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At Australian Fashion Week 2024, designers fell into two camps. Albus Lumen, Beare Park and Carla Zampatti presented sleek, self-assured, wearable collections that are bound to sell. Jordan Gogos, Romance Was Born and Nicol Ford leaned into the performative, offering up collections that build out their brand worlds via storytelling and more conceptual pieces.
Their collections and presentations were shaped by the audience on the other end. At Australian Fashion Week (AFW), some events are invite-only for industry players, while others are ticketed consumer-facing affairs, meaning designers have to choose what they want to get out of the show, and who they’re designing for.
It’s a careful balance, says Natalie Xenita, vice president and managing director of IMG Fashion Events and Properties, Asia Pacific (IMG owns and operates AFW). “As the demand for consumer participation has increased, IMG have continued to be thoughtful in balancing the needs of the industry while conducting business with being inclusive by opening up the event to consumers in an organic way that simultaneously supports designers.”
This year, many ticketed shows sold out. Consumer interest is a positive, but operating as ‘two-in-one’ can muddy the waters, says Edwina McCann, editorial director and publisher of News Prestige and former editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia. Consumers and industry insiders have different expectations about what a fashion show should be. Consumers want a longer show, with pieces they can buy now. Industry players are there to assess a brand’s creative direction. So, which road should a designer take?
“This dichotomy may reflect the diversity of the Australian fashion market, but it also raises questions about the direction and purpose of AFW,” says stylist and presenter Madeleine Park.
It’s not just who’s in the crowd. AFW is facing a larger identity crisis as its biggest stars continue to flock overseas to show elsewhere (Christopher Esber is the latest, following Zimmermann and Dion Lee), making room for emerging talent to shine. But those involved say the costs associated with putting on a show at the event have become inaccessible to the young brands that need it most. This year, the line-up was more pared back, with 32 shows down from 42 in 2023. Afterpay, which sponsored the previous three years, pulled out after 2023’s edition. (Pandora filled the gap.)
To attract and retain new, emerging talent, AFW may need to explore more affordable strategies, Phoebes Garland, co-founder of fashion consultancy Garland Garland says. A clearer direction would also benefit, particularly to attract an international audience, adds Park: “AFW should strive to develop a more distinct identity that celebrates the country’s unique environments, subcultures and Indigenous heritage.”
Barriers to entry
AFW offers the exposure emerging designers are looking for, both with international buyers as well as consumer audiences that purchase tickets to events and shows. But, as with fashion weeks around the world, getting a foot in the door can be prohibitively expensive.
Nagnata designer Laura May was set to show on-schedule for the first time. Then, Afterpay pulled out, leaving question marks around participation fees. These are about AU $20,000, and were waived under Afterpay’s sponsorship. They were ultimately waived again this year, but not before May had to make the call. (IMG announced that 2024 fees would be waived in October 2023.)
Nagnata showed on 1 May, two weeks before AFW. “I want to support fashion month, but it’s the cost,” she says. “It was risky because we didn’t know what funding we could get. So it’s easier to go, ‘OK, let’s just do something that we can control.’” She doesn’t rule it out in the future, though, if the timing — and the cost — is right.
Participating in Australian Fashion Week requires designers to do so on IMG’s terms, as the sole owner and operator of the AFW brand. And while IMG says it doesn’t regulate designer venue choices, show formats or the number of looks presented in a collection, the expectations that come with an AFW show can be limiting.
It prevents designers from doing lower-fi shows in spaces of their choosing, McCann says. A show can set a designer back upwards of $50,000; brands might rely on sponsors — but dollars are spread thin. Plus, showing under IMG might leave brands with less flexibility in bringing their own sponsors on board, she flags, should they conflict with the official event sponsor.
Even if fees are waived, the level of production required to stage a show (hair and makeup, show callers, models) adds cost. “All shows are expensive, full stop, but there are alternatives to runway shows,” McCann says. “If you still wanted to participate in AFW, but you wanted to show at mum and dad’s garage, you would be able to do that and still be on a schedule and gain recognition and coverage.” IMG says designers can show wherever they feel is best.
When designer Jordan Gogos first showed in 2022, for example, he still needed a hefty sum. “They were like, ‘Do you have $30,000? Can you put on a runway?’” he says. “I had absolutely nothing.” The crunch was worth it, Gogos says, for the provenance that association with AFW grants his pieces. In the end, the Powerhouse Museum (where his studio is) and Glenfiddich Whiskey (whom he’s continued to partner with), sponsored the show, alongside smaller sponsors.
Because of the high costs, some designers opt for different formats outside fashion week. Nagnata, for instance, held its pre-AFW show at China Heights Gallery. May likes to take her presentations to art spaces, which is not always possible on-schedule. And she wants more than a quick show slot. In the past, she’s had performance art and panel discussions. This year, she hosted a live drawing exercise, where attendees drew models in the clothes — and according to May, she spent a lot less than she would have on an AFW show.
Part of the cost problem is ownership. Some on the ground say the Australian Fashion Council (similar in nature to the CFDA in New York), should work with IMG to figure out a way for younger designers to show that’s less cost intensive. The Australian Fashion Council’s (AFC) involvement has always been with a “light touch”, CEO Jaana Quaintance-James says, noting that AFW must continue to evolve to meet industry needs.
“That is the responsibility of all of us in the industry — to collaboratively come together and work with IMG to deliver the best fashion week possible, delivering impact for industry and positioning Australian Fashion on the global stage,” says Quaintance-James.
“As the owner and operator of Australian Fashion Week since 2005, IMG has coordinated the official AFW schedule for almost 20 years and will continue to do so,” IMG’s Xenita says, noting that the company works closely with the AFC, and will continue to do so.
Global ambitions
For some, presence at AFW is worth the lift for its global potential: it bridges international reach and practicality. “I think there’s an understanding with the international buyers that if they want to see the face of Australian fashion, this is the event they need to see,” Carla Zampatti CEO Alex Schuman says. For Carla Zampatti, showing at AFW was about setting an aesthetic statement for the new direction of the brand — and making it clear not just locally, but to the international audience it is hoping to capture. The brand held showroom appointments for international buyers with its PR agency Catinella on Thursday.
For 20-year-old brand Viktoria Woods, the goal of its AFW debut was to reach a global audience. “Participating in AFW allows us to be showcased on a global platform,” says founder and creative director Margie Woods. “Whilst we are celebrating our 20 years, the focus has really been Australia to date. We now look forward to expanding to audiences on the international stage.”
This year, representatives from the USA, UK, UAE, New Zealand and Europe are in attendance, according to IMG (they declined to share numbers). Some retailers, like Net-a-Porter, made the trip too. Others skipped out; Mytheresa did not attend for the second year in a row.
AFW has international reach, though some say nothing compares to being on the ground in global markets. As Nicky Zimmermann says, once AFW gets you on the global radar, you have to respond to it. Part of May’s logic for skipping out on AFW was that the brand is saving for a New York activation later in the year. “It’s such an investment to go over as an Australian brand,” May says. “It’s like: do we spend $150,000 over here, or do we spend that in America, which is where we’re trying to grow?”
For those keen (or needing) to stay on Australian soil, AFW holds promise to platform and amplify Aussie brands big and small. This week was one of success stories, from Carla Zampatti’s comeback under creative director Karlie Ungar to Romance Was Born’s surreal show inspired by Indigenous Australian artist Zaachariaha Fielding, insiders agree. “It’s a great strength of AFW that it has been a launching pad for so many great Aussie designers to pursue opportunities overseas,” co-founder Zimmermann says. “I think that should always be one of the key objectives for AFW.”
But AFW needs to establish a clear vision to ensure the benefits of showing on-schedule do indeed outweigh the steep costs.
Park offers industry favourite Copenhagen Fashion Week (CPHFW) as a viable blueprint. “Like us, [it] celebrates a more nuanced, smaller market but pulls international coverage and celebration to the event for having a very clear point of view,” she says.
Copenhagen can offer lessons beyond its aesthetic point of view. Throughout CPHFW, various funds and prizes are awarded to support young talents. Australia’s Next Gen prize package focuses on putting on the show (a big help nonetheless), whereas CPHFW’s NewTalent scheme offers three seasons of financial support, mentoring and resources, helping to keep new players in the game. Also in Copenhagen, big-name brands like Ganni — who didn’t show last season, and won’t in June either (much like those absent from Aus) — also offer financial support and consultation to younger brands. Could international Aussie stars do the same?
“To maintain its significance, AFW must strike a balance between showcasing commercially viable collections and supporting innovative, boundary-pushing designs,” Park says. “By doing so, it can provide a platform for brands to connect with both industry insiders and consumers, while fostering a vibrant and diverse fashion community that stands to represent Australian design.”
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
Clarification: Clarifies that IMG announced that 2024 fees would be waived in October 2023.
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