When I was in Sydney recently, I got in touch with my friend and fashion designer Ali from Philosophy Australia and asked if I could come and visit the headquarters and meet the team. She very kindly said yes, so once my Uber driver finally found the place, we were on!

My only real exposure to the goings-on of fashion houses has been gleaned from watching documentaries about Valentino and the like so I was keen to experience what a more accessible label looked like behind the scenes.

Here's Ali's office where she does the things. You can see the remnants of our afternoon tea, which included much needed coffee and one of the best brownies I have ever consumed. Ever.

The day before my visit, the team had met with fabric sellers to pick designs and patterns and stuff for TWO SEASONS IN THE FUTURE. Crazy. I got a sneak peek and there is some pretty prints on the way, let me tell you.

Here's where Ali's designs are magically turned into patterns! And by magically, I mean by hard work, experience and talent.


Look at all that fabric! I even saw the roll that one of my Philosophy dresses is cut from. The material is stacked and then cut to pattern with a jigsaw type arrangement which was pretty cool.


The Philosophy team is totally long-term and close-knit. They have pretty much all been working there for roughly ever and enjoy it, which makes for a great team vibe and work with makers who do the bulk of the making right there in Sydney's 'burbs.

Here's the current range for the season, chilling in the show room.


And here's Ali, also chilling in the show room:


From the range above, Ali kindly gave me a couple of presents which I'm wearing below, an Aztec knit wrap type arrangement and a super comfortable jersey top in really nice stretchy non-clingy-in-the-gut material in a long-enough-at-the-front cut in khaki which is also reversible! Joy!

Did you know:

• The label has been around for over 15 years and drops spring, high summer and winter collections annually.
• Over 95% of Philosophy's range is Australian-made; produced and coordinated by the Sydney headquarters and in-house cutters and makers. 
• The only products made off-shore are denim, true knits (like mine above) and embroidered items which can't viably be made locally. The pants team at Philosophy can smash out about 1000 pairs of pants a WEEK but one pair of jeans takes about an hour and a half to make.
• You can find Philosophy stuff at over 300 boutiques in Australia and New Zealand, including regional areas.
• I recently wrote a blog post for the Philosophy website about things to do in Adelaide in winter. You should have a look.

Thanks for having me Ali!


Have you got any Philosophy in your wardrobe?

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I visited Ali and the Philosophy team of my own accord and was kindly gifted the items shown above which was a lovely surprise. For more information, please see my PR & Media policy.