Sydney creatives launch WINGS Fashion Festival

Channeling the spirit of London’s notorious 1980s Blitz Club, two Sydney creatives have launched a bold new festival to inject life back into the city’s underground creative scene.

Channeling the spirit of London’s notorious 1980s Blitz Club, two Sydney creatives have launched a bold new festival to inject life back into the city’s underground creative scene.

WINGS Fashion Festival, the brainchild of SPEED designer Alvi Chung and creative partner Daniel Neeson, opened Thursday night at the Plaza Hotel Sydney, running until the early hours of Saturday.

The event isn’t all about the catwalk, with the festival’s program containing a mixture of runway, performance art, video installations and live music into what the organisers call a “multi-sensory celebration” of underground creativity.

“Part of our inspiration came from the (London) Blitz Club and that new wave movement of the 1980s,” Neeson said.
“We’ve always loved the collision of art, music and fashion, and how people dressed up for it.”

Alvi Chung, the creative director of renowned local label Speed, and creative partner Daniel Neeson created the Wings Fashion Festival. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“But we just don’t have that here. Sydney really needs a bit of a kick. Something to galvanise young people and inspire them to take risks.”

Chung, who has navigated the scene as an emerging designer herself, said the event was created as a response to that gap.

“We wanted to build a truly immersive, four-dimensional space where young designers can gain traction,” she said. “That’s where our idea of unity came from. We want to bring people together from every corner of the arts to create something beautiful.”

NSW Arts Minister John Graham welcomed the festival as a sign of Sydney’s cultural renewal. “Quote on how events like WINGS show what happens when we give artists the freedom to experiment,” he said. “Quote whether this is what we need for Sydney’s night-life ”

On opening night, Chung debuted her latest collection, Phantom Revolt, which she called an expression of “angry elegance.”

“I felt like the world was really bleak, especially for creatives,” she said.

Ms Chung’s event runs from May 8-10. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“I was in a fury about my own identity. I felt extinct before I’d even had the chance to exist.”

Drawing heavily from her Chinese zodiac sign, the snake, she explored themes of resilience and subversion through silhouette, texture and visual metaphor.

“I’m the year of the snake, and it slithers among all the chaos,” she said. “You’ll see that embodied in various forms of silhouettes, scenes, visual aesthetics, and accessories.

The festival line-up also includes Jody Just, Amiss, Joteo, and Catholic Guilt. It will close with a basement afterparty featuring live sets from Lau and Shantan Wantan Ichiban, promising to carry the creative collision deep into the night.

Originally published as Sydney creatives launch WINGS Fashion Festival