Melbourne Fashion Festival recap: High-low looks and next-gen talent

including eight premium runways, featuring designers such as Carla Zampatti, M.J. Bale, Aje, Nobody Denim, Ngali, Jam The Label and many more. There were also industry events, such as the Fashion Business Lunch presented by Kmart, and community activities, including art exhibitions and upcycling and maker workshops.  “A lot of people see our premium runways, they’re very visible and critical for designers, but we have so much more in the community and cultural space, whether it be art installations, workshops or talks,” Caroline Ralphsmith, CEO of the festival, told Inside Retail.  Ralphsmith, who was appointed in May 2022, said it was important for the festival to showcase the entire value chain of the fashion industry, from primary producers of wool and cotton, through to the burgeoning resale market, and this year’s event featured two vintage runways.  “It’s the beginning of making it much more broad,” she said.  Paolo Sebastian. Credit: Lucas Dawson In contrast to last year’s dedicated First Nations runway, this year’s event incorporated First Nations designers in multiple runways throughout the week, as well as the Urban Oasis runway on 9 March, which featured primarily First Nations brands, including Ginny’s Girl Gang, Gammin Threads, Amber Days, Nungala Creative, Yanggurdi and Haus of Dizzy.  Melbourne designer Ngali was part of the closing runway on 11 March, and luxury resortwear brand Kirrikin was part of the Suit Up runway on 10 March.  “Last year, we had a First Nations runway, and it was a beautiful celebration of everything First Nations as well as fashion. But the feedback we got afterwards from some of the designers was that they didn’t want to be a good First Nations designer, they just wanted to be recognised as a good designer,” Ralphsmith explained.  “We did have some up-and-coming designers, however, that loved that platform and felt they needed that opportunity, so we did both.”  Nungala Creative. Credit: Lucas Dawson Providing a platform for emerging designers One of the core functions of PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival is to provide a platform for emerging designers, and one of the main ways it does this is through the National Designer Award, presented by David Jones.  Open to designers in their first five years of business, the award provides opportunities for mentorship, networking and critical industry exposure, as well as cash prizes, and has been running for 27 years.  This year’s winner was Melbourne label Best Jumpers, which offers elevated leisurewear for men and women. Founder and director Dylan Best studied fashion at Parsons School of Design in New York City and worked for Ralph Lauren and Club Monaco before returning to Australia a few years ago to start his own label.  “Everything we do is menswear inspired, but it’s unisex, and it has an eclectic take on Australiana in a very subtle way. I’m all about local manufacturing and the quality of our garments,” Best told Inside Retail.  Best Jumpers. Credit: Lucas Dawson About three-quarters of the brand’s products are manufactured locally, and all of its fabrics are imported from Japan. Since launching in 2018, Best Jumpers has gone from offering a small range of sweatshirts and sweatpants to more tailored garments, outerwear and footwear.  It recently opened a bricks-and-mortar store on Gertrude Street in Melbourne and has plans to grow the business further.  “The next step is to expand our team before we expand globally. [The concept] works well internationally. Potentially opening another retail store in Sydney, that’s our next goal,” Best said.  Chris Wilson, general manager of menswear, childrenswear, home and AV at David Jones, and one of the judges, said Best Jumpers “captures the laid-back Australian lifestyle while carefully considering the fundamentals required for future business success”. Making fashion accessible to everyone This year, PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival teamed up with discount department store Kmart Australia, an unexpected pairing for those who associate fashion with high price tags and cutting-edge design.  As part of the partnership, Kmart hosted a Fashion Business Lunch on 7 March, where Kmart Group managing director Ian Bailey spoke about the retailer’s commitment to making affordable fashion for everyone and asserted that low prices don’t always mean low quality.  It also hosted a “family runway” on 11 March, featuring a mix of models, team members and kids, wearing a range of everyday basics, activewear and on-trend fashion created by the company’s in-house team of designers.  Kmart’s ‘family runway’. Credit: Lucas Dawson Most of the garments on the runway cost less than $20, Kmart Australia CEO John Gualtieri said.  “I think fashion should be affordable for everybody, irrespective of what you earn. People should be able to feel really comfortable. If they want to dress up, dress down, they should be able to do that,” Gualtieri told Inside Retail.  Compared with the festival’s premium runways, where models walked with straight faces – all the better to keep the focus on the clothes – Kmart’s “family runway” was a much more joyful affair, with people smiling and dancing down the catwalk. “What I loved about [the event] is that you saw all the smiles, happiness and joy – and that’s what our brand is really about,” Gulatieri said.  That being said, he believes the retailer holds its own on the style front, too.  “I’ve just come back from a trip around the world, and I’ve looked at the colour palettes in different stores, and what [we offer] is really representative of what different individuals around the world are wearing. I think our credentials have really shifted,” he said.