Susan Scarf quits frantic fashion world

Designer Susan Scarf. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

Designer Susan Scarf named her swansong collection Phoenix for a good reason.

"We knew this would be the burning of everything," says Scarf. "We didn't know how it would turn out but we knew we were heading for radical change."

After 13 years in the fashion business, the designer closed last week with no blazing headlines of the Nicholas-Blanchet-gone-bust variety. The only hint of a fire sale at the Vulcan Lane store was the discounted incense.

This is a designer departing with more a sigh than histrionics. Scarf simply got tired of managing a business that had grown faster than anticipated and was only just keeping afloat in a market riddled with cheap imports.

"What rises from the label's ashes is likely to be a working situation where I can be more creative and less of a businesswoman."

The Phoenix collection is typical of the Susan Scarf range. The look is elegant, fortified by flashes of intense colour and street appeal. But the original screen-printed artwork distinguishes the label.

Scarf loves her fabrics - not surprising for a farmer's daughter who larked about in pleated wool skirts in the 70s and sold Indian silks at Clockwork Orange in Christchurch.

Scarf launched her label Silkroad in 1992 with no business training, later trusting her intuition that designing your own fabric was the only way to make a statement on the world stage. Five years ago, she designed a collection inspired by her native surroundings and it caught the attention of celebrated fashion designer Miuccia Prada.

The Italian fashion doyenne strolled into the Vulcan Lane shop and snapped up $3000 worth of clothing. Prada, as it happens, is Scarf's favourite designer "but then I was so green, I didn't know who she was until I saw her in the paper the following day", she says.

Scarf had no trouble recognising her next visitor - Anna Piaggi, she of cupid-bow lips, eccentric hats, and a legend in fashion circles. Piaggi is creative consultant at Italian Vogue. She was smitten with Scarf's collection - and once anointed by this trendsetter your future in fashion is guaranteed.

"I had no idea of the influence she had. The next day her PR woman came in and suggested we attend Australian Fashion Week."

Never mind that Scarf had never done a show and fashion week was just three weeks away. But a word from Piaggi and Scarf's new collection was on the catwalk pronto.

The collection's success signalled a sea change in the business. In 2001, Scarf joined forces with daughter Amy Tonkin and Rosie Morrow. At first, they fought constantly "but now our partnership is a true delight".

That year, the team showed across the Tasman and most memorably at New Zealand Fashion Week with a playful 1930s nautical theme. In 2002, Silkroad was reborn as Susan Scarf and before each collection the designer heads straight for the library for inspiration.

"I love traditional native patterns. The cyclone collection was inspired by the cultural mix of Hawaiian art."

The business has always been a family affair. Scarf's son William does the graphics, husband Gerry creates the music for shows and Amy designs the jewellery.

Scarf's first priority is a winter escape, somewhere in the tropics, with a good book.

Sure to be hot, but nothing like the cut-throat world of fashion.