The Biggest Moments From Australian Fashion Week 2024 That Everyone Was Talking About

Australian Fashion Week returned to Carriageworks for yet another year. Along with a packed schedule that featured some of our favourite Australian designers, also came drool-worthy street style and inspiring talks that have us considering everything from local Sydney culture to the future of fashion. 

We had high expectations for what we'd see at the Resort 2025 shows, and we weren't disappointed. Some brands showed more traditional resort collections, inspiring our holiday packing lists for the next few months, and others put held capturing, experiential shows that felt more like performance art than a classic runway.

While curating the biggest trends from both mainstay labels and emerging designers, and capturing what attendees were wearing to (and between) shows, we also kept track of the other moments to come out of Fashion Week. Over the years, that has ranged from international supermodels like Bella Hadid walking in a show, to literal rats scurrying down the runway.

Ahead, catch up on what everyone at Australian Fashion Week was talking about this year.

Australian Fashion Week attendees were welcomed to the Gadigal land (on which Carriageworks is located) on Monday morning, with a Welcome to Country and traditional smoking ceremony. Led by Raymond Weatherall, the smoking ceremony marked the beginning of AFW 2024.

On Tuesday night, FDS Innovators celebrated 25 years at Australian Fashion Week. The show is always a highlight on the schedule, where graduates from the Fashion Design Studio at TAFE Ultimo are given the opportunity to show their work on the biggest stage in Australian fashion. This year, debut collections by Samara Darling, Renee Henderson, Isabella Hoyle-Davies and Sara Marta were sent down the runway.

Following the presentation, attendees were treated to a retrospective show in celebration of 25 years of the FDS Innovators show, with iconic brands like Bianca Spender, Gary Bigeni, Romance Was Born, Christopher Esber and Dion Lee (among others) showing two of their most career-defining looks.

Resort label Liandra hosted its first debut solo show on Tuesday morning and it was a graduation of sorts, having participated in the Next Gen and Indigenous Fashion Projects shows in previous years. This season, the label has expanded beyond swim for its "Essence" collection, including ready-to-wear pieces alongside its swim offerings. The runway was lined with sunset-hued fabric panels, making the show feel intimate and warm.

Iconic Australian label Bec and Bridge took Fashion Week back to its first home on Tuesday, hosting its 24/25 resort show at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Circular Quay. The first model stepped onto the runway at 4.30pm, just in time for golden hour to put on a show over Sydney Harbour and the Opera House for those lucky enough to nab a seat facing the window.

Australian Fashion Week was held at the venue until 2012, before moving to Carriageworks for the 2013 event, and though its newer Redfern home was a welcome one, it was still a treat to return to its original location for one more show.

Nicol & Ford never fail to put on a show. In their AFW 2024 runway, THORN, they celebrated the life and work of underworld Sydney figure Rosaleen Norton (1917 — 1979).

The label's designers Lilian and Katie-Louise crafted an immersive show that had three distinct "chapters", each exploring a different aspect of Norton's life. First, through the lens of 1950s kink; then exploring their works, which depicted demonic and other-worldly figures of ambiguous gender; and the persecution of witches through the ages. It was haunting and beautiful, and much deserving of its standing ovation.

On Thursday night, the Sydney Aquarium looked a little bit different, with SPEED hosting a show inside one of the viewing tanks. While sharks floated above, and showgoers stood flush against the rock wall, models walked down the runway with light shimmering through the water across the ground below. What a location!