Since 1996, RAFW’s official schedule has featured hundreds of designers and launched the international careers of some of Australia and the Asia Pacific’s biggest fashion names including Alex Perry, Collette Dinnigan, Karen Walker, Ksubi, Lisa Ho, sass & bide, Zambesi, and Zimmermann.
On-site and off-site Collection Shows, dedicated Agent & Designer Suites and the exclusive boutique exhibition - The Source @ RAFW make up this exclusive industry-only event, made accessible to registered buyers, agents, media, and other fashion industry representatives. It maintains an exclusive time slot on the international fashion week circuit and domestic buying calendar.
Several generations of designers – including Alice McCall, camilla and marc, Fashionassassin, Jayson Brunsdon, Josh Goot, who are now rising international stars in their own right – participate in the event, alongside the industry’s established names and a number of designers who have never shown before. The competitive advantage of Australianstyle is its unexpected diversity. Fashion is all about new ideas, new thoughts, new names... and these are the strengths of RAFW. It’s primarily based on the influence Australia has on designers who choose to have this country as their creative base. It’s a country of huge diversity in environment, social and cultural parameters and as such provides a never ending and different sources of influence for designers to be inspired by.
RAFW has over the past decade evolved its own reason for being on the international fashion week circuit. It has become the event where designers from Australia, New Zealand and, in more recent years, from countries around the Asia Pacific region come to launch themselves internationally, to find a sense for who they are as designers, to evolve their style and to commercially establish themselves. Savvy international retailers have recognised this and now regularly use the event as a primary source of new talent.
The industry’s creative niche is to appeal to those consumers and retailers that are highly sophisticated and willing to look outside the existing huge luxury and designer brands to express their own personal style and individuality. Consumers who want a point of difference in the way they dress.
Likewise for RAFW our retailer targets are those organisations who want to be able to offer, initially on an exclusive basis, their customers something new, exciting and different. These retailers are primarily multi-label boutiques and department stores that invest in both established well known brands as well something different.
IMG FASHION, a division of international sports, entertainment and media giant IMG, and the global leader in the management and production of fashion weeks and designer fashion events, produces Rosemount Australian Fashion Week.