AT a glittering event at the AMP Capital building overlooking Sydney Harbour lit up with the spectacular Vivid light display, the Australian Fashion Chamber celebrated its second anniversary this week. Foreign minister Julie Bishop joined industry leaders and designers to acknowledge the AFC's achievements to date. 
The government is backing the industry, which she says employs about 220,000 Australians directly while putting $12 billion back into the nation's economy, as part of the $90 billion generated by the creative industries.
"We back the fashion industry, we back our designers and manufacturers, our wool industry, our cotton industry and that's all part of a superb export industry as well as, of course, providing a lot of style and sophistication for the local market," Ms Bishop said.
The Minister told me that in her travels she is often struck by how impressed people are with the sophistication of Australian designs, including in the emerging resort wear sector. As a champion of our industry, Ms Bishop's department has been instrumental in bringing together the Australian and Brazilian fashion industries to explore opportunities of working together to better support and promote southern hemisphere fashion.
The AFC, which I chair, began with the primary aim to create a sustainable, unique and inspiring local fashion industry that could compete on an international scale. We wanted to foster young talent, promote the top creative forces and raise the profile of Australian fashion here and internationally.
But perhaps it was BeyoncÃ© (pictured, left) who best summed up the importance of fashion in her acceptance speech for "fashion icon" at the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards (the AFC's sister organisation in the US) in New York this week.
"My mother actually designed my wedding dress, my prom dress, my first CFDA Award dress, my first Grammy dress, and the list goes on and on," she said. "And this to me is the true power and potential of fashion. It's a tool for finding your own identity ... and it's a time capsule of all of our greatest milestones."With Australian fashion designers, models, stylists and photographers becoming known all over the world, we are certainly developing our own identity and with that we have much to celebrate.