Want a career in fashion? Rescu. bring you tips and some expert advice from a fashion industry pro.
With international fashion week experience spanning the UK, France, Africa and Australia, Daniel Pizzato is an Australian leading the way in the elusive Fashion Event Industry, having worked with high end fashion houses Gucci, Alexander McQueen, Gareth Pugh, Richard Nicoll and Mark Fast, as well as models Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Eva Herzigova, Miranda Kerr and Abbey Lee Kershaw.
Now back in Australia, Daniel is using his extensive knowledge to help teach students at Melbourne’s Runway Production School about what it takes to get your foot in the door in this competitive Runway Fashion Industry.
Rescu. chats exclusively to Daniel to give those interested in a fashion career a real-life insight into working backstage as a Production Manager.
(Image) Image: Daniel teaching a class at Melbourne’s Runway Production School.
RESCU: What education or career path did you take to get to where you are today career wise?
Daniel Pizzato: Quite a convoluted one. I studied Arts and Law at university, but by the time I graduated I decided that I wanted to abandon that in favour of something more creative. The problem was, I had no idea which of the various creative things I was involved in I wanted to pursue.
The way I ended up in fashion, and this is a true story, is because a girl I worked with at a bar suggested that I volunteer at Australian Fashion Week with her while we were cleaning graffiti off toilet walls at 2am. At that stage, I was writing and directing theatre. Thankfully, it turned out to be a great fit – it combined my interest in fashion, my love of creating order from chaos and the skills I’d acquired from directing theatre.
From there, it just snowballed. I started in Collection Management, which involves preparing collections for a show, and moved to Backstage Management, which involves overseeing the delivery of a show. After working for several years throughout Australia, a recommendation got me an interview with the French producer who had just taken over as the Producer of London Fashion Week.
Now, I’ve moved back to Australia and I’m working with an Australian event company called Event Gallery on projects such as Project Runway, the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival and Runway Production School.
RESCU: Backstage Manager at London Fashion Week must be a pretty grueling job, what are the traits that are key to your job?
Daniel Pizzato: I think you have to be calm, open-minded, resourceful and respectful. During a fashion week, you’re surrounded by this electric combination of exhaustion, excitement and nervousness. You need to know how to interact with and harness that energy to produce something incredible. It’s very easy for it to go the other way. My philosophy is the more positive, responsive and empathetic you are, the more smoothly everything will run.
Also, and this isn’t a personality trait, I think the more you know about the responsibilities, priorities and processes of the various teams you manage, the better you’ll be at your job.
RESCU: I expect onlookers think your job is very glamorous but in reality that’s perhaps not the case; what are some of the more tedious or frustrating parts of your job?
Daniel Pizzato: Look, there’s glamour there. The role operates in a world of glamour – beautiful people, exquisite clothes, breathtaking sets, celebrities, media – but, as the Backstage Manager, your job is more to facilitate the glamour than participate in it. I don’t really find any part of the job particularly frustrating or tedious. That being said, some egos can be a little trying before you earn their respect.
RESCU: What do you love most about working in fashion?
Daniel Pizzato: The people. They come from every walk of life and every background, but they’re all bound by this love of fashion. It attracts a lot of passionate, experimental minds, which I adore. There’s also often an element of the ridiculous mixed in, which I completely adore.
Is there much difference between working on London Fashion Week and working on L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival?
Daniel Pizzato: Most of the difference is just a product of London Fashion Week being a much larger enterprise. Everything is bigger, more elaborate and more complicated. When you whittle it down though, the culture, the components and the processes behind a show are largely the same.
RESCU: What would a typical day working backstage at Fashion Week entail?
Daniel Pizzato: In a broad brushstroke, the role of my team on a show day is to sit across all of the respective teams (ie hair/make up, design/collections, models) and ensure that they work together seamlessly to deliver a beautiful, on-schedule show. Specifically, we do everything from monitoring the movement of models through hair and make up, to overseeing collection preparation, to briefing models for rehearsals, to cueing the show. Then, once it’s all done, we move to the next show.
I think my record is 7 shows in one day. Hours-wise, the backstage team work long days. During fashion week, my team and I are generally the first people onsite and regularly the last offsite.
RESCU: What advice would you offer an eager fashionista who wants to get into the fashion industry?
Daniel Pizzato: Learn to live without sleep or money. You’ll get them eventually, but it can take a while getting there. In the interim, you need to be able to be happy, creative and productive without them. Be proactive and be prepared to work hard. In fashion you have to find your own opportunities and then, when you get them, work harder than everyone else. Absorb as much information about the industry as possible. Bring something unique to the table.
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