You began your career during the heyday of print media and remarkably transitioned into becoming a prominent voice in the digital landscape. What strategies or mindset enabled you to navigate and thrive across such vastly different platforms? 

It was an interesting segue – having gone from heritage media and into digital, which was then still a media form in its infancy. I know I had friends and colleagues who said ‘I don’t understand why you’re leaving a full on job in print’ to enter the unknown of ‘online’? Well, the move did cross my mind for a few years too.

After a few years freelancing, having been the fashion and social editor of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph for 23 years (!) I definitely realised you are only as (allegedly) ‘powerful’ as the seat you currently hold.

And I have never forgotten that ever to this day: some fashion peeps who were such dear ‘friends’ dropped me quicker than last season’s must-have in a clearance bin as soon as I had no space or column inches to give them. It may have taken awhile, but that’s why I always made sure there is and was a delineation between ‘work’ and ‘real’ life friends.     

Work life all re-came together again when the then boss of News Corp, Kim Williams and Nicole Sheffield could see how I was embracing digital and approached me to become style and entertainment editor-at-large at what was then a fledgling website, news.com.au.

As the site got stronger and stronger as did my TV commentary appearances. So it all kind of worked hand-in-hand.

On the right Melissa wears Vivienne Westwood shirt, skirt and bag.
On the left Melissa wears Alaia top, pants, earrings, and belt.

How has the relationship between fashion and media evolved in the digital age? What are the positive/negative results of this evolution?

It is a shame that the fashion world and particularly the way some brands market themselves is purely and squarely aimed at a young audience. The irony is that for so many people who appreciate & buy strong designer labels, they actually have the money to buy them, but are not being marketed toward. With many brands using young and undeniably pretty fashion influencers, their followers cannot even hope to afford some of the things the influencers are getting paid to promote.

I think there is just a handful of incredibly good, authentic fashion influencers with integrity and innate style, so a smart marketing strategy is to work with them as well as incorporating traditional marketing practices  - advertising, editorial, events and of course, the mighty might of a social media presence

You’ve juggled a career in media with various other ventures - what’s your secret to balancing creativity with business acumen?

A school report once said ‘Melissa is very inquisitive’ and I think to this day I have retained and remained truly interested in news, pop culture, politics, entertainment and just about everything. That must be the Gemini in me. These days, I look at fashion, not as a separate entity, but as a tentacle of the broader pop culture octopus.   

I had a brilliant mentor in a man called Brian Walsh who unfortunately passed away in 2023, but he was very supportive in all the crazy ideas I came to him with when he was running Foxtel. I went to him with an idea of doing a regular fashion show, something that had never been done on Australian TV.

Sure there had always been segments or 30 second end-of-nightly-news bulletins of free-to-air TV but we created and I executive produced a fashion show called Fox Fashion which we loved.

I even had Hugh Jackman as my cohost for a season. And look where it took him! Hahaha!

The fashion industry has to take more risks and be more inventive when it comes to implementing new ideas to engage audiences but hey, what would I know! (unfortunately that is the attitude from some.) So when I look at names who have survived, like Parlour X founder Eva Galambos, Cosmo Shoe’s Rose Ghosn and Samantha Ogilvie in Brisbane, they have remained relevant and known how to re-invent their designer brand businesses.

Please describe your personal style, and major style influences, or a specific moment that helped shape your style?

I think my personal style has evolved to be quite understated - give me a tux tor a black tie event and I’m in heaven - but I’ll  always add a small twist. When I dress, I want to feel confident and effortless and the not being mutton-dressed-as-lamb thing is always in the back of my mind.

I’m usually a solid-hued dresser, as I am tiny, but more recently have embraced more print, more fitted silhouettes and colour. I am a sucker for red and particularly a red lip. I could be wearing my trackies and a red lip will even perk those up.       

To be honest, I don’t have one style influence and don’t slavishly follow trends, as I am also very conscious that not all styles will suit my shape. Being of Kylie Minogue-esque proportions, I kind of have to run my own style influence show.

I absolutely adore the choices made by innately stylish people like Cate Blanchett, Zoe Kravitz, Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss, Ines de la Fressange and locally, I love watching what Pip Edwards, stylist Nicole Bonython, Anna Plunkett and Tash Sefton come up with.

On the right Melissa wears Dries Van Noten dress, Alaia bag and shoes
On the left Melissa wears MM6 vest, Comme Des Garcons top, Alaia skirt, Vivienne Westwood earrings and The Row bag

As how do you balance incorporating pop culture fashion trends with timeless pieces meant for longevity?

It’s the element of giving timeless pieces a little touch of ‘the moment’, I may wear, as an example, a tux, but with a bra featuring interesting hardware instead of a classic white shirt. It’s kind of fusing the old with the new. Or the soft with hard. I have pieces in my constantly decluttering wardrobe that I have sworn I should edit away from myself, but just last week, I re-found a Lanvin floaty back dress with quadrupled sleeves - that I wore to this shoot in fact - and have fallen in love with it all over again.     

Any favourite Parlour X pieces in your wardrobe, or ones you're most keen to add?

I am and have been a serious Alaia fan since I first bought an extraordinary pair of his ‘booties’ back in the early 90s when I was in Paris for work. They were like a ‘shoe with the lot’. They were patent leather with a pointy toe and a suede back which laced up the front and had a high but slender heel. I adored them.

I also bought an Alaia black shorty short jumpsuit! And I still have a cream heavy canvas safari suit of his with a mini skirt that laces up the back. Which reminds me I must try that on again!

What are some of your career highlights or most memorable moments?

Oh wow, there are so so many.

I think helping take the fashion pages and fashion news from ‘the back’ of newspaper-land to the front ‘news’ pages is something I am incredibly proud of doing. I also figure every single interview I ever do, whether for print or TV is a joy and adrenalin rush – the names I have met are extraordinary and would run into the hundreds and hundreds from Cate Blanchett, to Nicole Kidman, Heidi Klum, Gisele, Trinny Woodall, India Hicks, Elle, the Kardashians (sorry), Joanna Lumley, all the global uber-models of their eras, actors, directors, politicians, business leaders, boy, it’s a big, big list. And I never take that lightly.   

But I do remember going to Florence to do pre-premiere interviews with the cast of a movie called Ever After. When you do these media trips, what they call junkets, you basically walk into an already set-up hotel room, where you  have 15 minutes and you walk straight out after they’ve given you the videotape and the next interviewee walks in. It’s a real conga line of chat.

I had already spoken to Angelica Houston and Liam Neeson and I was waiting to speak to Drew Barrymore who was starring in the film. I got into the room, sat down and was just about to throw up. I had to run out of the room, go to the bathroom and do my thing and I came back so apologetic and embarrassed and she was gorgeous and she said it was probably jetlag etc etc.

Funnily I got back a few days later, and I was actually pregnant.

I think covering the London Paris and Milan fashion show circuit was an extraordinary time as we happen to have a really great posse of intelligent, clever and ‘real’ fashion journalists who would also be there reporting for the Australian media. From Maggie Alderson to Jane De Teliga, Jane Roarty, Marion Hume, Claudia Navone, Jackie Frank, Jill Davidson and Edwina McCann. We all had our own agendas for our various publications, but due to the time difference and daily deadlines we would be at shows all day and night and then working through the night to get our copy back. Hello dial-up modems! It was exhausting but exhilarating. 

But one thing I do now is never live in the past – that is death in the pop culture world. I am really proud that I’ve a breadth of knowledge and experience that allows me to still be part of the media game although to be totally honest, it is relentless and quite soul destroying when you know you are good and totally on the money regarding a story, but have to just about beg for some jobs. Yup, that is the reality.

There are people working for nothing  - just to get a byline - and I just can’t do that anymore. Working for many decades and then ‘giving away’ knowledge and nous for nothing, and to a commercial enterprise? That would make those who do it, very mature-aged interns.   

Any favourite Parlour X pieces in your wardrobe, or ones you're most keen to add?

At this stage I’d love to add LOTS of everything, as having lost weight - not a huge amount but enough to feel better and more confident in wearing most things - has given me a renewed vigour in getting a bit more inventive. Just a shame the credit card doesn’t have the same opinion.

Any cheeky stories from your career/experiences you can share (names withheld of course!)?

So, so many, but they’ll have to wait for the memoir . . .

On the right Melissa wears MM6 vest, Comme Des Garcons top, Alaia skirt, Vivienne Westwood earrings and The Row bag
On the left Melissa wears Vivienne Westwood shirt, skirt and bag and Alaia shoes.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in either fashion or media today?

Always have a backup plan. Whether that is getting a degree in business or constantly learning something else aside from the fashion field you are in at that moment.

Everything eventually does dry up or you may be perceived as ‘too old’, so don’t expect a career in the fashion world to last forever or it be just one big party with free designer show bags! The strength you need and your interests needs to be across multiple fields particularly with the pace of the media and working on the mountain that is social media.

What’s next for you in your journey, both personally and professionally? Are there any new ventures or projects on the horizon?

I am really keen to write a memoir, but while that doesn’t put sourdough on the table or pay the gas, I am keen to do more mentoring, keynote addresses and hosting gigs and really want to amp up my commentary pieces and TV appearances again. And am very keen to do dance and ballet classes once again. I adore talking to my 22-year-old son every few days - he is now based in London - And I’d also like to find my happy-ever-after to grow old and to  travel with. I am a ferocious traveller and am luckily to be doing a number of travel stories for various publications.   

When Covid hit everything kind of ground to a halt and a lot of it hasn’t come back. I’m really hoping that can change and boy, I’m trying my hardest!

I also think fusing my week with voluntary work is so important as the fashion game can be perceived, as we know, as being incredibly one-dimensional and narcissistic. My work with so many different charities gives me so much fulfillment and real pure joy.

It also makes me appreciate the beauty of what the fashion industry can give but in saying that, it also reiterates that real life and real connections are so much more fulfilling and important than being desperately wanting to be in a new outfit every time you go out.

What I buy now is what I truly truly love and I will get a lot of wear out of. And of course just changing it up with a bit of a Hoyer twist.

Any words that you live by?

I think resilience, perseverance and change are really important to remember. Everyone of us gets knocked around in our careers – whether you were traded in for, dare I say, a younger model or by someone who bulldozed their way into a job, but with that always comes a resilience that makes you stronger and makes you much open and very happy about change.

Luckily I’ve never been scared of change which I know a lot of people were, particularly when the media revolutionised from heritage to ‘new media’. Bring change on I say!

Anything else?

I have to be totally honest and I was thrilled that invited me to be part of the X-Files because both the fashion and media industries have become so focused on youth that they forget that people with a breadth and width of knowledge, experience, groaning contact book and having strong ‘real’ human connection are all still vital elements in both business and real life.

Fortunately my career started in the healthy days of real life contact so I’m so thrilled I learnt those connectivity skills back then and continue to use them now, even though some Gen Z and millennials may not think ‘real’ connection is an important part of doing business. Well team, it is and certainly for as long as I remain in working mode  those kinds of skills will always come to the fore.

Being totally freelance now, I do have to hustle so that gets me kicking each day. But it has also given me some of my own time back. Real connection is obviously fused with today’s zeitgeist of email, text & social media DMs (all of which I love by the way) but nothing beats getting out there, doing your work thing and getting home to your ‘real’ life with yourself, friends, family, my dog Scout, a call to my son in London and a thriller TV binge on the go!

On the right Melissa wears Alaia top, pants, earrings, shoes and belt
On the left Melissa wears Dries Van Noten dress, Alaia bag and shoes

Keep up with Melissa on Instagram @MelissaHoyer