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Murray Bevan: number 22
Known as one of the country’s best PR reps,
Murray Bevan is the man behind the success of many a New Zealand label
by Jack Yan
From issue 23 of
Lucire
IF YOUR DEALINGS with Showroom
22 boss Murray Bevan were exclusively online, you would assume
that one of the fashion industry’s most successful public relations’
experts, and the man behind Klikk, a fashion and portrait studio,
was in his 40s, given his output. You would have seen his name as
the PR rep for Karen
Walker at the turn of the century. After Showroom 22’s founding,
his name would come up helming the PR
for countless labels—almost all of which hit it big in New Zealand
through his nurturing. It’s hard to believe, then, that Bevan is
in his mid-20s, and harder to believe that, despite his long hours,
he looks exactly the same as when he began Showroom 22, aged 22,
in 2002. (His birthday, we should note, falls on May 22.)
It doesn’t surprise us that Bevan has made it
big—and it wouldn’t surprise us that his ventures will grow grander
still. He’s been featured in plenty of mainstream media, in which
he has substantial contacts. These have all been forged through
hard work, delivering images, clothing and press information on
demand. Ask any of our colleagues in the fashion media: the words
delay and Murray Bevan are never used in the same
sentence. You also never hear arrogant and showy,
either, even if lesser PR and fashion
types would exhibit those behaviours. Perhaps it is humility and
hard work that have earned Murray Bevan his reputation, proof that
values have not necessarily deserted the fashion industry.
Naturally, Lucire caught the Showroom
22 bug first. On its founding in 2002, Lucire
interviewed Bevan for its web edition, in what was his first
published profile in his new capacity. Five years on, we ventured
back to enquire more of him. We needed to understand more of what
made him tick. Last time round, he told us more about Showroom 22’s
impetus and how it flowed from his time at Walker’s, with an unassuming
‘I enjoy PR and people tell me I’m
good at it.’ Today, Murray Bevan is a big player in the field, even
if he does not recognize it. And that deserves greater insight than
what he offered in his 2002 explanation.
PR wasn’t always
the intent. ‘I originally wanted to be a chef, then a hotel manager,
then an architect,’ says Bevan. ‘Funnily enough, my desire to follow
in my Dad’s footsteps and become a pilot never made it past about
the age of nine. I did a full secondary school run and left after
seventh form, and was accepted into both Auckland University and
Unitec’s Bachelor of Architectural Studies.
‘I chose Unitec as it was gaining a very good
reputation at the time even though it hadn’t had any graduates yet.
Some of the country’s top firms were lending their backing to Unitec,
so I gave it a shot. After three years, I lost some motivation so
I decided to take a break.
‘I’d been working for Karen for two years part-time,
sometimes in the office and sometimes out at her orchard over the
summer, and when she learned I was stepping back from my studies,
she offered me a full-time position as her personal assistant and
wholesale manager.’
That was probably when most people knew Murray
Bevan as the man to go to for anything Karen Walker-related. Today,
he remains close to Walker, occasionally promoting her products
and new lines. While there, he discovered his passion for PR.
Soon, most of the email releases were coming from Bevan’s email
address at Karen Walker dot com.
‘Just working with Karen in a totally new industry
helped me to realize what was out there. It helped that I didn’t
have to deal with any of my old tutors and hand in assignments,
too, so I really just absorbed a whole set of new information and
thrived on it,’ he recalls.
That passion drew him to examine the industry,
and discover that, in 2002, there was nothing quite like Showroom
22: a fashion showroom and PR agency
combined. It could have gone in a completely different direction:
Bevan was offered positions at other PR
companies outside New Zealand at the time, but chose to stay.
It is hard to believe that Bevan’s idea was unique
in New Zealand only five years ago. Others may have tried, but they
lacked the hipness of Showroom 22’s initial labels—or did they only
become hip thanks to Murray Bevan?
Starting off with the then-little known Little
Brother, Tango and Cohen et Sabine, Bevan built up his operation
to such an extent that he is now looked at as a “lightning rod”
for new labels.He had timed Showroom 22’s founding well, arriving
mere months before L’Oréal New Zealand Fashion Week that October,
timing his clients’ publicity into the event. We wrote at the time,
‘With these labels, it’s not hard to see that Bevan has done the
right thing.’
He seems to have remained true to his principles.
In 2002, he stated in Lucire: ‘Showroom 22 will always be
the first [high] fashion showroom in New Zealand and it is up to
me to move forward and try to enhance the industry where I can.’
Bevan does have “the knack” when it comes to
PR, having maintained clients while
some others fall victim to consolidation with their Australian counterparts,
or designers deciding to bring their publicity in-house.
‘Some media have even gone so far as to refer
new labels to us so they can have representation in Auckland, which
is fantastic. What this leads to is a self-sustaining level of work
where people come to us as much as we go to them, if not more so,’
he tells Lucire. Before turning 30, that is a great place
to be.
‘What we’ve found is that the very basis of PR
for the clients we represent takes care of itself, due to the reputation
of the brands we have in here. Sometimes the perception of our Showroom
can come as much from our clients as it does from me and the work
we’ve done. I’m very lucky to have worked with and become friends
with a lot of great people.’
Those ‘great people’ include his present clients,
which are far more numerous than in 2002. These include Beth Ellery
(to be profiled in a future issue) and Kathryn Wilson (herself a
Lucire subject, whose first-ever article was in this title).
In fact, Bevan counts as his main highlight in the last half year
his Showroom 22 Presents show at Air New Zealand Fashion Week (ANZFW)
last September, featuring Des Rusk, Jaimie, MAW,
Ellery and Wilson.
Bevan puts on his PR
hat when discussing the show. ‘[Pieter Stewart, ANZFW
director] was keen to get our brands on board and give the industry
a good show at the end of the week.’ It turned out to be a wise
decision: the danger at Fashion Week is that journalists get “catwalked-out”
toward the end, attending shows out of duty rather than excitement.
Bevan was able to overcome that fatigue.
‘I’m a firm believer that group shows are only
ever as good as their weakest designer, and for that reason our
show always had a head start—all five of these young designers are
exceptional. The show was a huge success—the only complaint being
that people wanted to see more!
‘Other highlights would include working with
some great and talented people on some very exciting projects: Marion
Hume and Peter Hunt for The Observer and B magazine,
Vogue Entertaining & Travel at the Central Otago Food and
Wine Festival, Tamila Purvis, Derek Henderson and the team at Russh,
Rene Vaile and Intersection magazine in London, and, of course,
some of our best designers here like Karen Walker, Murray Crane
and the young talent like Des Rusk, Love Lies Bleeding and Kathryn
Wilson.’
Having racked up numerous successes—one only
needs to look at the Showroom 22 client list and study their growth—Bevan
is not sure if PR can be learned or
taught. ‘You’re either good at it or you’re not. You love it or
you hate it. Studying PR and communications
will show you the ropes, but if you want to be good at PR
you just have to know how to communicate effectively to people in
a succinct manner and be good at making something out of nothing.’
He adds parenthetically, ‘I can hear all the PR
sceptics laughing now.
‘For me, I could be doing PR
for Michelin tyres and I’d still be having fun.’
While we’re sure that Bevan would do well for
the French tyre-maker, we’d rather see him stay in our field and
set an example. After all, we wouldn’t want people to think that
fashion PR is ‘all air-kisses, chiffon
blouses and Moët’—a misconception that Bevan describes. ‘Believe
me, it’s not. Not all the time anyway!’ •
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Photographed by Mimi Gilmore and Mikhail Gherman respectively
Ask any of our colleagues in the fashion media:
the words delay and Murray Bevan are never used in
the same sentence. You never hear arrogant and showy,
either, even if lesser PR and fashion types would exhibit those
behaviours
|