Australia, insurance, car, home, live, holidays

Marc Freeman and Camilla Freeman-Topper,of Camilla and Marc,will open Fashion Week Australia as the Mercedes Benz Presents designer.Credit:Steven Siewert

"We were pretty young. We worked so hard towards that first show. The excitement and the unknown was really what drove us,"Marc Freeman,now 38,told Fairfax Media.

From princelings,the brother-and-sister duo have risen to create a modest empire spanning most Australian states,the United States,where their brand is stocked at Neiman Marcus,and an online wholesale network.

Model Victoria Lee wears a dress by Camilla and Marc from their current collection at the David Jones show on February 7.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Asked to name the designers he and sister Camilla,36,admired in their early days,Freeman runs off the aforementioned veterans but hastens to add:"We’ve always had a global view of fashion. It is a global stage today. So many of the great brands domestically and internationally … we never had our sights on brands in Australia."

And yet,on May 13,the pair will take centre stage as the reigning monarchs of Australian fashion when they open Fashion Week Australia,as the Mercedes Benz Presents designer.

The start of the pair's 12-month partnership with the car brand - last year's designer was Dion Lee - will take place against a dramatic,yet-to-be-revealed location in Sydney. Although he's keeping the details close for now,Freeman promises it will be spectacular.

One of Camilla and Marc's earliest shows at Fashion Week Australia,in 2004.Credit:Edwina Pickles

"The emotion of showing in Sydney is very real to us. This is where we started our business,"he said. "The best way to articulate our vision for the collection is on the runway,in a fully immersive show environment."

In the Camilla and Marc world,time is a fluid thing,the pair having just returned from showing their winter 2018 range to positive reviews in New York.Vogue called it"more provocative"than previous collections,whileWomen's Wear Dailypraised the brand's"empowering tailoring".

That collection will hit Australian stores until July,and in the meantime the team is hard at work on the resort collection that will debut in Sydney for an October release.

"It’s the first time we’ve shown in a little while. It’s been a couple of years. We’ve been focusing on retail expansion domestically and international growth,"Freeman said.

The areas of focus are the US and Asia,as well as rounding out the domestic offering,including stores in Western Australia and Queensland.

"We’re still strong believers in bricks and mortar;it’s the only way to completely sell your brand message,"he said. "We’ve been ... engaging with the likes ofVogue and premium titles and influencers to build our brand[in the US] in the right way. Building a brand takes time. It’s not about a new identity - we have strong awareness in the fashion arena - but it’s about building it out to the wider consumer."

As for the partnership with Mercedes Benz,Freeman said there are many shared values between the brands.

"A lot of the tenets tie in well to the Camilla and Marc brand. We stand for quality,a sense of timelessness,and certainly a focus on design. The synergy is quite strong."

Fashion Week Australia runs May 13-20,mbfashionweek.com/australia.

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