INTERVIEW with Laura Churchill || Director of Brisbane Fashion Month

From Laura’s Instagram

SD: Hi Laura. Glad to have you on here. For my readers who don’t know you yet, can you please introduce yourself?

LC: Sure. I’m Laura Churchill, I’m a fashion event producer here in Brisbane and I have a couple of large projects I run each year. I’m director of Brisbane Fashion Month, an annual fashion festival each October, and producer of the Ekka Natural Fibres Fashion Parades. I also work as a stylist across some retail and commercial clients and for Channel Seven and have a few other arms to my company. I’ve run my own fashion company for almost 10 years now.

SD: Describe your style essentials.

LC: My day-to-day style is pretty classic so my signature style usually involves a great jacket and some accessories.

SD: How did you discover what it was and how you knew it was what you wanted to do?

LC: I always had an interest in fashion and the business of fashion particularly (the designers and makers and how they do. I grew up around fashion (my mother was a dress-maker) but chose a different career path initially.

From Laura’s Instagram

SD: What was the path that led you to the job you have now?

LC: I was a journalist for around a decade and my journalism career led me quite naturally down a path of focusing on fashion, which saw me doing more styling, and in 2011 I left the Courier-Mail where I was fashion editor to focus on styling and events and have never looked back. I think that part of my life set me up with great contacts fashion particularly locally and allowed me to see behind the scenes of this industry I’m so passionate about. I went to fashion weeks in Sydney, New York and Bali and got to see fashion from all sides which is the part I still really love, having close relationships with designers. It just really confirmed this is what I want to do with my life.

SD: What was the best piece of business advice you were given when you were starting off?

LC: A good friend actually told me when I first started working for myself that I’d never want to go and work for anyone else again. I guess it wasn’t so much advice as a way of assuring me I was on a good path. At the time it scared me because I think I thought my styling business would be a stepping stone to something else, and it was, but that something else was a larger business and bigger projects than I think I ever could have envisaged being part of.

SD: Can you name the biggest lesson you’ve learned in running a business?

LC: The highs and lows, and the ebbs and flows, have both been lessons in patience and confidence that with hard work it will all work out. Fashion is seasonal so certain times of the year are going to be busier but also higher earning than others – it took some time to get used to that and to making sure I could even out my cash flow throughout the year with different clients and supporting projects.

I think I’m lucky I’m self-motivated. I have a home office and a small team of contractors who work on our projects remotely, but I never have a problem with staying focused and on-task throughout the week.

SD: The best fashion advice you ever gave is…

LC: Dress for yourself first. That’s a big one. I really don’t like talking about trends and the sameness that comes with that, I’m a big believer in dressing for what makes you feel happy and confident over anything else.

From Laura’s Instagram

SD: What could you tell us about your upcoming projects?

LC: I’m writing this at the time when Australia is still in Coronavirus shutdown so the future is uncertain to say the least but I’m hoping to be able to stage Brisbane Fashion Month in October and hold some really beautiful, meaningful events. I had also planned our first beauty-focused event for April this year but that has been postponed, but it’ll be a wonderful event when we can make that happen.

SD: What 3 things are you grateful for right now?

LC: My husband, daughter and family, my health, and the ability to build a career in the industry I love.

SD: What is your advice for other women seeking to break the mould to pursue their passions?

LC: Be kind (first and foremost – good things come to good people), be patient and work really hard. It’s such a cliché but nothing worth having comes quickly or easily. Oh and you really have to be doing what you’re doing for the right reasons – you can have as many hobbies as you like, but if you want to build a business there has to be something in it for other people too and a place for it in the world. Being self-serving won’t get you very far and I think in to the future more than ever now there will be a big place for communities of all types.

From Laura’s Instagram

Follow Laura on:

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/laurachurchill_/
Brisbane Fashion Month Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/brisbanefashionmonth/
Brisbane Fashion Month Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brisbanefashionmonth/