Sister act: Fashion siblings taking on Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia

Local fashion labels run by relatives, such as Camilla and Marc, Zimmermann and Rachel Alex, inspired Beth and Tessa MacGraw to follow.

“If it’s working for so many people there must be something to it,” Tessa said.

Beth knows not all siblings can work together and is grateful for her shorthand with Tessa.

“We find it a very efficient way to work. We get each other, so we don’t have to be diplomatic. We just say it,” Beth said.

We Are Kindred’s Lizzie Renkert said having sister Georgie by her side was crucial in starting the brand which is making its Fashion Week debut.

“I really feel for someone doing this by themselves, we really share the load and we each have our own areas of expertise,” she said.

“We’re so thrilled to be debuting at MBFWA. We launched We Are Kindred two years ago and we feel that now is the right time to show what we’re all about to a broad audience of press, buyers
and influencers.

“Changing Australian Fashion Week to Resort was really attractive to us as we’re very much a resort brand.

“We’ve been working towards MBFWA for two years and we’re so excited for all of our hard work to be coming to fruition.”

The Manning sisters all had fashion backgrounds and 10 years ago decided to try working for themselves. Gabrielle Manning said: “We are on the same wavelength and, being sisters, we get each other.”

Cheryl believes being related makes it easier to compromise and Vanessa credits their shared aesthetic as a strength.

“If we are in separate rooms and are shown the same thing, we all have a similar opinion on it,” she said.

Although Alexandra and Genevieve Smart split the creative and management side of their 14-year-old label, collaboration is at the heart of their success.

“The business side and the creative side comes together in lots of decisions,” Genevieve told Confidential.

Originally published as Fashion’s sister act takes control