There’s so much more to VAMFF, or the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival, than what happens on the runways.

Sure, as Australia’s largest fashion event, a great deal of VAMFF’s grandiose appeal is found in its commitment to celebrating the greatest fashion of the moment live and in the round. VAMFF, however, also offers audiences a remarkably diverse Arts and Ideas program that is well worth immersing yourself in – one that extrapolates on many of the themes that are shaping the industry in ways both largely evident and often nearly imperceptible.

‘Innovation’ is the central thrust of the exhaustive VAMFF Ideas program on offer; many of the events included therein engage with ideas of sustainability, the changing role of technology and evolving attitudes toward gender roles, with some events often taking place at the intersection of all three. Likewise, the VAMFF Arts program seeks to survey the state of an industry caught in a perpetual state of flux that finds it constantly shifting between perspectives both past, present and future.

Below, swipe left to take a look at six must-see major exhibitions and affiliated talks taking place as part of VAMFF.

Official VAMFF proceedings begin March 1 and the Runway program will come to a close with the GRAZIA x VAMFF Runway Show on Saturday March 10. We’re staging the festival’s closing show as an homage to the work of Australia’s most covetable contemporary designers, as seen styled in the pages – both on and offline – of GRAZIA, and you’re invited.

Tickets for the GRAZIA x VAMFF Runway Show are limited and available to purchase now. More information on the show, Runway 7, is available here.

 

Tile image: Courtesy ©Iris van Herpen and Team Peter Stigter and NGV Australia
Cover image: Courtesy © Guo Pei and NGV Australia