The City of Melbourne has launched the program for Melbourne Fashion Week, unveiling a week-long program of free events.
A mixture of in-person and digital events will take place from Monday November 23 to Sunday November 29 and will support the recovery of Melbourne's local fashion, design, retail and hospitality industries.
This year’s adapted program will feature more than 200 designers across 60 individual events and sessions, in a combination of in-person runways, pop ups, exhibitions, online digital shows and talks with leading names in fashion.
Two in-person M/FW Runways will take place across two iconic locations: the Arid Gardens Runway at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne and the Meyers Place Runway set in one of the city’s most popular laneways.
Throughout the week, there will be six pop-up runways across city locations as well as seven 'Fashion Capsule' exhibits presented by Creative Victoria.
The capsules will showcase the creative works of local designers, weavers, artisans, Aboriginal artists and stylists, and for the first time will include a live artist studio.
The studio will feature two different artists each week performing their craft within the installation in Emporium Melbourne.
Speaking on the program, City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Elect Sally Capp said that the event will help to bring the fashion industry back to life after lockdown.
"After months of hardship, Melbourne Fashion Week will provide a much-needed boost to local retail, fashion, design and hospitality industries while bringing colour and style back to the city as it recovers.
"Our retail sector usually employs more than 21,000 people and contributes $2.17 billion to the City of Melbourne’s economy every year so it’s critical that we support this industry.
"Factoring in physical distancing and event capacity restrictions, our in-person runways and pop up runways will create unique spectacles for people to come into the city to enjoy.
"The ticketing for our Meyers Place runway includes the opportunity to secure a spot at one of the restaurants in the lane where people can enjoy a meal or drink while watching the show.
"It’s all part of our commitment to welcoming people back to support businesses and jobs in the city," she said.
Alongside the in-person events, 24 digital runways will stream online and will include Melbourne designers, inclusive labels and student designers.
Emerging and established designers set to feature on the digital runways include Arnsdorf, Elliatt, J’Aton, Maticevski, Ngali, Kuwaii, Viktoria & Woods, with each of the looks will be available for purchase from local retailers, either online or in-store.
The winner of the M/FW Student Award will also be announced live following the Student Collections digital show.
Meanwhile, a conversation series, M/FW Conversations, will also take place online.
The live series will feature four talks on current topics including: Re-wiring the Fashion System, Fashion x Tech, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Fashion and Meet the Designers.
M/FW will also feature two new social and video content series as part of this year’s program.
'Creative x Creative' live Instagram conversations will feature well-known industry experts including Lana Wilkinson, Georgia Love, Stuart Walford and Karen From Finance, while Soju Gang (Sky Thomas) will delve into Melbourne's underground fashion scene in 'Melbourne Material.'
The event will also feature a range of further activations across the food, art and retail sectors.
Lord Mayor Capp added that its important to recognise the whole suite of people that make M/FW a success.
"As well as local fashion and retail industries, it was equally important for us to support the talented people behind-the-scenes.
"Collectively, more than 130 individuals including stylists, hair and makeup artists, photographers, videographers and models were involved in the delivery of this year’s events.
"Almost 90 per cent of overall talent involved in the event including models, designers, retailers and production teams are Melbourne-based," she said.
More information can be found on the Melbourne Fashion Week website.