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How Camilla Franks broke all the rules (and got on White Lotus)

Once derided as not being a true fashion designer, the kaftan and resort wear queen now reigns supreme. From the upcoming Fashion issue out on March 31.

Eugenie Kelly
Updated

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It’s 10.15 on a Tuesday morning and Jack Vidgen, of Australia’s Got Talent fame, is strutting an imaginary runway clad in a clingy crystal-studded strapless mini dress under the watchful eye of his stylist. The pair are hunkered down in the press showroom of “Camilla Villa”, the headquarters for Camilla Franks’ clothing label, shortlisting options for his upcoming performance at Sydney WorldPride.

Franks pops her head in through the doorway, coos hello and Vidgen’s sculpted cheeks soften into a wide smile at the sight of the 47-year-old designer. “Hellooo,” he drawls, embracing her. “Thank you sooo much for letting us do this.”

Camilla Franks: “I don’t want to be a brand that’s vanilla. I want to be Camilla.” Nic Walker

Franks has just downed her third coffee of the day – the first was at 5.30am, pre-downward-dog, the second savoured after her daily 7am ice bath – and is in whirr mode with a zillion tasks to tick off. She bids adieu to Vidgen and it’s back to business, the hem of her white floor-length robe dragging behind her as she speed-walks across the polished concrete floors of the two-level renovated warehouse in Sydney’s Alexandria.

It’s a mishmash of exposed brick walls, artefacts from Bali and India and a sea of white desks at which around 170 staff – 95 per cent female – appear glued to computer screens. Sketches, fabric swatches and strike-offs are pinned to presentation boards leaning against the walls in one corner. A recently added sign in red capital letters stops Franks in her tracks: “In case of emergency, add snakeskin and/or leopard prints.”

She chuckles, but there’s an underlying tension. “We have to nail every single collection we do these days,” says Franks as she scans the boards. “If I didn’t get a collection right in the early days, the risk was small, but I’m now responsible for this army,” she adds, motioning around the room.

Founded in 2004, Camilla the label now has 20 retail boutiques in Australia, two in the US and 264 wholesale accounts spanning 65 countries. For financial 2022, it increased revenue by 20 per cent to $118 million and profit climbed 10 per cent to $9 million. In January, Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s investment vehicle, Tattarang, paid $42.5  million to acquire a 25 per cent stake in the business, the brand’s first external investment.

“It feels like a lifetime ago that I opened my first bricks-and-mortar store in Bondi where I was this one-man band working 24/7, running myself into the ground,” Franks says, looking around the boardroom in which we’ve parked ourselves. “I was the head of marketing, finance, logistics, retail . . . I’d answer the phone and someone would ask for accounts, and I’d go ’beep, beep, beep and adopt another persona to make it feel like we actually had staff. It was a complete smoke-and-mirrors show.”

Franks with friends including Jack Vidgen (second from left) at an event for Sydney WorldPride in February. 

Franks has a charming tendency to overshare; her surname suits her. And she has an innate flamboyance, as if one of her free-flowing, silk-chiffon, crystal-embellished kaftans was brought to life. For her debut at Australian Fashion Week in 2004, the same year she opened her first store, the then-25-year-old forewent a traditional runway show and opted instead to showcase her collection of kaftans and kimonos in the form of an opera at Sydney’s Intercontinental hotel. Her models included a woman who was size 22, a grandmother and another who was heavily pregnant.

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“I didn’t come from a fashion background, I had no formal fashion training, and so I ended up breaking all of these industry rules because I was unaware that they even existed,” Franks says.

“Back then there was so much ageism, sexism, shapeism – the whole gamut. That didn’t sit well with me because I just wanted people to feel joy . . . I love to make people smile, to feel free, to feel empowered.”

Franks: “People have distinct feelings about my brand. You either love it or hate it. It’s polarising.” Nic Walker

Her clothing hasn’t always been considered cutting-edge, but that’s a philosophy that has placed her well and truly ahead of the curve.

In Surry Hills and Darlinghurst during Sydney WorldPride in March, it seemed every second guy had invested in one of Camilla’s $469 silk short-sleeved collared shirts. Perhaps they were inspired by her recent Robbie Williams collaboration, or the second series of HBO’s The White Lotus where the so-called “high-end gays” wore Camilla shorts and shirts.

Jennifer Coolidge’s cult character, Tanya McQuoid, donned Camilla pieces in both seasons. Director Mike White is such a Franks fan he invited the designer to the set. She can be seen hitting the dance floor during a debaucherous party scene.

White Lotus moment: Jennifer Coolidge and Franks. 

Camilla is having quite the moment. The coming of age of Generation Z has forced a shift in who is seen as beautiful, and labels have been making symbolic gestures on their runways and in advertising campaigns – different races, different body shapes, diverse genders. Inclusivity is in – it’s even a marketing buzzword. But Franks’ vision as a whole – in both her shows and designs – has featured a variety of main characters, and from the very start. She pushed boundaries from a position of comparative weakness; while her label had early success, it wasn’t entirely embraced with open arms by the fashion establishment. Perhaps that’s why featuring outsiders has been so central to her ethos.

One of her first big accounts, following the exposure from Australian Fashion Week, was David Jones. David Bush, general manager of womenswear at the time, had to drag then-fashion-buyer Damian Burke along to sign. It was the early aughts and bohemian fashion was ablaze – slouchy suede boots, gypsy coin belts and Sienna Miller-style hippie skirts the height of chic.

“The thinking was; kaftans are a vibe, let’s give it a go,” recalls Bush. “The first season it blew out the door, so we went back for a second season, but weirdly that didn’t sell. We worried it was a one-hit wonder.”

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Helen Robbins, who consulted to the business as a sales agent and marketer in its early days, says many people – herself included – thought the label would only last one or two seasons. “No one counted on Franks building her tribe,” says Robbins, who is now general manager of Lee Mathews. “The level of care she gives her VIPs is astounding. They’re invested in her entire brand. And I’m not talking about just the product. She has taken them on the ride with her.”

As proof, consider the cult-like devotion of Facebook groups such as Camilla Tribe (11k followers), Camilla Vintage (2.5k) and Camilla Swap Sell Buy (28.4k), where members show off purchases, exchange styling tips and trade archival pieces.

Franks was quick to realise that her peacock-vibe pieces particularly resonated with women larger than a size 12; her clothes are available from XXS to XL – and pieces in her More To Love collection run to 3XL. She won over the public, but some sectors of the fashion industry considered her clothing to be “unstructured” and not really properly designed. As Bush puts it, “certain people in the fashion industry have been dismissive of Camilla. What they were saying must have been frustrating and hurtful: ‘It’s just a kaftan; she’s not a designer; you just pull it over your head’.”

Sally Burleigh, who handled the brand’s public relations from 2012 to 2015, recalls the challenge of coercing magazines to feature the clothes. One magazine editor told Burleigh and Franks matter-of-factly that as much as they loved the designer personally, her pieces would never grace her pages.

“The rest of the world looks at Camilla as an Australian designer, but I’m not sure Australian media understood the scope and scale of her business,” says Burleigh. “You had stars like Rihanna and Kate Hudson visiting Australia and discovering the brand – and people picking up their phones seeing images of JLo wearing it – and that’s when it became harder to ignore.”

Franks’ label launched a collaboration with Disney in March. Nic Walker

Two endorsements proved pivotal: Oprah Winfrey wearing the $800 Banshee Long Angel Cape to film her Ultimate Australian Adventure series in 2010; and Beyonce wearing playsuits, dresses and swimwear in St Tropez on her yacht through the following decade. Pap shots were flashed around the world.

“People have distinct feelings about my brand,” says Franks when asked about the mixed reception she’s received. “You either love it or hate it. It’s polarising. I don’t want to be a brand that’s vanilla. I want to be Camilla. There are so many brands out there cross-pollinating – all have the same handwriting. I can’t tell who is who. I love the fact we either evoke a positive or negative feeling.”

“Fashion can be elitist” she continues. “I’m proud we’re not known as a ‘fashion’ brand. We’ve gone beyond that. We’re a community. A tribe. A collective of human beings that share a narrative and values. I don’t conform to what a fashion designer is supposed to be. You have to be authentic and stand in your truth, and that can be an uncomfortable place ... You’re vulnerable when you’re creating, but validation from a Beyonce or an Oprah or a JLo makes you realise you’re on the right path. They can wear any damn brand they want. I get my validation from customers and the beautiful talented gods and goddesses I get to dress around the world.”

Franks was born in Sydney in 1976; her father was an architect, her mother had been a model and later worked as a fashion buyer. She attended the exclusive girls school Ascham, where you could find her “in the art room, the theatre, in the headmistress’ office.” She dabbled in advertising as well as acting, making costumes for her performances. Their design morphed into a kaftan concept.

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“From age three I was on stage. A chicken, a mermaid – I was always playing characters. At school, books weren’t my friend,” she says. “I was diagnosed with ADHD 10 years ago, so now I understand why there were moments I struggled.”

Work has been a band-aid for past traumas. Franks had suffered bouts of glandular fever over the years and in 2013 contracted Bell’s palsy while working in India, resulting in paralysis of the side of her face, from which she’s now recovered. In 2018, four weeks after giving birth to daughter Luna, she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. Because she carries a mutated BRCA1, after undergoing chemotherapy Franks opted for a double mastectomy and to have her fallopian tubes and ovaries removed.

That same year, her parents, Bill and Narelle Franks, launched legal action in the NSW Supreme Court; her father accusing her of failing to honour a promise to make him a partner in the business. The case has since settled.

“My family has been perfectly imperfect and we have gone through our hard times and broken into a new chapter,” says Franks. “I have my parents back and Luna has been the key to unlocking the door. What time we have left on this earth we will lead from a place of love, not fear. My parents did the best with what they were taught. I’m lucky enough to be born in this generation where there’s more mindfulness.”

Franks’ relentless drive to overcome whatever life throws at her seems to reflect more than ambition. When I ask her why she has pushed herself to superhuman efforts, she cites the death of her brother in an accident when he was 14 and she was 17. “I’d always felt it should have been me,” she says. “It shifted me into a gear of living for two, to honour his life. That’s why I started running like a racehorse.”

Franks with Camilla chief executive Jane McNally, who sees opportunities for US expansion over the next five years. Nic Walker

‘My body was breaking’

By 2016, Camilla’s trajectory appeared to be unstoppable: the brand had 17 boutiques in Australia and stockists in the UK, Europe, Asia and US, having grown 700  per cent over the previous five years. But cracks were appearing.

Behind the scenes, its IT infrastructure was imploding, crisis management meetings were regular and, although orders were flowing in, it couldn’t keep up with demand. She realised she’d need a CEO.

“I was sleeping with one eye open at night,” Franks admits. “My body was breaking. I was designing 20 per cent of the time and the rest of my hours were spent running the business. I knew I’d be much lighter and happier handing over the baton.”

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Enter Jane McNally, Camilla’s chief executive – or the “green and blue brain” as Franks calls her, a reference to Herrmann’s whole brain model in which green and blue refer to being organised and driven by facts – a complementary skill set to Franks’ yellow and red, which denotes creativity.

The softly spoken Brit has a long background in retail and board roles and, since January 2017, has been steering the Camilla ship. “There was basic housekeeping that needed taking care of,” admits McNally. “In 2018 digital was 17 per cent for us and those sales have grown to 47 per cent today.”

She and the executive team saw the brand as being bigger than resort wear. “The signature kaftans will never go away and we’re proud of those origins, but what customers were loving was the print ethos. Camilla is a global print house.”

Structured silhouettes and occasion wear (mini dresses, maxi dresses, tailored shirts, wide-leg pants) became the emphasis and now account for 30 per cent of sales. The pricing sweet spot for these, according to Franks, is $799 to $899, though she does like to throw in the odd $3000 unicorn piece.

“An embellished jacket or cape – they’re the pieces that drive our creative integrity.” Categories that followed include menswear; loungewear; baby and children’s wear; wallpaper, bedlinen; tableware; sunglasses, bags, shoes, pet accessories – and potentially even hotels, if Franks gets her way.

“There needs to be more support in helping women get more space at the table,” says Nicola Forrest, with Franks. 

Which is perhaps not beyond the realm of possibility given the investment from Tattarang. It’s the Forrests’ second major fashion investment, after their acquisition of RM  Williams in 2020 for $190 million. The first meeting between Franks and Nicola Forrest took place 14 months ago at the Forrests’ house in London.

“We sat on her floor talking about things like females in leadership roles and our shared passions for storytelling, art and brands,” recalls Franks. “RM Williams is a brand renowned for ‘heritage’ and Camilla has that too. The kaftan is the mother – the trunk – and off that you have branches. More categories, customers, territories.”

For Nicola, it was the wearable-art and craftsmanship aspects of the brand that initially drew her in. “Tattarang is an organisation that supports Australian businesses and brands that take their products to the rest of the world, and although Camilla has already expanded internationally, they needed a bit more support” she tells The Australian Financial Review Magazine over Zoom.

“I’ve also been leading a charge in investing in female-founded businesses, so this felt very hand-in-glove. As an entrepreneur, Camilla’s approach is extraordinary and I love it that you look around her workshop and see how many women are employed there.”

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A measly 0.7 per cent of venture capital funding in Australia in the 2022 financial year went to solely female-founded businesses, a statistic Forrest finds staggering. “We’ve been leading the charge in focusing on female founder businesses,” she says. “Tattarang recently backed the Southeast Asian Women’s Economic Empowerment Fund [SWEEF], which is a women-led fund that supports industries where women play a significant role.

“We also recently collaborated with Startmate, an accelerator which takes an equitable approach to both male and female business leaders. So we’re really conscious there needs to be more support in helping women get more space at the table. There’s a lot of evidence that female-led businesses have better retention rates and I believe this investment in Camilla will work really well.”

Global expansion poses challenges for Australian brands – the main one being seasonal. “It’s a complex beast,” Franks admits. “The northern hemisphere is wearing puffer jackets, leather trenches and merino wool knits, while down south we’ll have bikinis, cover-ups and occasion dressing.

“We’re designing 50 to 70 new silhouettes in 15 different fabrications every season. Layered on top of that we have inclusivity. So you have to deliver for the modest market, the genderless, the more-to-love, the petites. And then on top of that you have gifting, Christmas, International Women’s Day, Valentine’s Day, holiday.”

She takes a deep breath before she continues, citing the brand’s collaborations – one with Disney launched in March; another with The Leading Hotels of the World launches in July. “I hardly used to look at range plans, but now I guess have to honour them,” she jokes.

Menswear has been a notable hit. “It’s grown 500 per cent over the last year,” says McNally. “Our fastest turning line was board shorts. But shirts are also stepping up to the mark. The Aussie male is getting in touch with his inner peacock and enjoying the flamboyance.” She won’t confirm or deny if Andrew Forrest owns a pair.

The Camilla boutique in Aventura Mall, Florida, is one of two it has in the US – and there are plans for more. 

With Tattarang’s injection, McNally believes that in the next five years, there’s opportunity to establish 19 Camilla stores in the US on top of its Florida and California boutiques, which rank No. 1 and No. 5 in the portfolio. But how will the first “cold weather” store – due to open by next January in New Jersey – fare? “It wasn’t where I thought I’d open next,” laughs Franks, “but the amount of hits online tell us they love occasion dresses. Even though they’re silk, we’re giving them layers to wear on top. Faux fur, wool knits, leather.”

So, a push into new markets in North America, a cameo in a cult TV show, a growing menswear line and new investors with oodles of patient capital. A few weeks after my initial interview with Franks, I ask her if this feels like a moment to breathe and realise her fearlessness and persistence has paid off.

“I’ll never forget sitting in lonely hotel rooms in New York by myself eating a club sandwich at the age of 26, then schlepping off in the snow to Neiman Marcus and Bergdorfs, showing them my collections and telling them the stories behind my prints,” she says. “They’d say, here’s this crazy Australian girl again with her psychedelic kaftans!”

What would she tell her younger self? Franks smiles. “I wish I could go back to that girl with her Bondi store and just let her know everything was going to be OK.”

The April issue of AFR Magazine, the Fashion issue, is out on Friday, March 31 inside The Australian Financial Review. Follow AFR Mag on Twitter and Instagram.

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