“The Frontier present was curated collectively to highlight designers with a world perspective,” Courtney Zheng informed GRAZIA forward of her distinctive Australian Fashion Week debut. “Being a part of a gaggle format made sense—it displays the shared vitality we’re all bringing to the desk, and permits that message to be amplified by way of power in numbers.”
“For me, it is a chance to current a targeted edit that communicates the essence of the model and alerts the place it’s headed, each aesthetically and strategically.”
In a quietly commanding second at AFW, seven Australian and New Zealand designers—Courtney Zheng, Wynn Hamlyn, Paris Georgia, Matin, Esse, Frequent Hours and Amy Lawrance —unveiled a distilled edit of simply eight appears to be like from their upcoming collections. The present took on a collective presentation format within the expansive Carla Zampatti room of Sydney’s Carriageworks, with no distinction between the manufacturers apart from their distinct respective visions.
Forward, we break down the inspiration and processes that went into the present.
Courtney Zheng
“The gathering started with the concept of brutalist stealth—one thing that felt quietly highly effective and architectural,” Zheng informed us about her assortment. “I used to be drawn to the rawness of brutalism: uncovered construction, materials honesty, and a type of stark class.”
On the runway, this translated into sculptural silhouettes—robust shoulders, cinched waists, and a playful stress between sturdy and fluid fabrications. Distressed denim, raw-edge wool, leather-based, and sheer georgette have been employed in myriad methods, whereas a palette of steely greys and blues was punctuated by vibrant purple. Items have been pleasing on the attention, however with out compromising on performance.
On the subject of fusing artistry with wearability, the 2 aren’t opposing forces to Zheng. “I’m excited about items which might be visually impactful however operate in actual life,” she says. “The technical development is at all times thought-about with wearability in thoughts: the way it sits on the physique, how the material feels, the way it strikes, how it may be layered or reinterpreted by the wearer.”
“The runway is a chance to showcase the depth of our atelier’s ability,” she provides. “There’s as a lot artistry in restraint as there’s in drama, and discovering that stability makes a garment enduring.”
Amy Lawrance
Newcomer Amy Lawrance rapidly impressed the business final yr when she offered as a part of the Subsequent Gen runway final yr. This yr, she finds herself a part of one other collective with The Frontier.
“It’s an actual privilege to indicate amongst a few of Australia and New Zealand’s most progressive style designers,” she informed GRAZIA within the lead-up to the present. “I see the group present format as a chance to current a rigorously chosen assortment of clothes. I actually love the problem of refining a bigger physique of labor right into a concise and impactful line-up.”
With a definite aesthetic imaginative and prescient and technical route, the Melbourne-based designer has already established a robust visible language that sees her items stand out.
“Paper-based dressmaking ephemera (akin to dwelling dress-making manuals and business paper patterns from the primary half of the twentieth century) have been a selected level of reference whereas designing and making the gathering,” she explains. “I needed to play with the concept of constructing clothes composed of flattened and folded shapes, that at a look, appear to be paper patterns which were folded up and saved in a field for many years.”
For this assortment, uncooked silk tussah was starched to carry a ‘papery’ high quality to the material, evoking the fragile paper patterns that impressed the gathering. However whereas inspiration is present in paper and the designer is drawn to shift and A-line silhouettes, Lawrance’s clothes are minimize to work with the physique’s pure form, not masks it.
“I’m regularly attempting items on all through the sample making and toiling course of, and contemplating how seamlessly the garment hangs from and strikes with the physique,” she tells us. “Though my items aren’t designed to be worn day by day, operate is at all times on the forefront once I’m designing as a result of I believe for a garment to be timeless and worthy of holding onto for a lifetime, it in the end must really feel lovely on the physique.”
Paris Georgia
Whereas they’re no strangers to the Australian style panorama, Paris Mitchell Temple and Georgia Cherrie are again on the AFW schedule with their label Paris Georgia after years of opting out.
“The start line for this assortment was a nostalgic but empowering have a look at the Intercourse and the Metropolis characters of the ’90s and early 2000s—a nod to the last word incarnation of the profession girl in all her varieties,” the duo informed GRAZIA. “These ladies have at all times served as a supply of inspiration for Paris Georgia: daring, dynamic, and unapologetically themselves.”
Although the model has developed over time, their mission to ship us a wardrobe that’s as easy as it’s dynamic has served effectively as their North Star. “Our muse is a girl who’s simply as assured in a cocktail gown as she is in double denim,” they clarify. “She doesn’t simply put on the garments—she embodies them, radiating energy, sensuality, and easy type in equal measure… by no means confined to a single definition.”
By way of the runway, the model sought to seize the vitality of the primary character—”She is a muse—not simply to us, however to everybody round her.” However whereas confidence and affect are robust themes, performance is rarely compromised.
“[We] continually dissect every garment, contemplating who it’s for, the place she’ll put on it, and the way it will make her really feel,” says Mitchell Temple. “Placing the best concord between novelty and wearability is on the coronary heart of each design.”
Matin
Unveiled as a distilled edit of simply eight appears to be like, Michelle Perrett offered Matin Pre-Fall 2025, a set encapsulating the model’s core philosophy: easy freedom, rendered in pure materials and anchored by timeless silhouettes.
“There’s one thing actually particular about that collective ambiance,” Perrett mentioned of the present’s format. “Collectively, we’ve created one thing better than the sum of its elements.”
Pre-Fall 2025 felt like a masterclass in light energy, the place comfortable tailoring met crisp cotton, and pleat work, uncooked hems and sculptural folds revealed themselves upon nearer inspection. Every bit prioritised wearability and creativity with a contemporary prowess, proving that longevity and magnificence go hand-in-hand.
In a style panorama typically dominated by noise, Matin provided a welcome second of stillness and continuity. It was a set for individuals who gown with daring intent—not for present, however for the self.
Wynn Hamlyn
With a tightly curated edit that comprised males’s and girls’s ready-to-wear, Wynn Hamlyn provided a cerebral tackle resort dressing for 2026. For this assortment, New Zealand designer Wynn Crawshaw reworked signature codes by way of an experimental lens, presenting a set that balanced mental rigour with on a regular basis class.
“We took components from our archive and reimagined them with a way of craft-driven luxurious, particularly specializing in deconstructing and rebuilding our knitwear,” Crawshaw informed GRAZIA. “We needed to create one thing that feels easy but thought-provoking.”
Because the model has develop into a go-to for items that transcend event or aesthetic moulds, practicality and craft are laced collectively in a putting stability.
“For us, it’s about making certain the artistry serves the wearer. The element and craft are at all times on the forefront, however so is performance,” he explains. “We wish our items to really feel like an extension of the wearer, not simply one thing they placed on. That’s why we give attention to making every design not solely visually compelling but additionally wearable. For instance, the useful buttons on this assortment aren’t only a design characteristic—they create a silhouette that feels recent but acquainted. It’s about artwork that appears like a second pores and skin, superbly constructed however with consolation at its core.”
The choice to hitch a collective present at Australian Trend Week—quite than pursue a solo highlight—felt aligned with the model’s quiet confidence and ongoing cult standing. “It was about creating an area the place the garments might converse for themselves,” Crenshaw famous. And converse they did: asymmetrical tailoring, tactile knitwear, and complicated button appliqués informed a narrative of elevated craft in only a few blended appears to be like.
On this preview, a definite sense of ease lingered beneath the floor of bolder aesthetics—assume slouchy silhouettes sharpened with technical precision, or sculptural detailing softened by touchable textures.
ESSE
Presenting Version No.13, Charlotte Hick was impressed by affect and angle over pragmetism fir ESSE’s newest providing.
“The seed was the concept of quiet movement—a girl who strikes with presence quite than noise,” she informed GRAZIA forward of the present. “I needed Version No. 13 to really feel like a wardrobe of recent artefacts: sculptural, intentional items that maintain house for the wearer. I started by exploring refined dualities—masculine tailoring tempered by drape, lush textures grounded in goal… this led to eight tightly edited appears to be like the place textures collide but breathe. Every silhouette is sharp but relaxed—robust and glossy, softened by sensuality.”
With outerwear and minimalist silhouettes that can stay in our brains lengthy after the runway, ESSE doubles down on its timeless design ethos of restraint. “It’s within the element and the delicate collision of texture,” Hick explains. “Each line, floor, and proportion should earn its place. I begin with the query: Will she attain for this tomorrow, and 5 years from now?
“The objective is poetry that may be lived in: items that learn as artwork in movement but slip effortlessly into an actual wardrobe.”
Frequent Hours
In a departure from its signature artwork prints, Frequent Hours offered a set that put sensuality entrance and centre.
“This capsule is much less closely art-based than a few of our collections have been prior to now; it’s extra of a non-public musing on subversion and dissent, leaning into provocation and austerity by way of hidden particulars,” says its founder, Amber Keating. “Particularly, I used to be eager about the notion of pure evil. Fragility versus subjugation, the sexual stress throughout the narrative of female and masculine: resistance and rebel acted out in silence, with cocooning wools or aggressive overcoats enveloping one thing extra delicate and weak, like distressed, laddered barely-there attire… It’s a disciplined capsule, with an undertone of antagonism and resistance.”
“Finally, this capsule’s objective was so as to add extra streamlined, restrained silhouettes to our current library of art-based items, increasing on the idea behind Frequent Hours,” Keating continues. “As at all times, our foremost focus is composition: distinctive fabrications from main European mills, translated by way of deceptively easy silhouettes that conceal advanced, meticulous development.”
As for what compelled the designer to hitch The Frontier? “We’re all Australian manufacturers coping with distance, danger, and numerous impediments and points in taking part on this business,” she says. “But, we share a compulsion to create and make. I prefer to assume we will assist one another and the broader Australian style business.”
