Perry is regarded as one of Australia’s leading fashion designers, having appeared as a judge in seven seasons of Australia’s Next Top Model and as a mentor on Foxtel’s fashion design program Project Runway.
The partnership with Magnolia will be Perry’s second jewellery range, having previously worked on a budget-end accessories line for the 190-store Diva chain.
It’s not the first time Magnolia has collaborated with a celebrity designer either. In May this year the 29-store retailer contracted stylist and fashion guru Kai Aiyub to create “Kai Aiyub for Magnolia”.
Magnolia managing director Nati Harpaz said that after the success of the Kai Aiyub range he wanted to create another collaboration and contacted Perry. After two months' negotiations with Perry, the designer set to work for four months to create the 40-piece collection.
Perry told Jeweller, “Knowing that Magnolia only produces quality, durable jewellery made it a sensible choice for me to align myself and my brand with it.”
He said it was liberating to work in a medium where he did not have to take into account the many technical aspects associated with clothing design.
“With jewellery I can just sit and look at the design and ask myself ‘is it beautiful?’. Ultimately a woman will just try it on and instead of thinking if it fits her right or does it make her look thinner, she only has to think, ‘Do I like this?’. So it's easier in that sense.
“But it [jewellery design] is difficult as well because there are so many different aesthetics that different women have. I've tried to inject something for a lot of different women into the mini ranges inside the collection,” Perry said.
As well as jewellery and accessories collaborations, in recent years Perry has expanded his design skills to include a range of eyewear for Specsavers and also featured in the retailer’s television commercials. He said while the design process was a little different for each one, the excitement of discovering new possibilities inspired him.
“It’s a creative experience for me, an extension of what I do as a fashion designer. I design evening gowns but every time I turn my hand to another form I get a creative rush.
“When I initially tried to put down some ideas for my Magnolia Silver range, I thought “Oh lord what am I doing, I’m not a jewellery designer." But then once I started I realised that although I'm not a jewellery designer I am a designer, so I can transfer that aesthetic into lots of different things and then it becomes easy,” Perry explained.
Retailer becomes supplier
In a break with tradition, Magnolia, which currently has 29 retail outlets across Australia, is offering the Alex Perry range to other independent jewellery retailers.
Harpaz’s move to begin supplying non-Magnolia outlets is an interesting twist and a reverse of the more common trend of suppliers moving into the retail market via their own concept or branded stores.
Harpaz believes that, with a high profile name like Alex Perry, the collection has far greater potential than just the Magnolia stores therefore the range is initially being made available to Showcase Jewellers, which spans Australia and New Zealand with 295 stores.
Showcase members got a first glimpse of the range at the recent Sydney jewellery trade fair and Harpaz said the response had been overwhelming.
“Magnolia’s stores sit in metropolitan areas,” Harpaz explained. “At the moment we have no intention of expanding [Magnolia stores] into regional areas which means that the opportunity to take the Magnolia brand outside of the main cities would be done through wholesaling. Potentially there might even be the opportunity to scale down some of the retail operation and expand the wholesale line as we have seen a lot of interest in our jewellery.”
In addition to first offering the range to Showcase stores, Harpaz said the Alex Perry collection would also be made available to other independent jewellery stores in areas where there is no Showcase Jeweller or the Showcase member has decided not to stock the range.
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