18-05-2025
Catwalk-worthy fashion at Me+Em prices? These under-the-radar brands are the next big things
To my knowledge no other fashion week opens with a welcoming Smoking Ceremony. This is an ancient First Nations ritual that saw fashion journalists, influencers and buyers coming together around a fire pit to waft eucalyptus-infused smoke around themselves in a communal body and soul cleansing moment. This is simply unimaginable in Paris, London or New York – the outfits wouldn't allow for such spontaneous movement.
This is the friendliest, least pretentious fashion week I've been to. Which isn't to say there aren't preeners, socialites and one celebrity. I spotted Nigella Lawson at Lee Mathews, wearing a monochrome floral dress by the designer. But if anyone else noticed her, they didn't let on. 'Most of our big celebrities don't live in Australia,' one journalist pointed out. She didn't seem overly concerned. No celebrities means no unseemly scrums.
Australia Fashion Week nearly didn't happen this time. For years, it was run by IMG, the global sports, fashion and events corporation, which turned it, as another typically blunt Aussie editor told me, 'into a tack fest'.
Australian designers, working to different seasons, have traditionally been at a disadvantage when it comes to selling to the northern hemisphere. Factor in tariffs (long before Trump) and they were often uncompetitive once exported, although one business here told me import duties to the UK from Australia were never that high. 'It's just that some designers saw they could get away with charging pounds for Aussie dollars so they did.'
As a result few European or American journalists and buyers troubled Australia's showrooms and the country's biggest fashion names, Zimmermann and Camilla and Marc, fled to Paris in order to become international businesses. When IMG finally pulled out of Oz Fashion Week at the end of 2024, it looked as though it was game over.
At the 11th hour, the New South Wales government, realising fashion can deliver some cultural collateral, stepped in with some money – and here we are, at that fire pit.
You can see why Australia's Fashion Council were keen not to let their fashion week die. The country has plenty of design talent (a show called New Frontiers at the start of the week featured half a dozen promising young talents). Australia excels at resort and beachwear – the kind of breezy, easy, pretty, floaty clothes that have become an increasingly important part of European luxury brands' output. Also, with tariffs now such a live issue for any country trading with the US, Australian brands may come to seem increasingly reasonable.
One salient lesson here for London Fashion Week (also struggling for airspace on the international stage) is that not everything has to cost £2000 to be catwalk-worthy. Aje is a hugely popular label in Oz, with a cult following on the UK's rental sites, where its ruffled or floral dresses (think affordable Zimmermann) are a big hit with wedding guests and maids of honour. It has a comprehensive business ranging from denim jeans and jackets and its diffusion label, Aje Studio to ball gowns. Knits start at the equivalent of £200 in Australia – Me+Em prices – and dresses go up to around £1000. Its early morning show by Sydney Harbour was a highlight.
With prices from £300, Ngali, founded by Denni Francisco, one of Australia's leading indigenous designers, is another business making thoughtful, original design accessible. Francisco worked with First Nation artists on this collection to produce striking printed co-ords, loose dresses and lightweight coats that look uniquely Aussie, but also have international appeal.
One can imagine Ngali and Iordanes Spyridon Gogos' artisanal aesthetic finding a loyal following at Liberty in London, whose buying and merchandise director, Lydia King, was also out here, on the hunt, as she puts it, for 'businesses that have critical mass in Australia, but aren't necessarily known in the UK'. Gogos, who is 30 and Greek-Australian, draws on both countries' indigenous textiles. Some of it was deliriously bonkers, but the patchwork coats have a 'collectible', Dries Van Noten feel to them.
Lee Mathews, the designer Nigella turned out for, is known to British fans for her clean, flowing silhouettes, and high-quality natural fabrics. But since imploded last year, she's been hard to get hold of in the UK. After I posted some pictures of her dusty pastel maxi-dresses and spare, monochrome separates on Instagram, several colleagues messaged to say they missed not being able to buy her. Perhaps Liberty can solve this. I especially loved the delicate way she handled sheer, along with Hansen & Gretel and Bianca Spender, who all made it look subtle and grown up.
Sydneysiders love a healthy lifestyle. Five AM beach runs and swims are not seen as a form of insanity and studios all over the city incubate new forms of exercise which often go global. Nagnata, an activewear label with add-ons, such as brushed alpaca boyfriend cardigans, knitted shorts, retro running jackets in organic cotton and wool leggings, is one of their homegrown secrets. But for how long? Activewear meets lifestyle is where the major growth is right now. Alo, the US activewear brand founded less than 20 years ago, is valued at $10 billion US. Vuori (US, worth $5.5 billion) and Lululemon (Canadian, $37.9 billion) show what's possible. To my mind, Nagnata, with its spicy colours and attitude, is the most stylish.
If I were a buyer looking for a fresh point of view with commercial potential at a compelling price (as Harvey Nichols is) I'd be parsing the Australian resort collections, both men's, such as Joseph & James and women's – and hoping that London Fashion Week takes note. While Australia's designers are profoundly aware of the debt they owe to their First Nation elders, they also want to celebrate their country as it is now.
Compare with London Fashion Week, which in recent seasons, has sponsored some young designers more intent on making statements about Gaza and the UK government than anything anyone might want to wear. Why not learn from Australia and platform designers who want to dress us rather than excoriate us? At prices we can actually afford.
