A Conversation With: Violet Grace Atkinson

UMENCO: As a content creator, what are your thoughts right now on brand messaging? What are the cues you are taking and how are you analysing consumer sentiment?
Violet Grace Atkinson: There’s so much uncertainty, for me that is the biggest point. On a personal level, I’m very fortunate to be able to put things out there [via social media] which helps me process what the narrative is moving forward and also better understand how that ties in with my clients, but ultimately I’m still trying to gauge what the consumer wants, that’s a day-by-day process and you have to be extremely sensitive. Ultimately, we’re still shopping online, we’re still purchasing items that make us feel good, but I think more than ever it’s about providing inspiration and optimism – I’m so sick of the constant narrative about leisurewear. And given fashion can so often be perceived as frivolous, it’s so important for brands to be heartfelt, more translucent than ever and to have an honest message. I think resilience is also such a strong Aussie trait. If there’s a cyclone or a flood somewhere, we always pull together and help each other, and I think this situation is no different, there will continue to be a feeling of wanting to support community.

UMENCO: So take us back to the beginning – you have such an interesting career, you studied law and then switched to fashion. What prompted that change?
Violet Grace Atkinson: I grew up on the Gold Coast and decided to take up law from a very young age. I studied at Bond University, at the same time I also had this strong interest in fashion and did a little bit of modelling on the side, but I was practical-minded, I wanted a safe career and felt that fashion wasn’t a viable option. I was also a bit of a nerd at uni, I worked hard and was selected as a research assistant by a professor, and that became one of the many winding trails that led to my move to fashion. He recognised that I had this love of design, he had colleagues in Paris that were working in IP law and fashion, and suggested a project that examined comparative law and trademarks. It’s a murky area, and at the time there were no articles published on the subject in the world. I researched with him in my final year of law school, graduated and then went straight into practice, working as a litigation lawyer for three and a half years. At the same time, I continued to work with my professor on fashion and IP law, and we ended up staging two conferences in Paris via the Institut Français de la Mode, co-hosted by the Australian embassy. My mission was to pull together head legal counsels from high end fashion houses, designers and people from all facets of the industry to share their experiences. I’m really interested in ensuring designers having IP rights and avenues to be protected, especially up and coming designers. I worked on that at night and on weekends, it was an all-consuming passion, at the same time the hours were becoming longer with my law work so it was a juggle. I had also started hearing from brands via my Instagram account, photography had always been a hobby, so it was a collective push towards fashion.

UMENCO: Tell us about the mentoring from your professor, and how he supported your goals.
Violet Grace Atkinson: Professor Williams has always been such a huge support. He’s a member of MENSA, a top expert in IP law around the world. He allowed me to bring to the table a critical viewpoint on fashion, and he also allowed me to co-author articles with him. I’m very keen to produce work that can potentially be used for law reform as opposed to just presenting a snapshot of what the state of play is. So I eventually shifted from law practice to a PHD because we were doing all the work anyway, at the same time I was moving back into academia my social media content creation was blowing up. Brands started approaching me to create content to push across their social platforms, and that work subsidised my studies. So I am lucky to cross between two worlds in a way. Last year I spoke at a conference in Milan, we did some work on Italian jurisdiction, and in the meantime I have have started to get more campaign and styling work. I’m lucky to have social media as a platform.

UMENCO: Describe your aesthetic and where that love of photography came from.
Violet Grace Atkinson: My family is super creative and I had quite an alternative upbringing in the sense that I was home-schooled my whole life. Dad was a rock musician, he can play five instruments, he’s also a photographer, so growing up we were surrounded by creativity. When I was 11, I saved up and bought myself a camera and was always working on something creative, I used to spend hours writing stories and imagining movie sets. You don’t realise it when you’re a child that your hobby could eventually becoming a career, but passion is everything.

UMENCO: So what do you think it is about your sense of style that resonates with commercial brands?
Violet Grace Atkinson: My style is quite raw and I make a point of telling a brand’s story, everything comes from an experience or nostalgia. I love working with elements of nature, coastlines and I try to convey an emotional side. I don’t have classical training so in my mind my work is always going to be quite different to that of a traditional stylist, but perhaps that is what gives it a point of difference. I’m also really big on letting the consumer in on any behind-the-scenes aspects to a project. I think that’s something consumers are really interested in, they don’t always want the perfectly polished campaigns. When I work with a client I spend a lot of time on research. I always make a point of understanding where the designer’s inspiration has come from. In this role you have to be a bit of a chameleon and be able to interpret a brand’s voice in a way that is true to their signature style.

UMENCO: Lastly, you’re such a hard worker, what do you think has been thekey to your success and what motivated you to have such a strong work ethic?
Violet Grace Atkinson: Working in law taught me how to really listen to clients. At the end of the day, we’re creating beautiful content but you have to also understand the commercial reality behind it, and how your ideas can drive sales. I love to work 24-7. My family, my parents are such hard-working people. Also home schooling really shaped me because it requires you to be self-disciplined. From a young age, my thinking was that I could get up at 4:00 AM, do my schoolwork and be done by 11am which then allowed me to do my own thing – I used to make jewellery when I was a kid and sell it, I used to play piano five hours a day. When I hit my teen years I became a little bit frustrated with it, but now I’m so grateful for that learning. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think it really helped me define my sense of self and to be an independent thinker.