Last week, I was thrilled to be invited up to Sydney to attend the Qantas media conference at The Guest House, Park Hyatt Sydney.

The BIG announcement by Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce was that the very talented Melbourne born and Paris based Australian designer Martin Grant has been chosen to design the new Qantas staff uniform. “Martin Grant will use his creative vision and 30 years experience to develop concepts for the new uniform for cabin crew and uniformed employees,” Mr Joyce said.

Martin Grant said it was a true honour to be selected as the new Qantas uniform designer. “As an Australian, I’m proud to be working with such an iconic Australian brand. It will be wonderful to see the Qantas teams wearing my design across Australia and in cities all over the world,”€ Mr Grant said.

Alan Joyce announces Martin Grant as the new Qantas uniform designer.

Martin Grant with models wearing past Qantas Uniform designs.

I am so excited for Martin, who will take his next big fashion design step and represent the Melbourne fashion community on the global stage. Cementing his imprint in Australia’s fashion history, Martin joins the impressive list of past Qantas uniform designers including Peter Morrissey (the new uniform design will replace the existing design by Peter, which was introduced in 2003), Emilio Pucci, Yves Saint Laurent and George Gross and Harry Who to name a few.

The Qantas uniform has been re-designed nine times since 1959 and I would highly recommend you take a browse through their online Historic Image Gallery. The gallery features a pictorial journey of the Qantas uniform, an eclectic mix of bright and muted colours, long and short skirts, super cute hats and an array of sharply cut jackets/suits with button detailing. Each of the designs are a representation of their chapter in time and they spark memories from my uni days when I studied art history during my Bachelor of Arts degree (focusing on all things fashion of course when it came to selecting a major assignment topic). Here are a couple of my favourite images from the gallery:

Born in Melbourne, Martin Grant launched his first ready‐to‐wear line in 1982 at his studio located at Stalbridge Chambers, 435-443 Little Collins Street (this Building has since become legendary for it’s creative history). His talent was quickly recognised by the Australian fashion industry and since then, Martin has received numerous accolades and fashion awards for his designs.

Martin is currently based in Paris and is internationally recognised for his bespoke tailoring, simplicity of lines and timeless silhouettes. His collections are sold across the world in Australia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Italy and the United States. His catwalk shows have been avidly watched on youtube by us Australian fashionistas who have not been lucky enough to witness them in real life in Paris. One of my favorite shows, his SS12 collection was a vibrant display of orange and yellow statement pieces, tailored skirt suits, elegant dresses and amazing wavy colette pants, in both solid colourways and printed designs. Watch the show below:

Here are some of my favourite designs from Martin’s AW12/13 collection:

The next stage in the design process will see Martin engaging with the Qantas uniform panel (which consists of a dedicated team of uniformed employees representing their colleagues across the business, to provide feedback on elements such as design, wear and comfort) and collaborating with Qantas employees to evolve concepts and designs.

The once-in-a-decade redesign of the Qantas uniform is the perfect moment for Qantas to also offer a professional fashion blogger and their audience the opportunity to be a part of something that has never been offered before. This role has aptly been titled as the Qantas Fashion Correspondent (QFC) – and I am VERY excited to let you all know that I will most definitely be putting my hand up in application to being selected as the QFC. The appointed blogger will be provided with access to Martin Grant at various times over the next 12 months, to report on the fashion milestones of the uniform designs.

The opportunity to keep track of Martin’s design planning would be a huge honour and I’m sure I can speak for all Melbourne Girl readers that we would indeed LOVE to report/read on the progress in the usual melbgirl manner… in informative and professional, but most importantly personal posts that focus on the style, design and fashion we aspire too. Melbourne Girl love sharing thoughts, tips, trends and ideas with our readers that they won’t find anywhere else and know that the Qantas, Martin Grant and Me (Emily Collie aka Melbourne Girl) would be a perfect fit for this journey.

I wish to extend my thanks in closing to the Qantas team for the exciting opportunity to be considered as the QFC. I’m sure whoever is successful in this feat will cherish the moments working with Martin to share the milestones and honour the title as it so deserves!

Enjoy, melbgirl x

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About the author

Emily Collie
Emily Collie is Editor of fashion blog ‘Melbourne Girl’. Emily is also a freelance fashion writer, contributing to both online and print publications including Fjorde Magazine.