DISPATCHES FROM THE fashion cupboard

marie claire's fashion director, Naomi Smith, has spent more than 30 years working on each of Australia's leading glossy magazines, but there's one title she always comes home to. (No prizes for guessing.) Here, she shares the best, wildest and weirdest moments from her career

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"A CAT WITH NINE LIVES," SAYS marie claire's fashion director, Naomi Smith, when she's asked to describe her career in five words. Name a magazine, and chances are Smith has styled its fashion pages. She's worked under countless editors and in more than a handful of fashion cupboards; she's been made redundant and bounced back; she spent years working overseas, only to come back to Australia to be sent on endless international photoshoots. She's seen Australia's luxury fashion industry go from being almost nonexistent to becoming a major player on the global stage; and she's retained a love of print in a world that's become exceedingly digital.

From spending her twenties experimenting with fashion to making her way to the top of the luxury magazine world - stopping only briefly to have two children - Smith has expertly navigated her way through three decades in a famously ruthless industry with flair, grit and - of course - a perfectly styled outfit.

It's a dream job, one that many would kill to have, and she feels incredibly lucky and grateful every day to still be able to do what she loves. And isn't that the ultimate luxury?

THE EARLY DAYS

My first job in fashion was in the mid-1980s at The Fashion Bureau, in a big Sydney department store. We'd curate wardrobes for wealthy customers, who would come in from all over the country. They'd give us a brief of what they wanted and we would put together 10 to 15 pieces, then present it and fit it on them. We'd also stage the twice-yearly fashion shows. I was in my very early twenties and meeting all these hairstylists and makeup artists, and just from talking to all these different people I got the idea that I wanted to work at a fashion magazine, and that the store wasn't the right path for me.