What Is The Future Of Fashion?

Coronavirus has forced fashion weeks around the globe to cancel, postpone or go digital, and backlash is brewing against hyper-excess. Clare Press asks where the industry will head next

- Clare Press

May 11, 2020, is one of those perfectly beautiful autumn days: crisp enough for a coat, but sunny with turquoise skies. Sydney Harbour is probably gleaming. Not that I’d know. Like most of my peers in the Australian fashion industry, I’m working from home. In a parallel world, one without the threat of COVID-19, we would have gathered today overlooking the water to attend the opening show of the 25th Australian fashion week.

That spot on the schedule was reserved for Aje designers Edwina Forest and Adrian Norris. They’d planned to present “a visual and sensory” feast at the historic Coal Loader site in North Sydney. Aje is known for delivering impressive runway moments. In 2018, they showed in artist Wendy Whiteley’s garden with a collection featuring prints based on late husband Brett Whiteley’s paintings, and last year 700 guests attended Aje’s show at The Rocks.

“I’ve always felt the runway provides a visceral experience that only a physical show can bring,” says Forest. But as Australia’s social distancing measures ramped up, it became obvious they could not proceed this year. “We felt disappointed but not disenchanted,” she says. “We could immediately rationalise the ‘why’, and although we were deep into the production and design processes, it didn’t hinder the collection.”

Forest, who gave birth to a baby girl in March, hopes for gains from this pause. “Perhaps our industry needs this space and time to recalibrate; to decide what this new era for fashion shows can look and feel like in the future,” she says.