In Conversation with Kellie Hush

Few people in the Australian fashion industry are as experienced (or as busy) as Kellie Hush. Her career has been defined by bold reinvention: from newspapers to glossy magazines, from the editor’s desk to entrepreneurship, and now to boardrooms, her role as Chief Strategy and Brand Officer at The Volte, and her recent wrap-up of Australian Fashion Week 2025 as CEO. I’m so thrilled she sat down with me to share her experiences throughout her career. Thank you, Kellie!

At the beginning of your career, what led you to decide that you wanted to work in the fashion industry?

I always had a love of fashion, but when I was at university, I thought I'd be a political journalist, and I never thought that you could combine that kind of passion for something, I suppose, it wasn't a hobby, but I was kind of obsessed with fashion, and it wasn't until I started working that I saw that there was a pathway to take me to fashion journalism. But I think what happens at uni is, they probably are much better at it now, but when I was kind of growing up, there was a big focus on being a very hard news journalist, and I think the way that media has especially changed, there's a much bigger focus on lifestyle journalism, because it's how consumers behave, it's not just straight news. So, it took a while for me to get into fashion, but it was probably after my third job in media, that I worked at Who Weekly magazine, and within that magazine, there were fashion pages. So, because I was obsessed with it, that kind of became a part of my role.

Amazing. Was there anything that you had to unlearn from your early newspaper days at the Sydney Morning Herald and Who Weekly, when you shifted into magazine editing?

Yeah. Do you know, it's interesting, because I went from magazine to newspaper and back to magazine, so it's actually the opposite. So, when I started at the Sydney Morning Herald, because I was used to writing long-form journalism, so, you know, I always had 1000, 2000 words, and then you arrive at a newspaper and you have 350, 400 words, so I actually, it was probably the opposite. When I got to the Herald, I had to unlearn magazine journalism, and you could not put yourself in a news story, so it wasn't about me. So, I found it actually really challenging to write a hard news story, so I found it, I suppose, a little bit demoralising, I had to work with a really senior journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald on how to really structure a tight news story, so it was probably the opposite, and then when I went back to magazines, I felt like I was free again. I wasn't a great newspaper journalist, I was better at writing features for the Sydney Morning Herald, but doing those hard news stories, I don't think I was ever grateful to truly great at it, I did find my way through it.

Yeah, I feel like those kind of jobs are like, the ones that push you to learn more about yourself and your work ethic though.

Yeah, and I became a much better journalist, to be honest, and being able to say more with less words, I just think I laboured over it too much, I got too stressed about it, but in the end you've just got to ride and let it go, but yeah, I did become a much, much better journalist from that, but I did find it quite demoralising. It was like going back to university, and I was working at the Sydney Morning Herald, and I had to go and do a tutorial every week with one of, you know, he was amazing, I think it was Mick Fennelli, but he was a brilliant journalist, and he was very kind, kind to me, and helped me, mentored me through that, it was a difficult transition.

Yeah, that was actually my next question, thinking about when you were first building authority in fashion, was there anyone that you looked to as a mentor, and the best piece of advice that you got? 

I think when I first started working like in that pure fashion, it was when I'd started at InStyle, and the editor-in-chief at the time, Kirstie Cameron, who had also been an editor at Who, because it was published by the same company, she was fantastic, so she really let me just run with it and build my own network. We launched the magazine, so it was really important for her that I got out into the marketplace, and meet everyone, and I think that whole network, and building your network, became a really important thing that I've continued throughout my career. You rely on your network, right, especially as a journalist, and that's why it's great to meet people, sometimes you don't want anything from them, you don't need anything from them, but just keeping those connections, they'll lean on you for things, and then when you need to do a story, then you've met them along the way, you can call them, but she (Kirstie Cameron) was really, really good at saying to me, get out there. In those days, I had a healthy kind of entertainment budget, so I could take people out to lunch. These days you don't have entertainment budgets, but, those days, I wined and dined people, all the actors' agents, who are still some of my really good friends. I met them for lunch, because then when you're trying to access some of those young actors, you could call them straight away and say, Sam Worthington, when he first started working his PR manager at the time, Maria Farmer said, listen, Sam's so green, and I did a couple of mock interviews with him, and now you look at him, he's massive, and I know his wife, Lara, really well, so it's those things. I don't want anything from Sam, but it's nice to have been a part of that, and I've interviewed Lara many times over her career. She really trusts me because of the connection I suppose I have with Sam, plus I've known her for a long time, and it's building those trusts, I haven't spoken to Lara a couple of years now, but then when I do see her, it's like, oh, you know, there is a trust and stuff, so it's really important nurturing those relationships as you go along.

As you took the helm at Harper's Bazaar, did you have a core vision for the magazine as editor-in-chief? 

I spoke about this recently when I first got the job at Harper's Bazaar, I had to go to New York to the head office of Hearst International and the editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar US, Glenda Bailey, who's an icon of the industry. I went into a boardroom with her, and she had all the editions from around the world all laid out on the table. And we're talking about Harper's Bazaars from all around the world and being able to identify which ones are from which country. And she was really clear to me, which I thought was a really great piece of advice is to, to create a magazine for your market. So, I really focused on that Australian woman and what she wanted from a magazine and what she was interested in. I wasn't trying to be Harper's Bazaar Global. I was Harper's Bazaar Australia. So that was really important to me. And also that brand DNA. So when you're editor-in-chief of a brand like Harper's Bazaar, you really are a custodian. You don't own it. It's not about you. It's about that brand DNA, and Harper's Bazaar was always about beautiful things, you know, it was a positive magazine. It wasn't edgy journalism. It wasn't avant-garde. It was a beautiful magazine that celebrated fashion. So that was my focus, but also speaking to that Australian woman, not trying to speak to a New Yorker or someone in LA or someone in London, just really focused on that Australian customer. 

Do you think that the Australian woman has changed from when you were at Harper’s Bazaar?

Yeah, listen, I think she's much more of a global woman now. I think, you know, I was at the Sydney Morning Herald when Instagram started. That's how old I am. So I think she's much more of a global shopper. But I think our lifestyle is very different from women in London and New York. Especially us in Sydney, we're very lifestyle-oriented. So we have our wardrobe, but probably a greater percentage of our wardrobe is focused on lifestyle. So, cause we're moving around, we've got great climates, we're not just putting on your overcoat, going to an office, putting on your overcoat, and going home. Like, we barely need an overcoat. We have this winter. Kellie gestures outside to the beautiful sunny winter day that we’re so lucky to experience in Sydney. But yeah, I think, you know, she's very much a global, global shopper, a global woman now, and educated in that way.

You left your job as Editor-in-Chief to found “The Way”. What were the most important lessons you learned from that venture? 

I think there are a couple of things. One was when you have a business partner, you have to be aligned. So when I launched the way, I had a business partner, but we weren't aligned in the vision. So that became a challenge immediately. I think it's also really important to find your niche. And again, I thought we were aligned, but we weren't aligned on that vision. So, I had a very clear vision of where I thought our niche was. And he wanted to be much more mass and kind of replicate what was already happening in the market. So that became an issue straight away. I think that going into business with someone, you really have to be aligned on that vision. And, my co-founders at The Volte were so aligned on that vision. It makes going to work every day just really easy because it's laser-focused on what we're trying to achieve.

Is there anything that you wanted to change when you joined The Vault as the Chief Strategy and Brand Officer?

I changed the branding straight away. It needed some work. You know, in all respect to them, they had built this incredible platform, with a really, really strong customer community base. But the branding just needed working, and they knew. As soon as I came in, I was like, the first job is we're redoing the branding. I engaged with this really young, cool branding company called Universal Favourite. We're still doing projects with them today. We redid the logo. We had some very clear colours and clear language of how we spoke to the customer. So that happened immediately when I came in. Because I'm a visual person, and I was like, it hurts my eyes. And they were fine with that. But it's even how we're photographed, right? The photographs of the team were all wrong. Everything needs to be uniform. It has to be uniform, and how you represent yourself. We don't need to be in frou-frou clothing because we're the business people, so we're dressed in business attire. We rent out designer occasion wear. But we don’t wear it because that's not what you wear when you're in the office. We're professionals. So all that was done quite quickly. 

Do you think that the rental mindset is generational? Do you find that the younger generations are more willing to rent? 

Absolutely. So, our biggest cohort is millennial women, even though she's not as young anymore. But I think your generation (Generation Z), absolutely a hundred percent. My eldest daughter is 20. I look at the way she shops. It's op-shopping, it's swapping, it's renting, and then buying some new. But really, thrifting is a really big thing. I mean, when I was at uni, I op-shopped all the time, but then it really changed. And I think that the emergence of fast fashion changed consumer behavior because you'd be able to shop new and you didn't have to op-shop as much because new sometimes was actually cheaper than quality op-shopping, right? But I think that shift has come again. Whereas I think this younger consumer's looking at all that stuff, they don't want it anymore, right? And really good quality op-shopping is a good option, and renting occasion when it makes sense. I know young girls like to have their own formal dress for their school formal, but these days some girls go to three or four formals, so you don't want to buy new for everything. It doesn't make sense. So you rent it, you swap it, you wear one of your friend's dresses. I know my daughter, because we have a lot of clothes in our house, lots of her friends come over and we lend things out because that makes sense. You know, you're going to wear it once. So, yeah, so I think that consumer definitely has been driven by younger generations. I think the millennials are open to it as well. And again, I think that's how Australian women, they invest in things they're going to wear a lot of. So the beautiful blazer, you know, beautiful jeans, lots of cool trainers. But that occasion wear thing, you might buy something really special for something that means a lot to you, but otherwise, you're open to renting if you're only going to wear it once. Really beautiful, good quality fashion, you wear for ages. So, my eldest daughter works in retail and menswear and she wears my clothes to the job, right? Because she doesn't need to go and buy a tailored skirt. She just comes home, raids my wardrobe, and off it goes back to Canberra to wear at her job.

I've been seeing more and more brands leaning into rentals as part of their business structure. I would say that Beare Park is probably a really good example of that. Have you felt or seen any resistance from brands or designers?

Absolutely. And I think, again, it's a seismic shift. The big difference with this shift is that consumers are driving it. And when we go to meet with brands, it's like, your customer's already doing it. She's buying a dress and then she's renting it. And then brands are like, well, that's her, you know, she can do that. But that's what the consumer's doing. There have been early adopters who have come on the journey, and they're seeing the benefits of it, and their customers are going to start demanding it. But there are still those brands that think it cannibalises their sales. But we know from our data that it's not because that girl renting that expensive Zimmerman dress, she may never, ever, ever have been going to buy Zimmerman. But she's renting it, and then she thinks, oh my God, I can actually go and buy a Zimmerman dress and then I will rent it. So that is absolutely happening. And this category is not going away. This is how consumers are now going to be experiencing fashion. So the early adopters will benefit from it. But we know the industry will, they'll come around. There'll be some that never come around, and that's up to them. But it's the same with luxury handbags. You know, once upon a time, no one would have bought a second hand handbag. Whereas now, why wouldn't you? Like buying a Chanel handbag for $16,000 or you can buy a really beautiful, gently worn bag for $8,000. So I think the consumer will drive that, I think that'll be the real difference. Because, quite often, fashion pushes the consumer in a direction, whereas I think the consumer is pushing this.

Do you see “The Volte” evolving past rentals? 

Yeah, we already are. So we have our rental platform, and then we have a technology part of our business. So the technology is an API that we integrate with brands. We're about to launch a really big project with Cotton On, you will never be able to rent Cotton On on The Volte, but our technology means that when you shop at Cotton On, you can immediately list it to resell on eBay. So we are in resale now. We're the middleman that has the technology. And then that technology is available on brands like Bianca Spender. So you go and shop at Bianca Spender, and you can list a beautiful blazer to rent or resell later. So you can do both at Bianca Spender. Cotton On will be resale only. So we're kind of connecting brands to the circular economy. So we're fashion rental and then fashion technology.

How did you find your experience as CEO of Fashion Week?

I loved it. I love running really fast. For a lot of people, having four months to do a major event would have been like, no way, not doing it. Whereas I love that, you know, giving me 12 months to do something, I get distracted very easily. I loved that we had a very short time frame. It’s not for the faint-hearted. It was stressful. But I think to achieve what we did, it was exciting. I thought I could juggle both working at The Volte and Fashion Week, but it became very clear that for eight weeks, I couldn't do both. So I have a great team at The Vault who's just said, come back when you're done. But yeah, no, it was stressful. You know, there were a lot of personalities and things to manage, but I love it, and because I know the industry so well, it was good. But you know, I think what you learn with those projects, too, is you have to be able to move on really quickly. So when people said no, you go back and ask again, and they say no again, you've got to move on. I think trying to convince people to do something as massive as fashion week, you know, if once they say no, it's like, okay, we'll talk to you next year, but yeah, you have to respect people's decision. And then those brands that did come on board were incredible. And we achieved something really great. It's a massive thing to do. So I think again, it's respecting that people make a decision that is about their business. It's nothing personal. Like I never took anything personally when brands, again, who I'd known for years and friends in the industry, said no to me, I had to respect that it was their business decision. And there are lots of brands that came on board because they really wanted to support me and the vision for Australian Fashion Week. But you also have to respect that it's not always that people can do things as massive as doing a runway show. 

I was really impressed by the industry support leading up to the event. Seeing the photo op in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, that was really moving. 

And, you know, that was incredible, right? 

Yeah. It was beautiful. 

And a massive investment by Carla Zampatti, but what amazing images. It was raining in the morning and then by the evening it was a beautiful, still night. It was incredible. The fashion gods, they came through.

The Romance Was Born Show at Australian Fashion Week 2025