Australian fashion week will take place May 15

IMG announced on Tuesday its lineup of designer runway events and programming for Afterpay Australian Fashion Week (AAFW): The Experience, taking place from 15-19 May at Sydney’s Carriageworks.

The official AAFW schedule will feature runway shows from emerging and returning designer names in Australian fashion, including Michael Lo Sordo, Gary Bigeni, Karla peti, Iordanes Spyridon Gogos, Erik Yvon and Cue.

Group exhibitions will also take place including the David Jones Indigenous Fashion Projects runway presented by Afterpay, TAFE NSW’s Fashion Design Studio and DHL Next Gen, AAFW’s new designer program.

The exact schedule has not been announced.

This year’s five-day program sees Australia’s most exciting designers showcase their creativity on Asia-Pacific’s largest global fashion stage, said Natalie Xenita, vice president managing director of fashion events and properties for IMG, Asia-Pacific.

The consumer-integrated fashion week model was pioneered here in Australia, and the series of shows and runway experiences offer fashion fans an unparalleled opportunity to experience the excitement of fashion week in person and on AAFW.com.au, the digital destination for AAFW, where they can watch performances from anywhere in the world live and on demand.

In addition to the runway shows, this week’s ‘Talks’ series will continue this season, featuring informative panels on a variety of ge topicsunder diversity and the fashion industry, cculture and fashion clubs, fashion critique, and key directions in Australian fashion, among other discussions.

The week will conclude with a buy-now-pay later collaboration between Afterpay and #WeWearAustralian, an initiative set up to support the Australian fashion sector in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the creation of an “immersive” runway featuring over 50 Australian brands.

AAFW was formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia.