The 20-year-old brand making its fashion week debut
The woman behind Melbourne born-and-bred cool girl label Viktoria & Woods says it’s finally time to reach a wider audience.
Margie Woods might be the quietest woman in Australian fashion. Softly spoken and rarely seen in the media, Woods is as behind-the-scenes as it gets. But that may change next week, when she takes the traditional runway bow as her brand, Viktoria & Woods, makes its Australian Fashion Week debut.
Margie Woods at a new Viktoria & Woods boutique in Rosebery, Sydney. Peter Rae
“We have slowly evolved as a brand,” says Woods. “It was the right time to reach a wider audience.” In recent years, the Melbourne brand has begun wholesaling internationally. “It felt right to celebrate what we are doing.”
Viktoria & Woods, which will show on Monday afternoon, is one of a handful of established names at this year’s Australian Fashion Week, from May 13 to 17 at Carriageworks in Sydney. Traditionally a trade show targeted at international media and buyers, it has evolved to be more consumer-focused, with many bigger brands opting out. But Woods believes her involvement will bring a wider audience to her business, which this year celebrates 20 years.
Elle Macpherson walks the runway for Viktoria & Woods at Melbourne Fashion Festival 2024. Getty Images
The show will take light as its inspiration, just as the brand itself has this year. “Because it’s our birthday, internally we are calling 2024 ‘Reflections of Light’,” says Woods. The brand’s first collection was titled First Light, while at fashion week, Woods will send the Solar range down the runway.
While Woods herself has remained somewhat subdued in an industry where the volume is often turned up to 11, her clothing has gained a cult following. Viktoria & Woods has become known for its Chorus set, a pyjama-style silk pant-and-top combo with a White Lotus-meets-Melbourne vibe, as well as its range of bustier corsets and suits, which tend toward the more relaxed end of the tailoring spectrum. These pieces, says Woods, came from her own frustration with shopping.
“Being in the store is very informative,” Woods says. “You learn so much about what is being picked up, what is missing from the collection.” Peter Rae
“I was always looking for simple basics that would complement my wardrobe,” she says. “I’d look for something modern, made from a natural fibre like merino wool. But nothing had a contemporary expression to it.” Working as an assistant to a costume jeweller, and then at now-defunct fashion brand Metalicus, Woods “mulled over the idea” for a few years before taking the leap.
Beginning with a range of merino-knit pieces like cardigans and V-neck jumpers, she found her products were soon in high demand. In 2014, she opened Viktoria & Woods’ first store in High Street, Armadale, a Melbourne precinct she describes as the brand’s “homeland”.
“Opening that store was pivotal,” she says. “I got to know the customer so much better.” To this day, she remains “obsessed” with visual merchandising. “Being in the store is very informative,” she says. “You learn so much about what is being picked up, what is missing from the collection.”
Now, with more than 260 staff and 25 stores, opportunities to rearrange the shelves are few and far between. In 2020, the brand introduced a unisex range that Woods says is not menswear, but more a gesture to recognise the fluid way many of us now dress. “I love wearing menswear,” she says. “And so many male friends requested a men’s range.”
The collection is a creative flex for her team, she says, and an acknowledgement that “clothing is about what looks good, not what side of the store it’s from”.
Woods first created simple basics due to her own frustration with shopping.
Woods can’t divulge details of the show, which will be styled by industry veteran Karla Clarke, but says Australian style has come into its own in the quarter-century she’s been at the helm of Viktoria & Woods.
“We are a very relaxed country when it comes to dressing,” she says. “But that doesn’t mean we’re without style. We dress for our environment, and we really embrace our surroundings. We have a lot to say.”
Perfumer to the shows
Creed’s Queen of Silk perfume.
The British/French perfumer House of Creed has signed up as the official fragrance partner of Australian Fashion Week for three years in a first for both parties.
Established in 1760, Creed has in the past partnered with designers showing at London Fashion Week, but this is the first time it is a sponsor of an entire event.
It marked the occasion with the Australian launch this month of Queen of Silk, a heady scent weaving Chinese osmanthus, tuberose and passionfruit with Javanese patchouli and vanilla, and the dry woods of cedar and agar. Australian designer Michael Lo Sordo was chosen to create a dress inspired by the scent, and it will be debuted at his runway show on Tuesday.
There will be a Queen of Silk installation, a Museum of Creed and Creed Bar at Carriageworks, the site of fashion week, and $99 tickets are available for a fragrance masterclass presented by the brand on Friday, the final day of the shows.
“This marks the largest activation Creed has ever undertaken in Australia,” says Creed CEO Sarah Rotheram. “It’s not only an opportunity to showcase the brand’s story, but also to champion Australian design and artistry.”
Creed, a London tailoring company, got its head start in fragrances by delivering scented leather gloves to King George III, and moved headquarters to Paris in 1854.
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