Sharing a working lunch with Fiona Myer is tricky as the charisma-laden founder and creator of luxe Australian fashion brand, White Story, doesn’t believe in three traditional meals a day. She consumes five and has grazing down to a fine art form just like her approach to her immaculately cut collections.

“I usually start the day with cereal and cofee and then if I’m asked out to breakfast I would do that as well and order some eggs,” she says. “In between, I snack on nuts then it’s a salad in summer and now with winter coming, it’s soup from the fabulous little milk bar around the corner from my office.

“I’m a bit fan of chocolate, which is also part of my daily diet, not to forget what goes on after dinner,” she adds, mischievously. “It’s a good thing that I can burn it all of.”

Today’s lunch with Melbourne’s temperature gauge set to winter chill, is a hearty soup from that corner cafe.

The White Story’s showroom and bespoke tailoring are in the Melbourne inner-city suburb of Cremorne, which is where Myer has her design room and where her opulent collections take shape. The space is lean and spare with white walls, floors and furniture – a fitting fashion canvas.

The philanthropist, arts patron, former international model and fashion forecaster, started White Story in 2015, showcasing the “quintessential” white shirt.

Myer gradually expanded to other wardrobe essentials including the perfect jacket, coat, pant and knitwear with the emphasis on exquisite fabrics.

It all adds up to a true Australian luxury label, made in Melbourne by a collection of local artisans with painstaking attention to detail. Her ageless, classic collections are a celebration of relaxed style. They feel so good to wear that when women try them on, they never want to be without them.

“I design everything myself and I have since day one,” Myer tells Australian Life. “I didn’t have any formal training. My background is in fashion forecasting, which was my previous work offering.”

Her fashion credentials were set in place by her mother, who always dressed to collect her from school – a practice vastly different from today’s 24/7 obsession with activewear.

“She always dressed up,” Myer recalls. “It might have been a kilt skirt with a fabulous white shirt.”

Another of one Myer’s fashion influences was working in promotions for the legendary Georges in Collins Street – then Australia’s most glamorous and exciting department store.

“The front room at Georges was filled with couture,” she remarks. “I started dressing prominent people there, surrounded by luxury and it sent me on a quest to find beauty.”

Headhunted to the Myer department store chain, (her husband is coincidentally Sidney Myer), she became a fashion forecaster.

“I travelled around the world twice a year, picking up samples for whichever division needed the inspiration and then wrote reports,” she says.

Still in her early twenties, she then started up her own fashion forecasting business, Fashion Futures. Around the same time, she was approached to set up and design her own collection for a label, Wallis & Edward.

“At the start of each season, I think about what I want to wear and I know that if that’s what I would like, other people will want it too and that’s what keeps me steadfast.”

Myer is actually her own best brand ambassador. With her tawny blonde hair and minimal makeup, her effortless look is the very definition of Australian luxury style.

At least 95% of her wardrobe is White Story including the brand’s stunning Venetian Maxi Coat, which has been a staple for years.

“So, not a lot has changed with my blocks and my styling,” she says.

Her emphasis is on exclusivity with almost limited-edition collections and minimal numbers for each style. “A lot of manufactures would turn away from that but thankfully ours are very loyal,” she says.

White Story will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year, in no doubt signature style. After all, Fiona Myer is known for being a wonderful host with a great generosity of spirit. It comes naturally to her and is a key to her success.

“We mirror each other in life,” she explains. “If you’re sad, people will be sad around you. If you’re happy, they will feel happy. So just be true to yourself.”