Lara Lupish has spent the past decade championing Newcastle designers, models, creatives, personalities and places.
Now it's her time to shine.
A new exhibition at Newcastle Museum is showcasing 10 years of Newcastle-based fashion magazine and modelling agency Facon, founded by editor-in-chief Lupish.
Facon 10: Retrospective is a celebration of a decade of creativity and collaboration and offers an insight into couture culture, with a focus on how local designers, models, personalities and locations have been celebrated in print and on the runway.
City of Newcastle's director of museum archive libraries and learning, Julie Baird, says the exhibition is testament to Lupish's vision: she saw an opportunity to intertwine her experience in the international fashion industry with her hometown, and she ran with it.
For Lupish, the exhibition is an opportunity to reflect on what she has achieved.
What began as a magazine evolved into something bigger. Lupish went on to launch modelling agency Facon Models and Facon Creative, which specialised in branding, PR and marketing.
Facon has become more than a magazine, Lupish says. It's now a conduit for launching, shaping and celebrating people, places and creativity.
"Facon was designed as a celebration of Newcastle and the Hunter; a way to highlight local businesses and creatives alongside luxury national and international brands," she says.
"But it is also a record of time, place and community.
"We're proud to have launched and progressed the careers of countless up-and-coming models, including Face of Facon finalist Sarah Henderson, who went on to sign with Metropolitan Models Group in Italy, walk the runway at Australian Fashion Week and for Dior in Paris."
Facon and Lupish introduced The Indigenous Storytellers Scholarship to celebrate, sustain and promote Indigenous art, design and storytelling.
"We've prioritised First Nations models and stories, and supported scholarship recipients, including filmmaker Jahvis Loveday, photographer Sean Kinchela, and fashion brand Miimi and Jiinda, who have now showed at Australian Fashion Week numerous times," Lupish says.
"Also, singer-songwriter Ruby Shay, who went on to secure an ABC Country Charts No.1 album after her scholarship win.
"Through it all we've proudly celebrated our city and its stories. We will continue to create and put Newcastle on the map, not only in our own country but in the world."
Lupish grew up in Rankin Park, attending South Wallsend Primary School, St Pius Primary School and St Francis Xavier's College in Hamilton.
She loved fashion from a young age.
"I was an avid Dolly reader, then as I got older progressed to Cosmopolitan and Vogue. I loved British magazines like i-D and The Face, too, I thought they were so cool," Lupish says.
Her parents encouraged her to study a science degree at the University of Newcastle, telling her it would lead to a "real job".
"I did psychology as a subject of interest within my science degree - I have always been interested in what makes people 'tick' - but failed my first year of science dismally and transferred into arts [majoring in psychology]."
Lupish graduated and moved to Vancouver, Canada, after meeting a musician who was touring Australia as part of the Big Day Out festival.
That musician went on to become her husband.
"He lived in Vancouver so that's where I started my post-university Antipodean trek to do the usual Aussie backpacker thing," she says.
"I got a job as a stylist there though my husband's friends, who were producers on films and music videos. Vancouver was called 'Hollywood North' because all of the Hollywood blockbusters were filmed in Vancouver due to the tax breaks offered.
"I joined some wardrobe teams and that is how it began."
Lupish worked as a wardrobe stylist in the film industry, styling music videos and television commercials before turning her attention to feature-film costume design.
She recalls working with high-profile celebrities such as Naomi Watts, Sir Ian McKellen, Laura Dern and Mark Ruffalo.
"I got to work on Vancouver Island with the amazing Sir Ian - such a star and so humble," Lupish says.
"His costume had to be flown in at the last minute for a main scene because I forgot it, and it arrived by seaplane about 15 minutes before he had to put it on - everyone was none the wiser, except for the production team who heard me bawling my eyes out that I'd made such a massive mistake.
"Another time, Naomi Watts told me casually as we were dressing her for her scene that her then-boyfriend Heath Ledger was popping by the set that day. I almost died when I saw him standing there.
"I also remember meeting Hugh Jackman in full costume as Wolverine on set in Vancouver pre-filming with Sir Ian in the film I was working on as costume designer, Emile.
"I got to work with some of the best creative directors in the world, as well as incredible directors. I learnt how to be a lead wardrobe stylist, how to be briefed and turn that into what appears in front of the camera, how to behave on set and the protocols of that, and how to manage massive budgets."
Her next stop? London, where she spent the next two years.
"I moved there, as Aussies tend to do, expanding my styling resume and making a conscious decision that this was what I wanted to do," Lupish says.
"It was there I moved more clearly into fashion. I worked for Donna Karan in London and got to dabble in fashion shoots and photography."
Lupish returned to Australia in 2004 and moved to Sydney, working as a celebrity stylist for clients including Delta Goodrem, and gaining valuable industry contacts along the way.
"It had to be Sydney as there was an industry to work in. Newcastle, as far as I was concerned, didn't have this industry - and I never had any intention of ever moving back there," she says.
"Sydney was where I made a very strong pivot into photography and fashion editing as a freelancer.
"I got myself an agent and became the go-to celebrity stylist in Australia. It was a tough market, and because I didn't start my career as a stylist in Australia, I came up against bigger obstacles.
"I eventually moved back home to Newcastle to bring my babies up near their grandparents."
There, she made an observation. Newcastle had plenty of designers, stylists and photographers. What it didn't have was a local platform to showcase their talents.
Lupish, drawing on her years of experience overseas, decided to launch her own fashion magazine.
The first edition of Facon hit the shelves in December 2015.
"I thought it would be a one-off publication. I was, like, 'How hard can it be? I've worked on heaps of magazines'," she says.
"Looking back, I don't know how we got it done."
Facon, like most independent publications, has had to adapt to a changing media landscape. For Lupish, COVID-19 was the circuit-breaker Facon needed.
"Going digital was what was going to save the magazine. I think it probably would have closed if COVID didn't come along and force me to make that decision," Lupish says.
"I remember jumping up and down with joy on my morning walk from Bar Beach to Merewether when I heard [former prime minister] Scott Morrison say all events had to be cancelled.
"We'd been planning our winter runway and I knew we couldn't afford it - the finances weren't strong enough and we didn't have enough sponsors - but I would never have cancelled, that would have been admitting defeat.
"I literally turned my walk into a bit of a skip when I heard that news."
Lupish and her team have compiled a list of 10 defining Facon moments on the publication's Facebook page (Facon Australia). They include:
What is Lupish most proud of?
Still standing after 10 years.
"This has been a passion project, for sure, made possible with lots of support from my family. I wouldn't change anything; I believe that everything happens for a reason, good or bad, even the sleepless nights," she says.
Facon celebrated its 10-year anniversary with a major event at Newcastle Museum on April 30. More than 200 guests attended, there was a live performance by students from the National College of Dance Newcastle, and exhibition Facon 10: Retrospective officially opened.
"I absolutely love the exhibition," Lupish says.
"When the Herald took the photos for this story, it felt like the first time I'd actually looked at the exhibition. I worked on it for months and have obviously been in the space but it was the first time I looked at the room and thought 'Wow, are you kidding? How good is this?'.
"I avoided organising events like the plague for a while because they're costly and a lot of work, but now we're bringing them back, including the Conscious Couture Festival and The Indigenous Storytelling Scholarship.
"I think it's time."
Newcastle Museum is a place where local stories are shared, celebrated and preserved. Museum director Julie Baird said the team at Facon shared that ethos "from day one".
"They proudly prioritised their Newcastle identity, providing opportunities for local photographers, models, designers and creatives alongside nationally and internationally recognised names. They celebrated the place where the magazine was produced, showcasing the city's iconic locations like Fort Scratchley, the Civic Theatre and the Newcastle Ocean Baths.
"From the famous faces that have adorned its covers, to the designers whose looks have styled its pages, Facon has spent a decade bringing high fashion to Newcastle - and Newcastle to the world."
