Australian Fashion Week is the place to be this week, unless you’re a celebrity

A glitzy event is currently taking over Sydney but there’s a reason you don’t recognise the famous people attending.

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Australian Fashion Week in Sydney is the place to be this week, unless you’re a celebrity, in which case you’d probably much rather stay home.

This morning, Pip Edwards unveiled the new era for her activewear brand P.E Nation.

The crowd was a standard mix of traditional fashion types with their designer bags and tasteful trenches and dogged influencers.

If you squinted occasionally, you could maybe see a famous person or, more likely, an influencer who looks like a famous person.

The fashion people made small talk while the influencers roamed, trying to find the perfect backdrop for their next selfie.

There was a big Gen Z turn out. Picture: Supplied

Influencer Saskia Wotton stunned at the event. Picture: Instagam/Saskia Wotton

There were lots of conversations about lighting. Actually, far too many conversations about lighting.

“Babe, step away from that light” was practically the war cry of the day. That, and “Should I post this now or later?”

Sparkling water was being handed out and there wasn’t an arancini ball in sight … because there’s no time for tiny balls of food when fashion is happening.

Jackie O, the biggest celebrity there, and her 13-year-old daughter Kitty very politely informed me who the ‘famous’ people were: a bunch of influencers, most of whom none of us has heard of.

Otherwise, former foreign minister Julia Bishop looked stunning, and influencer Sophia, who goes by the name SophaDophaa, was spotted, too.

Jackie O, Kitty and Julie Bishop hanging out. Picture: Wendell Teodoro/Getty Images for AFW

The ladies showed their support. Picture: Wendell Teodoro/Getty Images for AFW

Pip’s new line featured sheer fabrics, baby pink, cropped tops, and oversized pants. She walked the runway looking like a woman who was headed on her morning walk but had forgotten her pants.

Pip, 44, wore a zipped jumper that you’d expect a mum to wear while cheering you on at your netball game, but paired it with a sheer skirt and some black undies.

It goes without saying, that it was a must-see event. Who doesn’t want to be somewhere where pants are optional?

So where were the celebrities?

This isn’t Pip’s fault.

She is firmly entrenched in Sydney’s social scene. She briefly dated cricketer Michael Clarke and was then mentioned in his famous Noosa Park spat with his girlfriend at the time, Jade Yarbrough.

Sophie has over 400,000 followers. Picture: Instagram/sophadophaa_

Pip looked fabulous. Picture: MatrixPictures

Pip is frequently spotted hanging out with local celebrities and is mates with UK singer Rita Ora, but she didn’t manage to attract a celebrity crowd. As a general rule Sydney Fashion Week doesn’t seem to swam with celebrities.

Even the Melbourne Cup managed to score a visit from movie star Matt Damon, but while piles of influencers stormed the carriage works armed with their iPhones, there wasn’t an A-lister in sight.

This is good news for Pip though.

Influencers are the new celebrities and probably the people you want to come to your show.

They’ll create content around it and do some free marketing for you. If Delta Goodrem rocks up, she isn’t doing a TikTok Vlog about her day.

We aren’t going to see Nicole Kidman holding her phone above her head in a way that would give anyone over 30+ neck pain and gushing about Pip’s latest collection.

Fashion week is a fun event, but it is not an A-list one.