Australian Fashion Week gains new title partner, announces schedule

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Jan 22, 2021

Ahead of the 2021 fashion season, Australian Fashion Week has gained a new title sponsor as it evolves its mission to focus on accessibility, diversity and inclusion, and sustainability. 

Afterpay Australian Fashion Week (AAFW), previously known as Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, is set to take place May 31 to June 4, at the historic Carriageworks and other select venues throughout Sydney, where designers will showcase their latest Resort ’22 collections.   

Afterpay's new partnership with IMG will champion Australian fashion and “ensure Australian fashion continues to have its unique voice heard”, all while welcoming a new “dynamic experience” championed by new values. 

As part of its mission to be more inclusive, AAFW is opening its doors to the public and inviting consumers for the first time ever to purchase tickets to select shows on the official schedule and access VIP packages. 

Consumers can now purchase tickets to the opening and closing night runway show, as well as see-now, buy-now runway shows from Bassike, one of Australia’s leading designer fashion brands, and Kit Willow of KITX. 

Moreover, an ongoing series of conversation, dubbed 'The Talks', will be open to consumers including a dialogue around sustainability in fashion called 'Fashioning The Future' and an event with Australian fashion’s next generation of designers called 'Generation: Next'. 

“AAFW: The Experience opens the doors of fashion week to directly advance designers’ retail businesses and creates opportunity to drive loyalty amongst new and existing customers,” said Natalie Xenita, executive director of IMG’s fashion events group, Asia-Pacific region.

“We are thrilled to reconnect with live audiences at Carriageworks with this curated program of runway shows and informative fashion events, to entertain and engage fashion’s most passionate consumers.”

The 2020 edition of Australian Fashion Week was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

IMG was expecting about 1,600 industry professionals from over 20 countries to hit Sydney to see the Resort 2021 ready-to-wear collections.