Rebecca Vallance opens the door of her Sydney waterfront property.
asserted
Vallance → open → property
The facade of the sprawling Vaucluse residence is unassuming, but inside, you’re greeted with a contemporary palazzo and epic harbour views from multiple levels.
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you → sprawl → levels
The design, she says, is a riff on Palazzo Avino, a boutique hotel in the Italian clifftop town of Ravello, on the Amalfi Coast, where the fashion designer and her Maltese financier husband David Gasan got engaged; the home is an homage to their enduring romance and partnership.
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home → say → romance
Wearing a combo of double denim in grey-black that feels like a nod to this journalist’s arrival on an early flight from Melbourne, Rebecca Vallance is statuesque and oh-so-friendly; there’s a kiss and a hug and a quick “come to the balcony to see the harbour view” as we make our way to a spacious living room accented with cream furniture, opulent chandeliers and Euro-centric sofas.
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we → wear → furniture
She settles on the carpet and we begin an interview that feels more like a campfire chat than a formal set-up.
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that → settle → up
Maybe that’s the ease that comes with being a country girl before the big smoke made her a household name.
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her → ’ → ?
Vallance has recently returned from London, where she dined last year with Sharon and Kelly Osbourne, is close mates with socialite Nicky Hilton and designed a custom-made dress in a camouflage print for Billie Eilish that she’s yet to post to the singer-songwriter.
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she → return → songwriter
Vallance is quick to downplay her little black book of contacts, though, and says they’re friendships that stem from years in business.
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that → downplay → business
From bodycon dresses to bridalwear, Vallance knows how to turn a party frock into profit, finding the sweet spot between midnight-hour glamour and put-a-ring-on-it gowns.
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Vallance → know → it
This year she celebrates 15 years in business, and now she adds another string to her bow: designing a new-look Qantas uniform that will be unveiled in 2027.
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that → celebrate → 2027
Known for her bow-centric dresses, elegant silhouettes and hemlines with flirt factor, Vallance has found her winning combo and is sticking with it: cool, feminine, tailored pieces that cross timelines and dresses that are instantly recognisable as her signature.
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that → know → signature
The racing carnival season is the brand’s bread-and-butter in Australia; spend time at any Fashions on the Field competition heats and you’ll see her designs on competition stages, in VIP marquees and on the public lawns.
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you → spend → lawns
The Sydney-based entrepreneur with a degree in business and marketing but no formal training in fashion launched her brand in 2011.
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entrepreneur → base → 2011
Before that, she was working in public relations in Sydney.
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she → work → Sydney
Eager to do her own thing, she packed her bags for London with Gasan, whom she’d met in 2003, and took the proverbial leap of faith.
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she → do → faith
Vallance decided to launch her collection from the UK rather than Australia, and her brand quickly became a global name.
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brand → decide → Australia
Sixty per cent of her sales come from overseas; the US, UK and Middle East are her biggest markets, she says.
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she → come → sales
“To be honest, when I started the brand in London, I had no intention of coming back to Australia,” Vallance says.
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Vallance → start → Australia
“I was working closely with other designers when I was in PR, and saw what they were doing incredibly well in, and the areas they weren’t doing so well.
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they → work → what
That full visibility was a good learning curve for me as I made my way overseas ready to launch a brand myself.”
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I → make → brand
Vallance took her first collection to Paris in 2011, knowing she had a lot to prove to get noticed on the international stage.
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she → take → stage
Her first season was snapped up by department store Harvey Nichols for Kuwait and Riyadh.
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season → snap → Kuwait
Then came the hype of showing collections at New York Fashion Week in 2014 and 2017, which, in turn, helped establish her reputation back in Australia.
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which → come → Australia
She travels frequently to Paris, New York, London and Dubai when fashion weeks call, but says it was New York that helped the brand shift gears in ways she’d never imagined but always hoped for.
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she → travel → ways
“I showed on schedule at New York Fashion Week twice, and that was a game-changer for me,” says Vallance.
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Vallance → show → me
“It took showing in New York for anyone in Australia to even look my way.
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anyone → take → Australia
This year has been a big one for Vallance, marking 10 years at the online luxury retailer Net-a-Porter, which also stocks her bridal collection.
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which → mark → collection
When she first tried to sell a collection to the London-based retailer, Lisa Aiken, its highly influential retail director at the time, told her to redesign it before the vice-president of global buying would even look at it.
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president → try → it
“Lisa Aiken gave me two hours of her time and told me why she was not picking up the brand.
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she → give → brand
You have never seen somebody write as many notes,” Vallance says of her own reaction.
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Vallance → see → reaction
“She went through each garment piece by piece, saying what was wrong with each one.
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what → go → one
I went back to Australia the next day and redid the whole collection.
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I → go → collection
She was looking at it from a global level, she knew what it needed to go to the next level.
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it → look → level
It had to be more statement-like.”
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It → have → ?
Vallance looks back philosophically at these key career moments.
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Vallance → look → moments
She was all about pushing doors open a decade ago; now, when they slam shut – think pandemic pivots and US tariffs – she finds another one open and trusts the unknown.
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one → push → unknown
“I spent years putting my head down to earn my stripes and got on with the job,” she says of designing in her early years.
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she → spend → years
“I didn’t take much notice of what others were doing.”
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others → take → what
On International Women’s Day earlier this year, it was announced that Vallance would take over from Melbourne-born, Paris-based Martin Grant as designer for a new-look Qantas uniform.
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Vallance → announce → uniform
It’s not her first collaboration with the airline – in 2024, she debuted a French-navy pyjamas set with a matching amenities kit for Qantas business-class passengers bound for New York.
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she → ’ → York
…and 41 more, not listed.
The Aporia
