Celeste Barber puts Tom Ford coaching to good use at Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival

Celeste Barber adds catwalk model to her already impressive CV at this year’s Melbourne Fashion Festival.

Celeste Barber for VAMFF. Photographer: Hugh Stewart.

Celeste Barber is a woman of many talents – and she is about to add catwalk model to the list.

The beloved comedian and social media sensation will be a drawcard of this year’s Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival.

In addition to her catwalk turn on March 12, she will be a speaker at its key industry event, the Australian Fashion Summit, the following day.

Barber naturally chose to announce her appearances in her own unique fashion – via Instagram video.

PSA 📣 Celeste Barber is coming to the Festival! @celestebarber_ will be speaking at the Australian Fashion Summit and will walk in Runway 3. We’re not screaming, you’re screaming! https://t.co/j7pWmzh115#VAMFF #melbfashfest #AustralianFashionSummit #celestechallengeaccepted pic.twitter.com/s4MwdOMSix

— Melbourne Fashion Festival (@VAMFF) January 22, 2020

In a statement, she said: “I’m pumped to be a part of VAMFF this year. For many years VAMFF has ensured a rich diversity in shape, ethnicity and age on the runway and I’m excited to be a part of this.

“I’m looking forward to speaking at the Australian Fashion Summit to pass on my deep knowledge of style, sophistication and the secrets behind hiding my muffin top.”

General Manager of the festival, Yolanda Finch said, “Celeste has been a fearless and disruptive leader in the world of social commentary and never has this been more obvious than in the past few weeks.

“We were talking to Celeste in October last year about including her in this year’s festival as we are always wanting to work with strong role models, and in an industry that can sometimes take itself too seriously, Celeste certainly throws a mirror to fashion and the industry has embraced her endearingly delivered irreverence. As we’ve seen in the last few weeks, there’s a lot to love about Celeste.”

The multi-hyphenate comedian-actor-author-celebrity skewerer will be in conversation with this journalist (who is a little beside herself at the prospect) as host of the summit, on the topic of Who Really Has Influence Today?

It is especially timely in an age of social media influencers, given Barber’s recent influence in raising money for the Australian bushfire crisis.

Having set up a fundraising platform with a goal of $30,000, Barber raised over $50 million in two weeks.

While already working as an actor and comedian, Barber became globally famous for her celebrity parodies on Instagram, dubbed #CelesteChallengeAccepted.

Many of those in the firing line are among her 6.8M Instagram fanbase.

She has some form in the fashion arena.

US designer Tom Ford, a huge fan following Barber’s take on one of his ads, flew her to New York in 2018 to appear in a number of parody videos, and put her on the front row of his New York Fashion Week show.

The videos included Ford coaching Barber on walking the catwalk – something she can finally put into use.

In December, she was “guest editor” of Vogue Australia for a day.

Also speaking at the summit are expat and US In Style editor Laura Brown, who also uses her influence in productive and political ways, and Eva Kruse, founder of the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, which focuses on sustainability.

VAMFF runs from March 4-14; for more information and tickets, see vamff.com.au.