Adelaide Fashion Festival dumped by State Government

The Adelaide Fashion Festival has been cut by the State Government, to be replaced by a retail-based spin-off.

The State Government has axed its Adelaide Fashion Festival, which has been the major platform for South Australia’s established and emerging fashion talent for more than a decade.

It will be replaced by an expanded version of its retail-based spin-off the Vogue Festival, which began in 2017 and is run by the Adelaide City Council and Rundle Mall Management Authority.

The State Government, which in 2015 commited to $2 million funding to AFF over four years, will now provide $150,000 for this year’s Vogue Festival.

Models Holly Watson, Sarah Davies, Madison Stubbington and Adele McKeen preparing for the opening of the 2017 Adelaide Fashion Festival. Picture: Calum Robertson

Designers and industry stakeholders have been contacted this morning to say the South Australian Tourism Commission is “investigating a revised format (for AFF) which in the interim will focus on supporting an expansion of the popular Vogue Festival”.

In the letter, they were invited to “discuss how you can continue to be involved in this event”.

A State Government spokesperson also confirmed “new opportunities for the festival and its format” were being explored.

“We will work closely with industry representatives, sponsors and key stakeholders to develop a new approach,” they said.

“We will also work closely with the City of Adelaide and Rundle Mall Management Authority who currently deliver the successful Vogue Festival.”

Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council founded the Adelaide Fashion Festival in 2008 as a three-day event showcasing SA designers and retailers in runway parades.

Supermodel Coco Rocha wears Paolo Sebastian for the finale of the 2016 Adelaide Fashion Festival. Picture: Tom Huntley

In 2015 the then-Labor State Government took over AFF, bringing it into the city.

Run by Events SA, a subsidiary of the SA Tourism Commission, the plan was to make it in the then-Premier Jay Weatherill’s words “a dramatic event that will capture the world’s imagination”.

Models wear Paolo Sebastian at the opening of last year’s Adelaide Fashion Festival. Picture: Matt Loxton

With the support of corporate sponsors, the festival showcased collections from internationally recognised South Australian brands such as Paolo Sebastian, Acler, C/MEO Collective, Finders, Couture+Love+Madness and Tiff Manuell and interstate and overseas labels.