All products featured on Vogue are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
After a particularly busy work week (the Met Gala and a Vogue Shopping shoot), I embarked on a weeklong trip to Sydney. Two long-haul flights, a 14-hour time difference, and a totally new hemisphere later (it’s autumn there now!), I landed down under for Australian Fashion Week. To beat the jet lag, I took the recommendations I received prior to the trip, got up bright and early despite the rain for a little bit of Aussie-approved self care. Flat white in hand, I walked the seaside path between Bronte and Bondi Beach and ended with a plunge at Icebergs, the swimming pools adjacent to the ocean waves you’ve likely seen across your Instagram feeds. Certainly not a bad way to refresh and get outdoors after a weekend’s worth of in-flight time before the shows and presentations began. But even more so, it was a nice way to expose myself to and get a feeling for the Aussie lifestyle, culture, and beautiful surroundings of the designers who call Sydney home. Let’s dive in!
Day 1: A View of the Opera House
My week kicked off Monday night with Carla Zampatti’s 60th anniversary runway show. It being my first time in Sydney, and Australia, in general, I was pleased my first show had a view of the iconic Sydney Opera House. With rain on the forecast all week, we got lucky with clear skies that night, as the show was presented outside of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia overlooking the harbor.
Day 2: The Frontier
Right off the bat, I saw a handful of brands I was really looking forward to seeing in Sydney: Courtney Zheng, Amy Lawrence, Paris Georgia, Esse, Wynn Hamlyn, Common Hours, and Matin. A handful of looks from the labels’ pre-fall 2025 or resort 2026 collections were presented in a group show format, a convenient way for these designers to take part of the week’s calendar on short notice and still draw a very supportive crowd! Immediately after, Lee Mathews showed a beautiful collection of spring-forward looks in a lofty industrial space, and collaborated with one of my favorite Spanish footwear labels, Hereu, on the shoes for the looks. Later, I visited the showrooms of New Zealand label Harris Tapper and Faithfull the Brand and ended the night with Beare Park’s 6 o’clock runway show. Following the shows, I joined my Vogue Australia colleagues for their Designer Dinner at Catalina Restaurant. I sat in the company of two designers who showed that very same day, Esse’s Charlotte Hicks, and Gabriella Pereira from Beare Park. Apparently, Vogue Australia hosted a very similar gathering with a group of local designers, PRs, and editors back in the ’90s and wanted to recreate the evening 30 years later.
Day 3: Print Spotting
At 9 a.m., under the picture-perfect blue skies, Aje presented its resort 2026 collection harbor-side at the open-air Barangaroo Pier Pavilion. Each seat had a full-moon-charged crystal placed on it, which my colleague Laia Garcia-Furtado noted might have been responsible for the lucky change in forecast. In true Aje fashion, there were a handful of their ruffled gowns that have become popular on the wedding guest circuit here in the states. You can expect florals and embroidery anglaise for next season, plus a few new hues of solid colors to choose from, such as banana and rust.
Day 4: Destination Paddington
After the Hansen Gretel and Ngali shows, I walked through the collections of a handful of brands at the Known Agency, including Significant Other, Third Form, Rylan Studio, and Arcina Ori. With a studio in the same building just down the hall, designer Maggie Marilyn accompanied me to the charming shopping streets of Paddington. The Glenmore Road address is home to Zimmermann’s first ever retail space and is surrounded by a handful of delightful neighbors, Deiji Studios, Bassike, and Lee Mathews, to name a few. The week concluded with a show that involved a black-tie dress code from Albus Lumen, which almost all the attendees adhered to. Following, guests left in party buses for a celebration hosted at the beloved restaurant Fratelli Paradiso. The establishment had been recommended to me multiple times that week, so I figured why not go along for the ride—it was my last night in Sydney after all!
Catch up with all the Australian Fashion Week coverage here, and discover the designers below.
