Off Duty with Caroline Ralphsmith
23 July 2025 | Words by PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival
Welcome back to ‘Off Duty’ where we get to know the faces behind the Festival – on and off the job.
Caroline - known to all as Ralph - is a the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival. From over 15 years in finance to leading Australia’s largest consumer festival, Ralph has built a career on curiosity, bold ideas and seeking new challenges. Ralph’s path to fashion wasn’t traditional, but that’s exactly what makes her leadership so dynamic. She’s passionate about keeping the Festival fresh, relevant and connected to community, while also sporting a killer wardrobe. Keep reading to hear Ralph share her journey, the risks worth taking, and why fashion, for her, is a kind of medicine.
As CEO of PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival, what’s involved in your role day-to-day?
Most of my time is identifying what we, as a Festival, need to do to be fresh, relevant and sustainable as an organisation. Clarifying our goals and strategy and making sure our whole team is excited by our plan and about delivering it. I think it is important we all feel connected to what we are delivering.
During our Festival weeks, I love seeing everything come to life, see what the team has produced after months of effort, and having a gorgeous time with all of our participants, customers, and our wonderful commercial partners.
When was your first encounter with the Festival?
My first encounter was when I worked for NAB over ten years ago. I was on the receiving end of a sponsorship request for the Festival (which we supported). Then after leaving NAB, I volunteered to help repackage sponsorship offerings to sell to potential partners for the Festival, using my experience from the client side.
Eventually, I joined the Patrons Program, where I supported emerging designers by helping them understand how to turn creativity into a business, legally, strategically and sustainably.
Ralph’s street style captured in the Fashion Forecourt supported by City of Melbourne
Ralph with the Festivals’s Head of Programing Todd Anthony and Programming & Events Executive Sai-Wai Foo
“So much of my work is theoretical, thinking ‘that sounds like it could be good’, ‘that feels like it could work’, but no idea is real until it actually happens.”
Ralph speaking at the Australian Fashion Business Lunch Presented by Australia Post
Former Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp, and former Olympian swimmer Nicole Livingstone walking the 2025 F*** The Invisible Runway
What advice would you give to someone aspiring to be in your role?
Some people who know what they want to do from early on in their career, I was not one of them. But if you're one of them, my advice would be to go your hardest and chase it down, thinking through how you're going to get there, and give it your best shot. And don’t let small bumps in the road get in the way. Ask for advice and say yes to lots of things.
For me, it was about choosing roles where I was going to learn and grow, face challenges, variety and excitement. I realised that many skills are transferable across industries which enabled me to move into new areas and still feel like could add value. For example, you don't need to be in fashion to know how to do strategy or marketing or problem solving. So, my advice is, that if you find yourself excited by an opportunity and believe it will help you learn new skills, then pursue it.
I think making an impact and showing yourself and others that you're capable, no matter what you doing is important for the next opportunity to come by. So, the questions I ask myself are: Am I learning? Am I growing? Having an impact?
What’s been the most rewarding part of your journey with the Festival?
So much of my work is theoretical, thinking ‘that sounds like it could be good’, ‘that feels like it could work’, but no idea is real until it actually happens.
The excitement is seeing something we decided was a good idea, maybe a runway that’s a bit of a risk, and seeing it come to life is very satisfying.
2025 was a lovely year. We refined what worked, got rid of what didn’t. The Fashion Forecourt supported by City of Melbourne was buzzing, the community was so diverse and unique. We had extraordinary people on the runway—designers, models, former Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp, former Olympian swimmer Nicole Livingstone, the AFL embracing us.
“The fashion industry is not given the credibility or visibility it deserves. It’s a big industry, 147,000 people work in it. 77% are women. We should be passionate and proud of that. But I also worry that's why it doesn’t get visibility and support. ”
Can you share your favourite moment from the 2025 Festival?
I really loved the New Again Runway. I love the upcycling, recycling and unavoidable creativity that comes with it. That’s something Melbourne does so well.
I was nervous about this runway as it was a new concept, but it was so great. I loved that moment as it was also the last day of the Festival and there was that feeling of, “Hey, it's really gone well.”
How would you like to see the Victorian fashion industry evolve?
The fashion industry is not given the credibility or visibility it deserves. It’s a big industry, 147,000 people work in it. 77% are women. We should be passionate and proud of that. But I also worry that's why it doesn’t get visibility and support.
We’re bigger than the wine industry and yet we’re often overlooked by policies and government. I want to see more visibility, more support for local manufacturing, and a stronger celebration of the craftsmanship that defines our sector. It’s time people recognised how vital fashion is to Victoria.
What do you love most about Melbourne style?
I used to love wearing ‘Melbourne black’. When I was in financial services, I loved relying on shape and structure rather than colour. I have a wardrobe of black clothes ... but hardly wear them anymore.
Melbourne is multifaceted. It’s edgy, cool, creative and individual. We support the individual more than anywhere else. If your style is a neat and tidy suit, go for it. If it’s deeply sculptural and completely impractical, go for it - colour or black, go for it.
Ralph wearing Alin Le’Kal ahead of the 2025 Glam Up Runway
Sabatucci on the New Again Runway
“The sense of confidence and inner well-being I get from fashion is really important to me. If I feel good about what I’m wearing, if it fits well and it feels like me, it makes me feel better. ”
Ralph with winner Indigo Stuart of the National Graduate Showcase x Emporium Melbourne Mentorship
Ralph at the launch of 2023 PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival at Government House wearing Mastani
If you had to describe your relationship with fashion in one word, what would it be?
Hmmm. This might sound odd but my word would be ‘medicine’.
Fashion can often make me feel better. It can also make me feel bad if I choose something I don't feel good in – like the wrong medicine—when you think something’s going to look good and it doesn’t, it can ruin your day.
But the sense of confidence and inner well-being I get from fashion is really important to me. If I feel good about what I’m wearing, if it fits well and it feels like me it makes me feel better.
What’s something most people wouldn’t know about you?
The first 15 years of my career were in finance and banking.
People say, “do you have a fashion background?” and I think, “what exactly is meant by that? I wear fashion. I have made my own clothes. There are so many aspects to the fashion industry. Am I a designer? No. But if I was, I probably wouldn’t be very good at running a major event.
I’m not designing clothes in this role, but I am providing opportunities for others that do. I’m not writing about clothes; I’m hopefully providing lots of content for people to write about.
The skill sets in this role are problem solving, strategy and collaboration, and event management - they’re not really industry-based. That background has really helped me. But, I do think it is important to make sure I understand the industry and it challenges and so I do spend a lot of time on that – listening to those within the industry and incorporating that input into our thinking.