Megan Park in Colours, Print and Embroidery

Megan Park is the tour de force behind a booming fashion, jewellery, childrenswear and homewares line. We ask what’s next.

What was the ‘let’s go for it moment’ in starting your own business?
I was living a bit of a gypsy lifestyle, travelling to and fro between my studio in London and to India where I was working as a design consultant to an embroidery company that created cloths for the large European design houses. It was a great life of freedom and gaining experience,  with lots of travel and time out for myself in between.  Having gained 6 years of experience in working with these amazing artisans in India I decided to take the plunge and create my own collection – utilising the craftsmanship of what could be created by hand in India.  I plotted it out for 2 years before starting – doing my research and most importantly connecting with the people I wanted to work with. It began very small – just a little collection of bags and scarves. I remember struggling to get even my first appointment.  No one would see me, yet a chance meeting with British Vogue led to an appointment with Liberty of London and then Harvey Nichols. Within a week and before I knew it,  it had taken  off with a bang and I was selling to my choice list of stores internationally. I remember being very scared in these initial stages. It was a steep learning curve and I was living and working from a 1 bedroom flat – that I shared! Crazy times, but once it started there has been no stopping it – fashion doesn’t let you rest up for a season. As soon as one finishes,  the next one starts.

How do you approach each collection? How do you make sure each season is fresh and full of new ideas?
Each season begins with ‘what are we going to do’!!! yet somehow the collection does come together.  It is truly 6 months of building it. We start with a mood which might be conveyed with pictures and words, it then moves into print and embellishment research which means we look at what is going on around us whether it be art that we find inspiring or my archive of antique and vintage finds. We similarly work on color and shape and after 3 months of work I take off to India with my team and we together spend 2-3 weeks there bringing our collection to fruition and turning it from a sketches on the page into the collection it becomes. It is not hard finding the ideas – it is selecting the best of these that is the hard part.

Megan Park

Handcrafting is at the essence of your line, have you ever struggled to maintain the practice?
To be honest,  I was lucky enough to partner with the right people when starting my collection. I met them, spoke to them for 2 years about my idea before actually starting my collection and we still work together today – nearly 20 years on. Handcraft is what we do and to be honest I don’t have the skill set let alone the mindset for mass production. We don’t produce our pieces on a production line – each piece is stitched individually by a tailor and the embroidery is all done entirely by hand. As India though becomes a growing economy, the price of this handwork is increasing. Beautiful handwork comes at a cost and so it is about being clever to use it intelligently as we can’t all produce at couture price points. I always create some special fully embroidered WOW pieces but for commercial reasons need to create lesser embroidered styles that are perhaps more commercial – yet still maintaining the integrity of a hand created piece.

Where do you source your materials?
Much of what we use is sourced in India which is where we produce our collection.  Within India though we buy the best of the best – we use Japanese beads, Chinese silks and bring in from Italy and new Zealand all of our woollens. India produces beautiful cottons,  linens and some silks as well as hand loomed fabrics that we buy or have made there due to their special artisanal qualities.

Your work is deeply inspired by India, tell us about the time you spent there, how did it shape your outlook?
I am still very connected to India.  I travel there at least 3 times a year and work alongside the most amazing artisans that create our collections.  I am still working with the same people I began with nearly 20 year ago since the inception of my label and they are very integral to my work – they are like family to me.  Their level of handwork and in particular embroidery cannot be compared to anywhere else.  The people I work with create for the likes of Dries van Noten and Prada – they are exceptional at what they do.  What I love most about my connection though with  India is that it connects me to a world much greater than the fashion world or the very privileged western world that we live in. I  still laugh and cry in the same day in India,  sometimes multiple times.  Twenty  years on and with over 100 Indian stamps in my passport, I am still in wonder of its beauty and the amazing generosity and spirit of its people.

You now have 3 retail stores across Melbourne and Sydney, do you have plans for further retail expansion?
One step at a time is my motto!  I don’t like to rush into things and would really prefer to consolidate and build on the success of our existing retail stores as well as continuing to take care of our wholesale accounts both within Australia and Internationally which are still very important to us.  Retail is still relatively new territory for us and one we are learning about. It takes loads of energy  and a different set of eyes. It is very rewarding though as it allows us to connect first hand to our customers and also to project a strong brand identity within our spaces that are created uniquely for our us. My husband Anthony who is an architect  is the designer of our retail spaces and he has done a beautiful and sensitive  job in creating what we think is the ‘World of Megan Park’.

You’ve expanded into homewares and children’s ware, what’s next for your business?
We would love to broaden and extend upon our homewares collection which is currently limited to cushions and quilts. There is so much potential in this area whether it be wall paper, rugs, napery – all of which we have the potential to do.  When I started my collection with bags and scarves,  I would never have imagined it would grow to encompass all of the different categories we now work across , from womenswear to childrens’, home and jewellery yet as time passes all is constantly evolving and I am always open to new possibilities so long as it feels like a natural fit and not just more product added for the sake of it.

Do you have a favourite piece from this season’s women’s ware collection?
Eeew that’s like asking who is your favourite child! I am looking forward to Summer truly hitting so I can wear our shell pink zerene poplin sundress.

Tell us about your inspirations for your jewellery line, do you have a favourite piece you wear?
Our jewellery collection is a real passion of mine to create.  Normally it is a response to the direction I have set for the mainline collection as I design the jewels to compliment and elevate the womenswear  range.  This season we explored bead weaving using cut glass beads that are woven to create little baubles of intricate colorations and designs.   They are quite technical to create and yet have a true artisanal quality to them.  I think what denotes our jewellery collection is the hand crafted quality that each piece involves and that each piece is quite unique and different from the next.  I surround myself with beads and chains and then just start to see what comes out of it!
I am coveting  the white opaque bead weave necklaces from this Summer collection and the Delft Mixed Bauble Choker which is a mix of hand painted ceramic beads and intricately woven baubles of seed beads.

Lastly, you’re based in Fitzroy, what do you love about the area, especially when compared to your experiences living abroad?
We live in a little pocket of Melbourne that is full of stuff going on – galleries, small independent boutiques and hole in the wall coffee shops. We travel back to London each year and whilst I would never want to change a thing about my 10+ years living there,  I always come back to Fitzroy and breathe a sigh of relief that I have found my way back here.  The energy of London is now too high for me,  I prefer the more relaxed pace and generally a place where people are  smiling a little bit more. Everything feels very ‘local’ in Fitzroy but very much connected to what is going on Internationally also in terms of food, art, design and all things stimulating.

Megan Park boutiques can be found at:

164 Gertrude St Fitzroy

1039 High St Armadale

The Strand, George St Sydney