The Uniqueness of Sydney Fashion Week

Sydney fashion week began to operate in 1995, which is also known as Australia fashion week. Although compared with the four major fashion weeks, it doesn’t have any qualifications; since the entry of 21st century, it also received a lot of attention and public opinion with the industry. An addition to constant innovation and creative designs of London fashion week, Sydney fashion week seems to be more alternative, or it pays little attention to mainstream fashion trends. However, its maverick style has also brought negative effects. Snake was around the neck, mice were on the show; these absurd scenes would unexpectedly appear on the Sydney fashion show. It is these unique and weird elements that establish independent style of the 18-year-history fashion week. It doesn’t go the way usual, but get growing public and media attention.  Another feature of Sydney fashion week is low threshold, in other words, designers have a wide range. European media says that the selection of designer doesn’t have discretion; any kind of designer can participate in. Any kind of jewelry making supplies can be applied to fashion week, exaggerated large beads, some cheap charms all add another trace of flavor to Australian visual feast. Some media even said its works have no creation and original force, they seems the imitation of European styles. Such sharp comments exert no effect on Sydney modern designers, they still believe that it is a positive choice; the emergence of young designers from generation to generation represents the promising future of Sydney fashion week. Different from the other four major fashion weeks, Sydney fashion week has no big brands shows. People may wonder how this niche fashion week gets more attention. As a matter of fact, much more attention seems to be paid to models and participants than the selection of designers. For example, in 2005, Charlie Brown invited famous world model for T-stage shows; in 2007, world’s famous stripper was invited as performance guest. Recently, with the emerging of personal blog, fashion blog bloggers have become their focus. While some outstanding local designers in Australia are not seen on their own fashion week, but they focus more on the four fashion week. Dion Lee is a good example; he made the whole show in 2010 display grand scene due to his superb tailoring skill. But he didn’t appear on recent shows; on the contrary, he shifted the center to world major fashion week. Sydney fashion week has a short history; the most memorable year was the “animal year” in 2001. One event is caused by a Python; model Kristy may never forget the ghastly and embarrassing moments. She has been dressed in a bikini made of snake skin; she even took a real snake around her neck in order to attract effects. The most surprising is that she even finished the whole show with the snake. Another story is Ksubi jeans brand, 169 mice were released together with models on the how, and one of the mice was dead because of curtain bracket, which led to the protest and complaints from animal protection organization. With spread of personal media, more and more niche brands rely on joint promotions with leading personal media to get fast growth. The past niche fashion week has got more and more attention.