Anita Carmody is the founder, owner and Creative Director of our adored labels, Swish and Studio S. With decades of experience behind her and a fashion label with 17 years of success to date - we ought to let you get to know her a little more.
This week, I sat down with Anita to get to know her story. I wanted to find out exactly what led her to start the Swish brand that we have all grown to love so much, and also find out a little more about her personal story and proffesional career.
What is your work ethos to getting stuff done?
Head down, tail up. Every single day of my professional life I have been making to do lists. I'm not too fond of using the computer unless I have to, and I feel that writing notes with a pen and paper is still the best way to prioritise and organise my day.
Swish is unbelievably succesful, and you have done so well at solidifying yourself as a trusted brand within the Australian Fashion Industry. Can you give me a bit of insight on why, and when you decided to start Swish?
Well, I was a fashion agent for many years. Infact, most of my career has consisted of fashion marketing and sales for a fashion agency. After a few years of selling labels to retailers, I noticed that there was a huge lack of options for customers that were actually a normal size. When I started Swish, it was almost a side project. I started with about a dozen, good quality shirts for the plus size woman and started to offer it to my clients alongside the other labels that I was managing. Soon enough, the products were flying out the door and eventually I expanded to meet the demand of my clients.
Actually, it wasn't until 2009 (8 years later) that I decided to expand into retail and sell straight to the public!
What path eventually led you to follow a career in fashion? Was this always your plan - or did you, like so many others, fall into it?
I fell into it! Originally, I was working with Citibank as a recepionist. Very different to the ragtrade industry but still, I did love it. The offies were beatiful and the perks were fantastic. What happened was, I was in my twenties and I needed to travel. So, I saved up all my pennies and left for Europe. It was fantastic, but when I got home I had no job and I was broke. So, when a fabulous lady called me and offered me a job in reception for a fashion agency - I said 'sign me up!'. After a few months, I had been promoted to sales representative and I was managing an array of accounts - and I have never looked back!
The job of 'fashion designer' is often very glamourised - can you bust a myth about your job that people may not know?
Oh I definately can. There is a huge amount of decision making that goes into a collection in a very short period of time. What you choose for the season in advance determines your success for the next 6 months. As I said, I am a secretary that has been in the rag trade forever - it is a learning process.
There are so many cogs to the wheel in fashion - it's not just one person and you can't survive in the industry without amazing employees - no matter how good you are at design.
The image shown above is a feature from 'Dolly' Magazine from 1983 when Anita had just started her career in fashion. She has come such a long way and we are so proud!