352 pages, 70 designers and one massive mission statement: FASHION Australian & New Zealand Designers is Mitchell Oakley Smith's two-year labour of love to end the hardcover backwater of titles examining the booming contemporary Australasian clothing industry. The associate editor of GQ Australia must have style aficionados pulling out their stitching in frustration that he was the first to capitalise on the void. It's an important book, one that's long overdue and, by all accounts, one that has been executed beautifully by an enthusiastic young writer.As a fashion journalist, Oakley Smith said the concept for FASHION came from his own desire to have a tangible reference for the local design industry and, at its heart, the book is very much the product of a journalist. It's also a book that avoids the pitfalls of lofty self-importance in the journalist's transition to non-fiction publishing. In his introduction, he appropriately mentions Australia's status as among the highest consumers of fashion magazines in the world and, for that large target base, FASHION is any style maven's wet dream. In truth, the book is a clever fusion of magazine, reference and art book; it's mature enough to garner the attention of fashion elitists and has enough of Oakley Smith's restrained fanboydom to give his writing the feel of one of the blogosphere's more energetic fashion commentariat.His profiling abilities really shine when tackling Australian fashion iconoclasts like Romance Was Born, the functionality of menswear designer Beat Poet, the cinematic elements of houses like Alpha60 and the rise of another young overachiever, Dion Lee . There's a fantastic balance between designers for women and men clearly one of his strengths broadening the text's appeal even more. His mature insights about Australian climate, the niche revolution and the impact of multiculturalism are accompanied by simply stunning photography choices and a reluctance to make the design too busy or bombard the reader with too much visual stimulus. In fact, the whole book takes a very direct and simple approach that ensures the success of Oakley Smith's aims and opens it up to an easy evolution when he revisits the book for revised editions in coming years.The book is a perfect fit for Thames & Hudson's catalogue and, apart from being a stunning addition to the coffee table, you can count on this one being an engaging read. It has the feel of a title likely to grow into a highly regarded compendium as it updates its cross-section of innovative designers, and an exciting one to watch while doing so.