Australian Fashion Week

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia is an annual fashion industry event, currently sponsored by Mercedes-Benz and showcasing the latest seasonal collections from Australian and Asia Pacific Designers.

Australian Fashion Week is an industry fashion week intended for retail buyers to buy forthcoming spring/summer collections directly from designers and manufacturers, as opposed to a consumer fashion week, which showcases clothes currently available instore and is targeted to fashion consumers.

As of 2013 it is held at Carriageworks in Redfern, Sydney, in April of each year. Previously it had been held in April/May at the International Passenger Terminal at Sydney's Circular Quay, and prior to that at Fox Film Studios, Moore Park and Melbourne's St Kilda pier.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia has helped bring attention to a number of Australian designers such as Lisa Ho, Alex Perry, Zimmermann, Toni Maticevski, Collette Dinnigan, Leona Edmiston, J'Aton Couture, Ericaamerica, Easton Pearson and Gwendolynne.

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.

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