L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2011

Next month, I’ll be boarding a plane for Australia’s fashion capital, Melbourne to attend L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, the world’s largest consumer fashion event, taking place from March 14-20.

Taking place in March each year, Fashion Festival differs from Rosemount Australian Fashion Week (held in Sydney) in that it is open to the public, which makes a great difference from exclusivity of a lot of Fashion Weeks and fashion events.  Established in 1996 as a not for profit organisation, LMFF showcases the autumn/winter collections on the runway and inspires the public to celebrate and support Australian design talent.

LMFF sets an unrivalled level of public engagement in fashion whilst providing invaluable support to the Australian fashion industry. In 2010 the Festival attracted over 420,000 attendees, more than 300 fashion brands and designers participated, and host of local and international celebrities and industry leaders from all over the world. There was over 5000 downloads of runway footage from the media portal in countries including USA, UK, Japan, Russia and Italy.

Newly appointed LMFF Creative Director Grant Pearce, also Editorial Director of Conde Nast Asia Pacific, says, “LMFF is one of the most unique Festivals in the world not only because of the sheer scale of the events but also because of its high standard of production, calibre of guests and quality of designers.”

Actress Melissa George (Home & Away, Grey’s Anatomy, and star of films The Amityville Horror and Derailed) has been announced as the ‘Face of the Festival’ and will be attending the festival in March, and is also the star of the 2011 LMFF campaign.  Other high profile guests attending include Jefferson Hack, founder and Editorial Director of Dazed Group – a true icon in fashion media, and pioneer in the fields of fashion journalism, film, photography, television and digital media.

Once again, the L’Oreal Paris Runway Shows will be a highlight of the week, showcasing the best Australian designers (and two top NZ designers, Karen Walker and Kate Sylvester) in a series of seven group shows.  But not only about runway shows, LMFF also features a beauty workshop, various forums and industry business forums and seminars: The LMFF Business Seminar and  The Herald Sun Marketing Breakfast  where leading fashion and retail business figures will speak on integral topics such as branding and marketing.  A highlight of the Business Seminar will be speaker Jefferson Hack, founder of the seminal British pop culture publication, Dazed and Confused, whose empire now includes Dazed Digital, Another Magazine and Another Man.

LMFF will also host the presentation of Australia’s most prestigious fashion award for emerging talent, the LMFF Designer Award presented by Woolmark.  The award recognises designers in their first five years of business, who excel in creative design, quality and show potential for growth within the industry. The winner receives a prize to the value of $20,000, including $10,000 cash and a trip to attend either Premiere Vision (Paris) or Pitti Filati (Florence).

Two new events to the Festival program include the launch event, Fashion Full Stop, presented by David Jones and L’Oréal Paris which will open LMFF in spectacular style.  Fashion Full Stop will celebrate decades of Australian fashion and music, and the highly anticipated Red Carpet Runway featuring King of the Corset Alex Perry who will showcase his summer 2011 collection at his first ever runway show in Melbourne.

So if you're planning a trip to Australia's fashion capital March is the perfect time to go.  Tickets are still available, and ticketing information is available here. I’m off for a look at what the Aussies have to offer for winter, and to hopefully squeeze in some shopping for the essentials – boots and a coat (ok and the non-essentials too), and to experience what this vibrant city has to offer.  As I’m sure you know, Melbourne is not only renowned for its fashion and shopping but also its food and wine – both which come a close second to fashion and shopping as my favourite things!

I’m flying Pacific Blue to Melbourne:  Pacific Blue offers direct flights from Auckland and Christchurch to Melbourne. Book your Premium Economy or Economy fare at flypacificblue.com