Melbourne Fashion Week 2025: Come As You Are takes over the city

Melbourne is preparing for a week-long celebration of style, creativity and community as Melbourne Fashion Week (M/FW) returns from October 20 to 26.

With the theme Come As You Are, this year’s program promises bold runways, thought-provoking conversations, exhibitions and pop-up events across the city, reaffirming Melbourne’s status as Australia’s fashion capital.

More than 600 designers and retailers will feature across 100 free and ticketed events, creating more than 1000 jobs and shining a spotlight on home-grown talent. More than 85 per cent of participants – from designers and stylists to models, students and retailers – are based in Melbourne.

Acting City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Roshena Campbell said the event would be one of the city’s biggest cultural highlights of the year.

“Come one, come all – and most importantly, Come As You Are,” she said. “Melbourne will cement its place as Australia’s fashion and retail capital, with bold new runway locations and a spotlight on local designers, artisans and creatives.”

The runways will again be the heartbeat of the festival, staged in some of Melbourne’s most distinctive venues. Opening night on October 20 will take place at the brand-new 1 Hotel Melbourne, showcasing First Nations designers including Gammin Threads, Kaninda and Yarrenyty Arltere Artists. The following evening, Opulent Tastes brings couture to the Italian dining hub il Mercato Centrale, while October 22 will see fashion meeting music at the Melbourne Recital Centre in Southbank.

On October 23, the festival returns to Little Bourke St, presented by Emporium Melbourne, with collections from Aje Studio, Et Al, Husk and Oroton. Student designers from RMIT, Holmesglen, Whitehouse, LCI and Box Hill Institute will take the spotlight on October 24 at Younghusband in Kensington. The closing runway on October 26 at 101 Collins St will feature contemporary names including Erik Yvon, Karlaidlaw and Lucinda Babi.

Beyond the catwalk, the festival program is brimming with activations across the city. Five themed Fashion Capsule exhibitions will run from September 29 to October 26, highlighting more than 30 designers with displays ranging from First Nations fashion to drag costuming and collaborations with The Australian Ballet. More than 40 independent events – the largest number in the festival’s history – will bring pop-up regenerative stores, vintage runways, markets, talks and open studios into laneways, shopfronts and cultural spaces.

One of this year’s most talked-about highlights is the free Australian-first Wicked Wardrobe exhibition at Fed Square, opening October 13. The showcase will display Oscar-winning designer Paul Tazewell’s extraordinary costumes for Elphaba and Glinda from Universal Pictures’ Wicked films. Tazewell said Melbourne was the ideal city for the display. “It’s the perfect city to showcase the inventive style, craftsmanship and detail that went into creating the world of Wicked,” he said.

The M/FW Conversations series will return with discussions on the business of fashion and the future of inclusive design, while ticketholders can access exclusive hospitality offers across the city. Each ticket sale will also contribute $1 towards carbon offsets, helping ensure the event remains certified carbon neutral.

Cr Mark Scott, chair of the council’s tourism and events portfolio, said the festival’s economic impact was just as important as its creative contribution.

“Last year’s event contributed almost $30 million to the local economy and supported more than 1000 jobs,” he said. “With its runway-to-retail focus, Melbourne Fashion Week gives people even more reason to shop local and support emerging talent.”

With more than 100,000 people expected to attend, Melbourne Fashion Week 2025 is set to bring fresh energy to the city’s streets. From the spectacle of major runways to the intimacy of open studios and the spectacle of Wicked’s costumes, the message is clear: fashion in Melbourne is for everyone, and everyone is invited to Come As You Are. •