The 25th Melbourne Fashion Festival launched this morning in the glorious gardens of the NGV with the tenacity to make this the best ever Fashion Festival. As the world looks on to Australia whilst we begin to overcome the pandemic, we will celebrate fashion in Melbourne with live runways, as well as a jam-packed digitally-focused schedule, for all to enjoy both near and far.
Melbourne Fashion Festival opened with excitement from CEO Graeme Lewsey who welcomed Lord Mayor Sally Capp saying, “the only other public figure I know that is as enthusiastic about Fashion as me and that is Lord Mayor Sally Capp”.
Sally went on to say, “Melbourne is the Fashion Capital of Australia, we know that it has been a very tough year for so many sectors and particularly Fashion, we have not been able to drive people into retail experiences in person, so these elements of the Fashion Festival are particularly exciting for us in the City of Melbourne”.
“This is the first fashion festival happening in person at scale, post covid, anywhere in the world, and it’s happening here in MELBOURNE,” said, Sally Capp.
The Festival will be opened with the Gala Runway presented by David Jones this evening as part of the 10-day program of live and online events being staged across multiple iconic locations around Melbourne, including a two-day ‘Fashion Weekend’ shopping take-over of the CBD to be launched by Lord Mayor, Sally Capp.
Bridget Veals, General Manager of Womenswear David Jones says, “we want to make sure that when the customer comes into the store that they enjoy the experience even more than they have done previously, we want them to come out of the suburbs, into the store and offer them great fashion. With optimism people are going to events again, we are delighted to see men are back in suits, women in dresses and heels, so for us we want them to come into the city centre and to really enjoy the experience we offer in our department store, David Jones. Our role is to support local designers and emerging talent we have here in Melbourne and to make sure it’s readily available in the city centre”.
Melbourne Fashion Festival will be shared globally on the digital platform with everyone able to be involved as we celebrate our designers and creators with new season collections and fashion business initiatives.
Written by Editor Chief Melinda Sullivan
Photography Sam Tabone
For more information see https://melbournefashionfestival.com.au/
