Daniel Hechter Launch with Darren Purchese & Manu Feildel at VAMFF

DANIEL HECHTER the iconic 52 year old fashion brand from Paris, is about to launch it's first flagship store on the Eastern Seaboard at The Emporium Melbourne on April 16. This is French chic fashion at it's best, and DANIEL HECHTER is now a global brand with a presence in over 63 countries. It’s elegance, beauty and style is found throughout the brand and is now shaping up Australia’s fashion scene. To have their own dedicated store in Melbourne is great news for the city.

To celebrate the launch of their Melbourne store at The Emporium, DANIEL HECHTER teamed up with the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival to host a French inspired cocktail party titled ‘Savoir-Vivre, the Art of Living Well’. The World Loves Melbourne was invited along to check out the style and chic of DANIEL HECHTER and enjoy the entertainment.

The cocktail party featured a casual, French meander style runway of the latest DANIEL HECHTER collection, as well as featuring a custom made, French inspired Burch & Purchese creation that Darren Purchese himself designed for DANIEL HECHTER. Darren is a genius, and his desserts are always spectacular, with science meeting sweetness. The French themed dessert was the perfect combination in terms of highlighting the best of French fashion and food.

Darren Purchese himself is one of the most respected pastry chefs in Australia, opening his sweet studio in Melbourne back in 2011 and has since written a book and appeared on Masterchef Australia. Darren was at ‘Savoir-Vivre’ to present the dessert creation to the guests of the event.

The International Licence Director of DANIEL HECHTER Tanguy Mulliez, welcomed guests to ‘Savoir-Vivre, the Art of Living Well’ and spoke about the roots and history behind DANIEL HECHTER . Tanguy spoke and then was interviewed by the MC of the evening, the charming and lively Winter Olympic Gold Medallist Alisa Camplin. Tangay at first spoke in French and asked if Alisa could interpret - a humourous opening (Tanguy speaks French, German and English).

Tanguy told us how DANIEL HECHTER see Australia as a mature and exciting market. “We have been around a very long time, but we are always excited to see what is going on around the world. We see Australia as a very modern country, unlike the old Europe where we reside,” explained Mr Mulliez, who visited Melbourne before in 2012, as the brand prepared to open it first dedicated full collection store in The Emporium Melbourne.

The opening of The Emporium Melbourne store represents the first full DANIEL HECHTER store on the Eastern Seaboard. Although the brand has been sold through various distributed sites across Australia and New Zealand since 2006, this is the first dedicated store where customers can collect items in colour palettes, styles and shapes. DANIEL HECHTER, in Australia, has typically been in the form of men’s corporate wear, however the store opening allows for both corporate and casual wear to be on show.

“We opened this type of store in Perth one year ago and we have noticed a lot of expats who know and relate to the brand, have come in and thanked us for opening. We look forward to engaging with all people across this country and offering our designs from Paris,” explained Mr Mulliez, who is also looking at further expansion including more stores in Perth and Melbourne, and new stores in Adelaide and Sydney over the next two years.

DANIEL HECHTER is distributed from Paris through 66 countries around the world and has a global value of over $1 billion in retail turnover. The brand, which started in 1962, is known to have a sure sense of style, a cosmopolitan flair and a creative twist.

The exclusive cocktail event took inspiration from the élégance and beauté of the French brand, and there was a theme around bringing Parisian romance to the heart of Melbourne.

Alisa and Tanguy were also accompanied on stage by French Australian celebrity chef Manu Feildel, who spoke of his love for DANIEL HECHTER and all things French. Australian actor Simon Westaway joined the event, with all guests officially dressed by DANIEL HECHTER. Simon also brought along his sense of humour and bon vivant vibrancy, and is pictured here with Darren Purchese and his chef wife Cath.

During the evening, three models showcased nine different DANIEL HECHTER outfits from the winter and upcoming summer collection. A sense of theatre captivated the exclusive event as the models meandered French style through the audience, interacting with the crowd.

The DANIEL HECHTER menswear collection is inspired by smart design and modern attitudes that give a twist to the French brand. The French designers combine the unusual contradicting features of elegance, art and ruggedness to create a unique and attractive style. The combination of colours is more important than the colour itself, mixing dark colours but spiced up by orange and light green.

The Australian and New Zealand Licensee Peter Thompson paid tribute to his own father, who had put together 100 collections over 60 years in the fashion industry. Peter is enthused about the DANIEL HECHTER new store at The Emporium, in bringing the best of French fashion to Melbourne. With DANIEL HECHTER having a fine history in fashionising sporting teams, Peter Thompson has been involved in the fashionising of the Fremantle Dockers AFL team. I wonder what he could do with some of the Melbourne clubs?

Special guests of the night also included Francois Diethelm, the President of the French Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Deputy Lord Mayor Susan Riley, who received gifts from DANIEL HECHTER.

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Canapes and French Champagne added to the French conviviality. Manu was in fine form and appeared to love the French ambience...

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Talented DJ and musicians entertained the fashionable crowd as a DANIEL HECHTER video further illustrated the latest collection...

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DANIEL HECHTER will be a fabulous addition to the Melbourne fashion scene and anticipation is high for the store launch at The Emporium on April 16.

Please see the links below for more information:

https://www.facebook.com/danielhechteraustralia

http://www.danielhechter.com.au/

http://burchandpurchese.com/