Fashion side hustles: Would you like a rug with that dress?
For many people, Coco Chanel, Vera Wang and Tom Ford are more famous for perfumes, picture frames and movies than making clothes.
Global fashion fame doesn’t always come from dresses, which is why Steven Khalil is treading a path forged by fellow Australian designers Romance Was Born, Akira Isogawa and kaftan queen Camilla, by launching a range with Designer Rugs.
Dress designer Steven Khalil in his studio in Paddington, Sydney, showcasing his new rug line. Credit: Edwina Pickles
“I’ve spent 20 years creating a beautiful brand,” say Khalil, who has dressed Kylie Jenner, Jennifer Lopez and countless Australian brides in ornate dresses anchored in elegance. “It’s time to evolve and challenge myself.”
“I’m not a big risk-taker, but collaborating gives me a chance to show what I can do beyond dresses. If Vera Wang can do it ...”
Wang is the rich-list role model, having parlayed a bridal boutique into a US lifestyle brand with an estimated retail value of $1 billion a year. It’s enough incentive for other brands to join Khalil’s measured gamble at fashion empire expansion.
Japanese design legend Issey Miyake collaborated with Dyson vacuums, Ralph Lauren worked with the video game Fortnite on a “Loot Llama” logo and Karl Lagerfeld teamed up with Diet Coke on a range of bottles.
Alemais designer Lesleigh Jermanus, winner of Australian Fashion Week’s Designer of the Year Award this year, has collaborated with KitchenAid on a stand mixer and women’s empowerment charity Two Good Co on an apron and napkins.
“We are regularly approached for collaborations,” Jermanus says. “Each collection, we ask ourselves the same two questions: are we proud of our work? Did we have fun designing each piece? Where the answer is yes to both, it is included in the collection. We follow a similar process when considering a collaboration: will it be fun, and will we feel proud of it?
“There’s reward to be found in contemplating a new creative approach.”
At the resilient Australian accessories brand Oroton, a similar vetting process takes place before hitching the brand name to another business. Water bottle manufacturer Frank Green passed the test for the festive season.
Alemais x Two Good Co apron, $190, twogood.com.au; Oroton x Frank Green $119, oroton.com.au; Steven Khalil Designer Rug ‘La Nuit’, $6490, Designer Rugs. Credit:
“Combining marketing efforts across two businesses is powerful, and in partnership with Frank Green, we’ve been able to introduce both brands to broader audiences across digital and physical platforms,” says Oroton chief executive Jenny Child. “Frank Green has a really engaged audience, which has encouraged us to try new activations this holiday season.
“Reaching new audiences is always a shared focus, but it’s also about surprising and delighting our existing customers with something unexpected. That could be a new product, like a beautifully leather-wrapped water bottle, and it can also be a new conversation, like an upcoming collaboration we have in the works.”
Brand licensing and marketing expert Owen Lynch helped Khalil navigate the journey down the aisle to lifestyle products, having previously consulted for Camilla, Romance Was Born and fashion illustrator Megan Hess.
Lynch sees potential for designers to find larger audiences through collaborations but says it’s also about giving loyal customers the opportunity to engage with a beloved brand on a new level, even if that’s the lounge room floor.
“It’s about building a longer-term product offering and an opportunity for devotees or fans of my clients to discover something in a creative aesthetic they already appreciate,” Lynch says. “You see plenty of collaborations coming to market that don’t make sense and seem almost a vanity exercise, which is fine if the exercise is just for additional PR.”
Fashion team-ups that failed to last beyond headline-grabbing moments include Elle Macpherson advertising KFC in 1993, NYC skate brand Huf and tinned meat brand Spam in 2016 and business communications platform Slack working with US accessories label Cole Haan on sneakers in 2020.
Content creator collaborations have also risen in popularity, with Kim Kardashian and Dolce & Gabbana, Sarah-Ellen and Rolla’s and Elle Ferguson joining the long list of Ksubi capsule collections.
“Some of these work, but there has been plenty of talk recently about the influencer collaboration where you just slap on an aesthetic, and put an ‘x’ between two brand names, coming to an end,” Lynch says. “It makes sense for leading brands to collaborate with experts in their fields.”
For Khalil, a perfectionist dressmaker, creating rugs was never going to be a matter of simply signing his name on a product. The designer had to find a way to apply his creativity to a flat surface.
“You can’t embellish a rug,” Khalil says. “I’m used to working on the body, so tapping into other areas of creativity was a challenge.”
Rather than resting on his laurels, and his rug, Khalil is ready to work his way up with his next project, a range of shoes.
“They’re bridal, so it’s familiar territory, but one that I’m ready to take global.”
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