Fashion Festivals: Directory & Industry Guide
State of Fashion Biennale 2026 attracts approximately 60,000 visitors
Last updated: July 30, 2026
Fashion festivals celebrate fashion in a broader, more public way than fashion weeks. While fashion weeks focus on trade, festivals often mix runway shows with exhibitions, workshops, and public events.
Some festivals serve professionals only. Others welcome the general public alongside the trade. Below, you’ll find every fashion festival by country, followed by the latest industry news and a clear breakdown of who each event is really for.
Directory
| Fashion Festival | Country |
|---|---|
| Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival Brisbane | Australia |
| PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival | Australia |
| Telstra Perth Fashion Festival | Australia |
| Festival Mode & Design Montreal | Canada |
| Berlin Commercial | Germany |
| Reykjavik Fashion Festival | Iceland |
| Jakarta Fashion & Food Festival | Indonesia |
| Dublin Fashion Festival | Ireland |
| State of Fashion | Netherlands |
| London Fashion Film Festival | United Kingdom |
| Fashion Designers Expo | USA |
Fashion Weeks, Festivals, and Who They’re Really For
Fashion weeks and fashion festivals serve different audiences, though the line isn’t always sharp.
Fashion weeks are almost always trade-only. Buyers, press, and registered industry professionals attend by invitation or registration. The public rarely gets access.
Fashion festivals, by contrast, usually welcome the general public. Many combine ticketed public runway shows with dedicated professional programming, such as buyer previews, industry lunches, or research symposiums, running alongside the public events.
The PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival illustrates this well. Its public program includes runway shows and exhibitions open to all ticket holders. Meanwhile, its Australian Fashion Business Lunch brings together industry leaders specifically for networking and knowledge-sharing.
The State of Fashion Biennale in Arnhem takes a similar hybrid approach, but leans further into professional and academic engagement. Alongside public exhibitions, it runs a dedicated symposium developed with ArtEZ University of the Arts and a research consortium, anchoring serious industry and academic exchange within a publicly accessible event.
In short: always check an individual festival’s program before assuming it’s open to trade only, or to everyone. Many are genuinely both.
Latest News in Fashion Festivals
- Adelaide’s fashion festival returns after a multi-year hiatus. ADL Fashion Week will run October 7–11, 2026, delivered by the Adelaide Economic Development Agency. The five-day event blends runway shows, designer talks, and dining experiences for a broad public audience. Read more →
- State of Fashion Biennale attracts approximately 60,000 visitors. The Biennale was officially opened on 13 May 2026 by Her Majesty Queen Máxima. Watch the Aftermovie →
- Melbourne Fashion Festival expands its professional program. The 2026 edition introduces the Australian Fashion Business Lunch, bringing industry leaders together for networking, alongside its usual public runway shows and exhibitions. Read more →