Nadia Bartel’s future designs: ’You just have to keep in your lane.”

When it comes to name-calling Nadia Bartel has heard it all, but the description people most frequently forget to use before ‘WAG’ and ‘influencer’ is ‘designer’.

With the success of her label Henne’s runway debut at Australian Fashion Week in May, and a cosy new store in Melbourne, it’s the succinct title that fits the former model best as she looks in the change room mirror.

But go ahead and call her what you like because Bartel is rather select about whom she listens to – now.

“Anyone can have their own perception of me, though I can tell you that most of the ones in the media are false,” Bartel, 37, says. “Over time I would love for people to see how hard I work, but I’m not going to tell them what to think.

“You can’t change other people’s opinions. Your friends and family know who you are.”

Hard work has helped Bartel traverse a difficult period, including her high-profile divorce from former AFL Geelong footballer Jimmy Bartel and an infamous appearance alongside a Kmart plate with white powder in a social media video last year.

Putting the controversy behind her, Bartel’s admirable work ethic is now paying off. Who needs a revenge dress? What’s better than an entire revenge brand filled with clinging knits, vegan leather trench coats that take powder blue from pretty to powerful and ribbed dresses in butter shades that flirt with modesty?

Bartel started Henne three years ago with her sister Michelle Ring and former Witchery buyer Laura Broque, having cut her ultra-white teeth developing the e-boutique The Connection, which stocked Australian brands such as Camilla And Marc and PE Nation. After quietly launching Henne on The Connection, the clothing’s success encouraged them to shut the website down and focus solely on their own elevated basics.

“I am very involved in every single piece that we create,” Bartel says. “It was only a few months ago that we hired our first designer. Laura’s commercial background, my sister being sophisticated and classic and me being somewhere in between keeps us on track.”