Why Carla Zampatti’s final collection won’t close 2021 Fashion Week

Carla Zampatti’s highly anticipated final collection will not close Australian Fashion Week, as rumoured, with the late designer’s spokeswoman saying that was never the plan.

It is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated collections in the history of Australian fashion.

However some confusion surrounds exactly when and where the first glimpses will be seen of the last collection designed by the late fashion great Carla Zampatti, who passed away suddenly last month after suffering a fall at an outdoor opera event.

It is not known when Carla Zampatti’s last collection will be released. Picture: Mike Flokis/Getty Images

At the time Zampatti, aged 78, was finalising her first 2021 collection, with rumours swirling that the historic line would bring the curtain down on the upcoming Afterpay Australian Fashion Week beginning on May 31.

However fashion industry sources this week claimed that the Zampatti collection was not on the AFW schedule, and hot young designer Christopher Esber would close the week.

Veteran fashion editor Kellie Hush, the Zampatti label’s official rep and spokeswoman, confirmed to Confidential that Zampatti’s final line was never slated for a showing at AFW, and that the collection would instead be rolled out through a traditional print campaign in the coming weeks. “That was a decision made months ago,” Hush told Confidential.

Zampatti puts the finishing touches to a model’s outfit at her 2017 Spring/Summer parade at the Sydney Theatre Company. Picture: John Feder

“We are shooting the campaign next week and then images will be selected and the campaign launches as the collection goes into store.”

Meanwhile, Zampatti’s longtime publicist and friend Adam Worling, who departed the label in March to make a run for Sydney City Council, said it was not uncommon for the legendary designer to skip fashion week entirely.

“I think the last time she showed at Fashion Week was 2019 and she did close the week,” Worling said.

“But Carla was very much the type of person who wouldn’t make a firm decision regarding a collection timeline unless she knew everything would be ready.”

And despite reports that Zampatti’s collection was “unfinished” prior to her shock death, Worling confirmed that was not the case.

“I parted ways with Carla in March and to my knowledge that collection was finished.

“She would always show around May, June so that meant the collection itself would always be completed around February.”