PFEIFFER: MODERN, TAILORED, FEMININE
28 February 2024 | Words by Evie Dinkelmeyer
Pfeiffer creates sustainable pieces for the modern woman. They take inspiration from tailored, masculine clothing and twist, tuck and drape them to flatter feminine features.
Pfeiffer creates sustainable pieces for the modern woman. They take inspiration from tailored, masculine clothing and twist, tuck and drape them to flatter feminine features. The brand’s collections are quintessentially Australian through bright contemporary cuts and a primacy for keeping an entirely local supply chain.
At the helm of this brand are Virginie Pepin and Angela Aspradakis, best friends who hit it off during one of their fashion classes at the University of Technology in Sydney, bonding as the outsiders of a cohort who were mostly from the eastern suburbs.
They reconnected later in their twenties when they became flatmates, and would go on walks down the Esplanade talking about one day starting their own business. Virginie smiles, recalling it as “a fun time”. On starting Pfeiffer, she says: “it was [initially] never a goal of mine when I was designing for other brands because it’s so stressful … but I guess when you meet the right person, that can change”.
What sets Pfeiffer apart from the rest is their focus on maintaining an all Australian supply chain. Whilst many Australian brands are choosing to cut manufacturing and labour costs by producing their clothing offshore, the Pfeiffer women worry that “almost becomes a removal of the craft”.
Virginie says “having our brand be Australian made is something we really believe in.” “For us everything is so tangible … I don’t know if I would love doing it another way. I think it’s important to give a shit where your [clothes] come from.”
Angela recalls a conversation she had with her grandma about the Australian fashion industry: “She says, it has not always been what your generation thinks it is … clothes shouldn’t be as disposable as what we’re used to now … you used to hold onto a jacket [for years] because you used to pick out the fabric, make sure it was well made, and you would really cherish it … now it’s like, you get it for a season and then you hate it the next.”
Lifelong clothing isn’t just about quality, it’s also about choosing a piece that feels timeless in style. Purchasing staple items and curating the perfect capsule wardrobe have been wholly encouraged on social media in recent years, reflecting a change in public sentiment away from fast fashion giants and overconsumption, and towards mindful purchasing.
Pfeiffer’s designs are modern and tailored – and all about effortless, versatile dressing. Angela and Viriginie agree they are usually “drawn to clothes that are quite masculine.”
The most iconic capsule wardrobe item is a button down shirt, but Virginie jokes about how often “you see a photo of yourself [in a shirt] and you’re like, that is not flattering at all”. Back in 2015, she was wearing an oversized men's shirt and started pinning it while it was on her body, checking in the mirror where it should be dragged or tucked, and making sure to bring in the waist – that’s how her first design was born
Virginie muses “that’s why [this design] resonates with our customer, because it has [taken] something that is quite masculine [the shirt] [and has given it a] feminine edge and it’s flattering, it hides and morphs to the body and brings in the waist.”
Step into Pfeiffer’s Bondi store and you’ll be met with a feast of bright, block colours and ombre prints – the kind of colours you’ll see against tanned skin in a packed bar on the Australian coast. The Grenada Mini Twist dress, for example, comes not only in black and white, but also in pink, tangerine, pool blue, astroturf and a hand dyed blue ombre.
I’m surprised to learn that Pfeiffer does reverse designing - they start with their fabric, and then design for that fabric group. This is because Virginie and Angela travel to Hong Kong twice a year and reuse what is considered waste fabric from other fabric mills. These could have been discarded from project overproduction or minor defects.
The downside to this method, of course, is that the fabric is limited – take the Earth colourway, which was a popular jersey for the brand. Viriginie says they have “gone and cut that at least every five months … if we need to recut, we pray and hope it’s still available.”
Pfeiffer is working towards donning the carbon neutral title again this year, which requires an attention to detail when it comes to sustainable practices. Virginie comes armed with information about what they’re doing – she is clearly deeply involved in the efforts to lower the brand’s carbon footprint.
She proudly explains how Pfeiffer’s cutter collects all of their defects and fabric offcuts when manufacturing, and he repurposes them to become punching bag fillings.
Pfeiffer has also come up with a way to take biodegradable packaging a step further. When sending their clothing out to stores in polythene bags, they realised if they don’t seal the bags, then they don’t need to be ripped open and can be used multiple times before being composted. This means they’re producing less waste, and don’t need to purchase as many units.
Chatting to Angela and Virginie makes it clear to me why shopping from locally owned, smaller businesses is so important; they are meticulous and full of love for every aspect of Pfeiffer.
In future collections, Virginie says to keep an eye out for the Saint Germain mini dress, which is coming out in Autumn. It’s a modern take on one of their first bestsellers, the Yourlain dress, which was “the femme, flirty little dress amongst a collection of tailoring and suiting”.
For Angela, the Twist dresses are always her favourite. When they first released it, their buyers and agents warned them the style was too confusing and not going to work. They stuck to their guns, and now for Angela they have become “symbolic of not conforming to what people wanted from us” in that “you need to stay true to your vision, and your customer will come along on that ride with you.”