Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia | Australia

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia | Oceania

Australian Fashion Week, formerly Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia and as of 2021 Afterpay Australian Fashion Week, is an annual fashion industry event, or fashion week, showcasing the latest seasonal collections from Australian designers.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia (MBFWA) is a celebration of fashion and culture. Sydney becomes the nation’s style attraction for Australia’s most innovative fashion designers, red carpet celebrities and retailers. MBFWA is Australia’s premier fashion and lifestyle event and showcases the contemporary Spring/Summer collections of Australia’s leading designer brands.

History

The event was the brainchild of PR consultant and former ski magazine reporter Simon Lock. Launched in 1996, in its debut year the event featured shows by Australian designers including Akira Isogawa, Alex Perry and Wayne Cooper. The event had mixed success; British fashion writer Susan Owens wrote a scathing review dubbing it “Fashion Weak” and writing that 25 broken-hearted designers had thrown away their money.

In 2005, event founder Simon Lock sold the event and its parent company Australian Fashion Innovators to the New York-based International Management Group. The deal was rumoured to have been worth several million dollars.

Rosemount Estate wineries acquired naming rights from Mercedes-Benz in 2006 and the event was renamed Rosemount Australian Fashion Week (RAFW), but the principal sponsorship passed back to Mercedes-Benz in 2011.

Lock worked with IMG for the next five years before departing the company in 2010. In 2011 he was presented with the Australian Fashion Laureate award, the first non-designer to receive it. At the time he was building a ski hotel in Japan and spending more time with his children.

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