A slimmed-down Australian Fashion Week has ruffled more than skirts

Australian Fashion Week is shrinking, and it has nothing to do with Ozempic and models.

Since it was abandoned like last season’s high-waisted jeans by former operators IMG in November last year, the Australian Fashion Council has struggled to keep AFW alive, with a shorter four-day schedule in May part of the solution.

The number of shows held at Carriageworks, along with the number of runway rooms, has been cinched tighter than Kim Kardashian’s waist. Only two spaces will showcase Australian labels from Tuesday, May 13, and Wednesday, May 14, at Carriageworks, with Thursday and Friday dedicated to events at private venues.

Model Sofia Palladino (right) with Aje co-founder Edwina Forest at Barangaroo, where they will show their resort collection at Australian Fashion Week.Credit: Janie Barret

The naming of a Carriageworks space as the Carla Zampatti Room is one of the few recognisable pieces from the last resort season in May.

“She was an Australian fashion pioneer,” says AFW chief executive Kellie Hush. “That wasn’t going to change.

“Having only two spaces and the shorter schedule, instead of five full days, is because this year is a stepping stone and we had to make sure that it would happen. We had a lot to do in 100 days, so we are making sure that this is about quality. That’s what the industry wants.”

Aje, Carla Zampatti and Lee Mathews are among the major labels returning to the event. Farage, Nagnata and Sir The Label will make their Australian Fashion Week debuts, while critically acclaimed darlings Romance Was Born, Beare Park, Gary Bigeni and Iordanes Spyridon Gogos are on the schedule.

“We weren’t going to do fashion week again with the previous owners,” says Aje co-founder Adrian Norris. “When IMG was involved we did think AFW lost quite a lot of its relevance. We could’ve survived without doing this week, but we are definitely one of the bigger brands and not being involved probably would’ve been detrimental.”

Aje will hold its off-site show at the new pavilion under construction at Barangaroo. “We really wanted to show up for the industry as well as showing up for our business,” Norris says.

While Aje will showcase its resort collection, Beare Park designer Gabriella Pereira is using the fashion reset to take a new approach for her show at Carriageworks on the Tuesday night.

Models in the Beare Park runway show at Australian Fashion Week in May 2024.Credit: Getty Images

“It’s not taking part in AFW that delivers an automatic benefit,” says Pereira. “It’s what you make it. You can’t have entitlement in this industry.”

Rather than show an advance collection focused at international buyers, Pereira will make pieces available for immediate orders from customers on the Beare Park website.

“We got such amazing press last year that a ‘see now, buy now’ collection makes sense. Our customer doesn’t want to wait until November to be able to buy the pieces. We are putting the customer first. This is not being sold to wholesalers.”

Along with traditional single-brand shows, labels will have access to group shows at a lower cost. AFW has also partnered with the trade show Splash to attract more wholesale buyers. Hush says that 160 buyers are already confirmed to attend the event.

“We’re talking to the industry as a whole about really collaborating,” Hush says. “We’re not going to deliver everything this year.

“The reality is we have to build everything. We had no website. We had no social media. We have no content.”

The push forward has come at a cost. In February, internationally respected Queensland designer Gail Sorronda had her application to participate in AFW, and celebrate her 20th anniversary, denied because she was not focusing on wholesale orders.

Also out of the in-crowd are TAFE fashion students. After celebrating its 25th anniversary at AFW last year, the only show attended by Australian fashion leaders Nicky and Simone Zimmermann, TAFE NSW has been informed that its graduate show will not be a part of the official schedule.

“Over the past 25 years the Innovators show has established a reputation as an important launch pad for emerging Australian fashion designers, with alumni including Nicky Zimmermann, Akira Isogawa, Bianca Spender, Romance Was Born and Christopher Esber,” says TAFE NSW Fashion Design Studio head teacher Andrea Cainero. “We remain open to the opportunity to realign with AFW in the future.”

Hush wants the event to be open to other fashion institutions in the future but says that TAFE NSW can still take part, off the official runway.

“We’re not saying to anyone you cannot show during AFW. If you go to fashion week in Paris, Milan, New York and London, the whole city activates around fashion. This is not an exclusive club, but we can’t have everyone on the schedule this year.”

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