Melbourne’s Westfield Doncaster has launched a dedicated retail space to showcase Australian emerging designers. The InHabit concept will run for a minimum of 12 months at Doncaster, and should it prove successful,may be expanded to Scentre’s Sydney Westfield centres, as well as nationally. InHabit is part of a push by Scentre Group to support Australia’s local design talent. In April Westfield partnered with Dion Lee, Romance Was Born, and We Are Handsome, providing sponsorship of
their runway shows at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia.
Sydney-based designer, Dion Lee, who will occupy InHabit early next year for six weeks with his Autumn/Winter collection, told Inside Retail PREMIUM the concept is “dynamic”.
“InHabit is a really dynamic and exciting concept that shows how retail can be quite progressive, and allow designers that are still emerging and growing their brands to play in a more commercial context,” Lee said.
InHabit, which is located on Level One close to Zimmermann, Aesop, Gorman, and Sass & Bide, is a 65sqm area designed by Melbourne architect Matthew Herbert. It will act as a gallery and retail space for shoppers to view and purchase fashion and accessories from featured designers.
From this month a series of different retail concepts will occupy InHabit, with each designer featured for a maximum of six weeks.
The InHabit space is a way for Westfield Doncaster to offer designers who are otherwise not represented within the centre to showcase their collections to a new customer base.
“I’ve been fortunate to be invited to be involved in this concept, mainly because it allows the brand to experiment with a new retail environment that we may not have previously been exposed to,” said Lee.
Kym Ellery, with her label Ellery is the first to occupy the space, showcasing Ellery’s Resort 2015 collection for four weeks.
Dion Lee, Romance Was Born, We Are Handsome, and Strateas Carlucci, are confirmed for residencies in 2015.
