Returning to Brisbane’s River City for yet another year, Brisbane Fashion Festival is officially back for its 16th iteration.
Running from Monday 21st – Friday 25th of August, this year’s festival will span across five jam-packed days.
From runway presentations to invite-only events, attendees will be glad to know that the 2023 program is brimming with lots to see and do.
Aware that last year’s tickets sold out within days of going on sale, it’s rumoured this year’s event will welcome upwards of roughly 3,000 guests throughout the week.
“As Queensland’s premier annual fashion event, Brisbane Fashion Festival provides a vital platform to celebrate our local design talent on a world-class stage, connecting designers and retailers with an audience of fashion media, industry representatives, and most importantly, potential customers,” Brisbane Fashion Festival director, Lindsay Bennett said.
Continuing its reputation of shining a spotlight on both emerging and established designers and models, the 2023 festival is packed with both fresh and familiar faces.
In terms of diversity, the 2023 festival will see Indigenous-owned swimwear brand Kamara take to the runway to showcase the brand’s new collection in the Hancock Prospecting, Next Gen Group Show – taking place on Wednesday August 23 at Brisbane City Hall.
Founded by Naomi Collings and sister Kirsty, the siblings turned business partners have created Kamara, an Australian swimwear brand quite like no other.
After Naomi was diagnosed with Melanoma, the sisters decided that Kamara would act not just as a brand, but as a movement to spread awareness of sun damage while producing beautiful sun-friendly swimwear.
Kamara’s current range of sun-friendly swimwear range from long sleeve one-pieces to separate swim tops (rashies), bikini crops and swim pants.
Kamara is Naomi’s middle name, a fitting namesake and a gift from the sister’s inspiring grandmother.
Striving to make their grandmother proud, family and responsibilities are at the core of what the Gugu Badhun and Kutjala descendant sisters produce and sell.
Proud of their diverse cultural background, gifted from their Indigenous father, and mother’s Scottish ancestry, Kirsty and Naomi are heavily influenced by country and their local North Queensland home.
Being proudly 100% First Nations owned business has also seen the popular swimwear brand emphasise the importance of creating and sourcing textiles and materials locally within Australia.
By also proudly supporting the Melanoma Institute Australia, Indigenous Literacy Foundation and the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, Kamara is actively striving for change within the fashion industry.
Known to feature bold prints and colourways, all whilst using rich protective fabrics; Kamara delivers ethical swimwear, through the most luxurious sun protection available.
“We wanted to create a range that would provide customers with worry-free beautiful time in the sun,” Naomi Collings said.
“We don’t pump out multiple collections year-round carelessly chancing waste, manipulating buyers into excessive purchasing, and eventually adding to the cycle of oversupply and discounting mass amounts of stock.”
Having already featured on the runways of Melbourne Fashion Week (MFW) Mercedes Benz Fashion Festival, Brisbane Fashion Month, Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival and the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, expectations are high for their brand’s Brisbane reveal.
Aside from designers, a range of First Nations models will also be involved in this year’s festival including, Ruby Hunter Brown, Loli Watson and Style Up’s June cover girl, Sené Maluwapi.
Celebrated and highly successful First Nations model, Elaine George will also be appearing in selected shows at this year’s festival.
After making headlines as Vogue Australia’s first Indigenous cover girl, George has jumped from one successful project to the next.
Despite serving up a series of amazing new collections, Brisbane Fashion Festival aims to also put the city back on the map as a fashion and entertainment hotspot.
Being the first in the Country to launch Spring/Summer collections annually, has seen the festival cement itself as a leader in the Australian fashion industry.
“The Brisbane Fashion Festival is a staple in the city’s events calendar, bringing the streets to life with runway shows, foodie events, and some of our best local and national styles on show”, Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner said.
“Each year this event creates a great ripple effect on local designers, retailers, bars and restaurants, while directly supporting hundreds of local jobs.”
With 250 volunteers, 120 model bookings, 450 new garments and more than 50 designers, 2023’s Brisbane Fashion Festival is shaping up to be a record-breaking event.
“We can’t wait to see the festival return bigger and better this year,” Mr Schrinner said.
Tickets to Brisbane Fashion Festival are on sale now with the event’s full program available to view online.
Images from the event.
