Kmart debuts winter collection at PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival

A Kmart item that has been going viral on social media has been showcased to rave reviews at an iconic event in Melbourne.

Kmart is currently in what the Gen Zers would call its “slay era”, and two people behind the brand’s winter collection couldn’t be more thrilled with the fanfare.

Kmart held it’s Family Day at the PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival on Saturday with new designs debuting on the runway. However, members of the audience were also wearing designs that featured on the catwalk.

A popular item in the crowd was the Sleeveless Ruched Mesh Midi Dress, which retails for $25.

The dress comes in two colours – a baby pink with darker patches and a balayage style dress that fades from tan to a pale colour and then navy.

This $25 dress from Kmart is about to be everywhere. Picture: TikTok/@shes_sosarah

The popular design and prints also come in a skirt and a long-sleeve version of the dress.

Liz Plant, a senior merchandiser at Kmart, wore the pink version of the dress to attend the runway event.

“I love the colour and it’s on trend. I also love the ruching as it is very flattering,” she said.

Kmart superfan Anita Aguada wore the darker version of the dress and told news.com.au she thinks the style is something Aussies are going to be seeing a lot more of.

“I like the colours and I like the fit, it’s very flattering,” she said.

Catherine Wringe, who is Kmart Australia’s womenswear buyer, told news.com.au: “This style has just landed into stores and online, it’s such a comfortable, easy to wear style.

“We are so excited to see customers reactions on this style as seen on the runway today.

“This dress was developed with the use of 3D technology which we are using more and more at Kmart and we are proud to say this dress also is made partly with recycled polyester made from recycled materials and for $25!”

Kenny McLaren, Kmart’s head of design and forecast, told news.com.au the collection took a full year to create beofore it had its runway debut on Saturday.

Many wore the dress at the Fashion Week show. Picture: TikTok/@cctugc

Elmira Hodges is modelling the dress. Picture: Instagram/@elmira.hodges.

“There are 50 designers in Melbourne, and we start by looking globally at different trends and brands, as well as social media, and pull it together,” Mr McLaren said.

He said the team did a great job with this collection as it was a mix of capsule items – which are staples – as well as colour and on-trend pieces.

Some of the items are already on sale, with Ms Wringe saying: “The show this year was really about capturing the now because we wanted people to be able to see either you’re wearing catwalk today, which is always really exciting. It’s not normally [the case],” she said.

“But equally, if you saw something you loved you could go into store and buy it today.”

As for social media’s assertion that Kmart is in its slay era? Well, Ms Wringe said it was “so cool” to hear that attributed to the hard work of the team.

“The viral moments just make you feel so good that people are loving something as much as we have loved it,” she said.