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By day three of Australian Fashion Week, momentum was still alive and well. Wednesday’s schedule leaned heavily into texture, tactility and clothes designed to showcase fabrication.
At ESSE, we saw a masterclass in restrained dressing, proving that precision and polish can still feel warm and accessible. Elsewhere, NAGNATA transformed a Darlinghurst warehouse into an immersive ode to fibre, movement and spirituality, complete with dancers, wool bales and the debut of the brand’s first-ever bags.
What emerged across the day was a broader shift within Australian fashion towards intentionality. Whether through craftsmanship, sustainability, or simply a sharper sense of identity, these designers seemed less interested in chasing trends and more focused on offering something that endures.
Read on for our favourite shows from the day.
AFW DAY THREE
ESSE
With no shortage of clothing in the world, ESSE Studios showed us what it means to dress with intention. For her latest presentation, The ESSE Editions, founder Charlotte Hicks rejected the noise and churn of trend culture in favour of something more enduring: clothes designed to actually live in.
Hicks described the collection as a response to fashion’s obsession with speed and visibility, drawing inspiration from the dandy’s relationship to restraint and control. That thinking carried through every element of the show. The room itself was pared back, with Jessica Steuart-Hoyler‘s elegant styling and Yu Mei’s timeless accessories allowing the precision of the clothes to take focus. Tailoring was elongated and structured without feeling severe; draped jersey, fluid separates, and sharply cut outerwear moved with assurance.
What made the collection resonate was its clarity of purpose. Rather than delivering disconnected runway moments aimed at pleasing the shifting masses, Hicks approached the lineup as an evolving wardrobe system in which pieces are designed to build upon one another over time. “Nothing exists without purpose,” she told GRAZIA. “At the centre of it all is the woman herself, not as a character, but as a presence. Everything is considered in relation to her, the way she moves, the way she holds herself and the space she occupies.”
NAGNATA
In a sunlit studio in Darlinghurst, NAGNATA turned a raw space into a runway for the unveiling of Movement 21, titled FUTURE = FIBRE. With this collection, co-founder Laura May Gibbs expanded the brand’s ongoing conversation about natural materials, grounding it in the idea that “what we put on our skin matters”, she explained to GRAZIA.
The show opened with dancers moving through the space in hypnotic repetition, activating the seamless knitwear through stretches, spirals and flowing gestures as Gary Sinclair’s meditative soundscape pulsed around the room. Wool bales stamped with Nagnata mantras lined the set, reinforcing the collection’s focus on fibre, tactility and connection to the planet.
On the runway, the label’s signature studio-to-street codes evolved into something sharper and more refined, but still just as effortless. Knit tailoring softened traditional structure, vegetable-dyed denim added texture and depth, while layered ribbed separates and jerseys retained the ease that has become central to the brand’s appeal. Keeping with this sentiment, EVERAU footwear grounded the looks with a relaxed practicality that complemented the collection’s quietly earthy mood.
Perhaps the most notable development, however, was the introduction of NAGNATA bags. Crafted in denim and designed with the same focus on longevity and material consciousness as the clothing, the latest offering felt like a natural extension of the brand’s growing universe.
