things to draw on.”
Interview — Genevieve Phelan
