Melbourne Fashion Festival 2022: Fashional and forgettable stars at opening night

High-heel Balenciaga Crocs, Bottega-green puddle boots, pigeon poo emergencies — it was an eventful return to Melbourne Fashion Festival.

Melbourne Fashion Festival Gala Runway show at Queen Victoria Market. Picture: Graham Denholm.

When the high-heel Crocs from Balenciaga strut in alongside Bottega-green puddle boots, you know the Melbourne Fashion Festival has launched.

Sweltering temperatures did not stop our well-heeled from going all out.

Melissa Leong wore leather gloves, God bless her, at the gala runaway launch presented by David Jones on Thursday night.

Dressing up again must not be downplayed. It’s been a long fashion drought cooped up from Covid and our peacocks need to parade, doll!

MasterChef Australia judge Melissa Leong. Picture: Getty Images.

Former Bachelorette Brooke Blurton. Picture: Getty Images.

The department store giant knows this all too well, celebrating the joyful and uplifting as an underlying theme from its autumn-winter collection.

Disposable fans for guests were an inspired decision and the crowd was up for it.

They were even a tad rowdy, whooping and cat whistling when towering adonis and David Jones regular Tom Derickx hit the catwalk.

The former AFL player was lapping it up, if not encouraging them.

Also a musician, Derickx said modelling is a lot more liberating than football ever was, he can have a voice and there are no skinfold tests.

Backstage images from the David Jones Fashion show. Picture: Sony Pictures.

Tom Derickx. Picture: Getty Images.

“We have a situation!”

There are always hitches and glitches backstage from the catwalk, dresses to stitch in, towering heels to handle and plenty of fretting just to ensure the models go out on time.

But a problem pooing pigeon?

Transforming the Queen Victoria Market stalls corridor into a runway was not for the faint-hearted.

Just prior to the gala show, a frantic search was underway to find a same-day dry cleaner. Assistants discovered a pigeon had pooed over a model’s entire rack of designer garments.

A white Esse dress had been so defiled another sample was needed.

Nothing like wily assistants to make magic happen.

An Uber delivered another dress just ahead of showtime, with the audience none the wiser. Some say bird poo is a sign of good luck.

If so, the Melbourne Fashion Festival is pigeon perfect.

Sonia Cappellazzo, Cate Sayers and Luke Sayers. Picture: Supplied.

Dapper hats off to Carlton prez Luke Sayers. A fashion festival launch at Government House on Wednesday night didn’t seem the normal stomping ground for the money man.

Turns out he was there to support wife Cate, who is on the MFF board and a champion of inclusion and moving the fashion dial forward, especially in advocating for those with disabilities.

The Carlton honcho admits he is a fashion handbag. He carried his glamorous wife, a fan of homegrown red carpet queen Sonia Cappellazzo, phone and lippy in his pocket again for the gala launch on Thursday night.

Now that’s true Blue!