Name: Jane Hayes
Age: 30
Occupation: Jane Hayes Consulting
Place of birth: Australia
Current residence: Melbourne, Australia
I was born in Australia but come from a strong Scottish heritage. I travelled a lot as a child so caught the travel bug from an early age. This combined with a keen interest in people led to visiting countries in Europe, the Middle East and USA and eventually setting up my own image consultancy business where I get to work on a personal level with all different types of people.
My personal style is a fusion of Australian and overseas influences, I like to describe it as edgy femininity. I love combining vintage, high street and high-end pieces with accessories that date back to the 1930s. I’ve always had this obsession with making things and dressing people so I enjoy offering personal and corporate styling advice and taking my clients on shopping tours. With my background in marketing, advertising and business I co-founded a project called The Spirit of the Black Dress, and the inaugural exhibition launched at Melbourne Fashion Week in 2009. The aim of the project was to help promote sustainable Australian fashion and textile design. The criteria for choosing designers for The Spirit of the Black Dress are varied but entrants must be Australian labels in their first five years of practice. We look for labels that abide by our sustainability criteria, such as use of sustainable fabrics like bamboo or organic cotton or ensuring zero waste pattern making and use of reclaimed fabric or green energy.
‘For me an Australian presence in New York, London and Milan is the ultimate goal’
Our project has developed through the years and now consists of a runway show, fashion film, fashion and textile exhibition and a magazine and it has become one of the top events on the cultural program for The L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. Australia has amazing design talent from couture to street style, alternative design and ready-to-wear, both emerging and established.
They all deserve to be recognised by the rest of the world because of the great designs they are producing which is why supporting Australian fashion designers is a key part of my role. I help designers maximize their talent and assist them with business developments to help them reach the next stage in their career. The opening gala, which we put on for designers, gives them exposure to influential industry professionals, the media and the general public. For me an Australian presence in New York, London and Milan is the ultimate goal.
Find out more about The Spirit of the Black Dress here