After a week in the bubble, here is the Fashion Week wash-up

The old joke of referring to Australian Fashion Week as “fashion weak” was repeated this year as often as trench coats on the runway, but no one was laughing.

The dearth of heavy-hitters on the official schedule at Carriageworks in Sydney left invitees feeling as though this year’s Resort 2025 season could be as exciting as a damp beige towel in a gym bag, but the breezier schedule allowed smaller designers, such as Third Form, Iordanes Spyridon Gogos and Verner, to grab bigger slices of the spotlight.

Here are the moments that made the front row look up from their phones.

The comeback: Pip Edwards and P.E Nation

Pip Edwards and models in the finale of the P.E Nation show at Australian Fashion Week.Credit: Getty

While there were certainly a few naysayers at P.E Nation’s blockbuster show – easily the most hyped of Fashion Week – most people in the 700-strong crowd, which included Julie Bishop, were willing Pip Edwards to succeed.

It’s no secret that the athleisure brand has been floundering for some time, and the departure of Edwards’ co-founder Claire Greaves in March did not help.

After promising a “revolution, evolution”, including scrubbing the Instagram account clean just days before the start of Fashion Week, there was one question on everyone’s lips on Tuesday morning: could she do it?

With a colour palette that included enough baby pinks, blues, and yellows to save it from unfavourable comparisons to Kanye West’s Yeezy brand, Edwards emerged triumphant at the end of the runway. The collection, which goes on sale from July, is almost certainly going to be the brand’s redemption, much to the relief of Edwards and her financial backers.
Melissa Singer, national fashion editor

The other comeback

The Bec + Bridge show was staged at Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal, the former home of Australian Fashion Week.Credit: Getty

The major return at AFW wasn’t a model or a design but a venue, with Bec + Bridge bringing glamour back to the schedule by staging their youthful, denim-packed show at the Overseas Passenger Terminal.

The former home of Fashion Week looked as fresh as the front row after a visit to a Double Bay skin doctor with its glistening harbour backdrop. Carriageworks in Redfern may be cool, but a harbour view is always in fashion.
Damien Woolnough, style editor

The trend to pay attention to: double-dipped denim

Pimped-up denim at Australian Fashion Week from Bec + Bridge, Injury and Verner.Credit: Getty

If your jeans are basic blue, you’re not trying hard enough. Jeans pimped-up with metallic panels, frayed edges and dye-dipping were a welcome change from sheer dresses and lace catsuits on the runway.

Design duo Bec + Bridge took a break from slinky dresses to deliver patterned denim, Injury took an emo approach with dark tones while Verner added beachy fabric. The only challenge is playing the double-denim game with this elevated approach to the democratic fabric. DW

The trend to ignore: skinny models

A model on the runway for Karla Spetic.Credit: Getty

The Ozempic runway has come to Australian Fashion Week, with many designers discarding any attempts at size diversity and casting sample-sized models. There was a disappointingly thin focus at Albus Lumen, Beare Park, Rory William Docherty and Karla Spetic.

With Fashion Week organisers IMG giving designers creative freedom with casting, it might be up to sponsors, such as Porsche, Crocs and Paspaley, to reconsider supporting such a narrow outlook of beauty at future events. DW

The hemline: bubble skirts (and tops)

Bubble hems at Em Mulholland, outside Australian Fashion Week and at Rory William Docherty.Credit: Getty

Confirmation bias was indeed a factor in the number of 1980s-style bubble hems on the runway and in street style throughout the week. Although some of the front row commented that they don’t look good on anyone with hips, we couldn’t get enough of the interpretations in skirts, dresses and even tops.

Rory William Docherty confirmed the shape to his style signature by opening his show with an all-white bubble look, but it was his orange/green metallic version that will be seared in our Molly Ringwald-loving memories for weeks to come. MS

The celebrity models on the down-low: Ben Lee and Ione Skye

Singer Ben Lee and actor Ione Skye on the runway for Emma Mulholland’s sunny Australian Fashion Week show.Credit: Getty

On their way to set up selfies, the front row at Emma Mulholland’s summery retro runway show stepped over Hollywood royalty and a revered Australian singer. Ben Lee, who found fame with his 2005 single Catch My Disease, and his wife, actor Ione Skye, remained undisturbed beneath baseball caps in matching flora sets.

Lee and Skye, the daughter of sixties singer Donovan and star of the 1990 Cameron Crowe classic Say Anything, are supporters of Australian labels, attending Romance Was Born’s runway on Wednesday. DW

It seemed like a good idea at the time: Speed

In the shark tank … Speed.Credit: Getty

A runway at the Sydney Aquarium, now known as Sea Life, had never been staged, so the invitation to see Alvi Chung’s indy street label Speed among the marine life was too tantalising to miss, even if it required a heart-stopping trip through Sydney’s peak-hour traffic to get to the next show.

Surrounded on three sides by sharks and manta rays, invitees squeezed like tinned sardines into the bowels of the tourist attraction (at a rumoured cost of $20,000 for the venue hire alone) for the show. Were there any clothes? Who knows, we were too busy taking photos of Jaws.

As for the scheduling, in the biggest snafu of the week, the late start to the show meant several editors, including this one, missed the start of the important and agenda-setting Indigenous Fashion Projects runway. Not a great look, Speed, which you’d think by its name would have had more respect for time. MS

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