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Australian College of the Arts is proud to continue its long-standing partnership with Melbourne Fashion Week, returning for a sixth year as Event Partner and M/FW Conversations Presenting Partner.
This year's theme, Wear the Moment, celebrates self expression and the inclusive spirit of M/FW, and across the week we're showing up with two programs of our own: M/FW Conversations and a brand new event, Atelier Collarts: Collcept.
In case you need convincing this is worth clearing your calendar for, here's the scale of Melbourne Fashion Week this year:
7 premium runways across the city
100+ events and sessions
300+ participating designers and retailers
Roughly 1,000 job opportunities created through delivering the event
The full program and tickets for Melbourne Fashion Week are available now.
Join us from 19-25 October as we celebrate the creativity, innovation and emerging talent shaping Australia’s fashion industry.
Why We Keep Coming Back to Melbourne Fashion Week
We first partnered with M/FW back in 2021, and the fit has only made more sense each year since. Melbourne Fashion Week has steadily made more room in its program for sustainable and independent fashion. That's exactly the space our Fashion & Sustainability and Fashion Marketing students are training to work in, so the timing has always lined up well.
Wear the Moment, this year's theme, is also a good match for how we think about fashion education. It's about self expression on your own terms rather than chasing a single trend, and that's the same thing we push our students towards: developing a point of view as designers and communicators instead of copying what's already out there. Being part of Melbourne Fashion Week gives our students and graduates a real platform to put that thinking into practice, in front of the industry and the public, not just for an assessment.
Atelier Collarts: Collcept
New for 2026, Atelier Collarts: Collcept is our contribution to M/FW's Independent Program running across two days at Fractal Gallery in Docklands. It brings together a curated sustainable fashion concept store, an exhibition and a live atelier program in one space, all built around work from our Fashion students, alumni and staff.
Friday night opens with a series of short films on sustainability, circularity and inclusive design, followed by a panel on scaling sustainable fashion with representatives from B-Corp certified brand ELK, nonprofit Thread Together, and our own Fashion & Sustainability team. From there, the exhibition launch and retail activation kick off for the evening.
Saturday is about getting hands on. Retail trading and designer consultations run all day, alongside two ticketed workshops:
Healing Stitch Mending Workshop, led by Callum Amor, a 2026 Collarts graduate and founder of Amend Amor. It's a visible mending session that treats small repairs as a form of storytelling, giving a damaged garment a second life instead of the bin. Bring your own piece, or work from a rack of clothing donated by Thread Together.
Creative Wearable Workshop, led by our Fashion & Sustainability faculty, where you'll turn a thrifted men's shirt into a one of a kind top on a sewing machine. No experience needed, all materials provided.
Atelier Collarts: Collcept runs across Friday 23 and Saturday 24 October at Fractal Gallery, 11 Aquitania Way, Docklands, as part of Melbourne Fashion Week's Independent Program.
M/FW Conversations
Another exciting addition to the partnership is M/FW Conversations, a series of panel discussions with people working at the sharp end of the fashion industry. This year's sessions cover what it actually takes to grow a fashion business, plus a conversation on how the industry represents women over 50, with Virginia Trioli, stylist Sally McKinnon and PR professional Kate Keane joining the discussion.
It's a program where the insight holds up whether you're a student, a working designer, or just someone who wants to understand the business side of fashion a bit better.
Also on the Program
Beyond our own events, Melbourne Fashion Week's 2026 program includes runways styled by some of the city's leading names in fashion, five themed Fashion Capsules running across Melbourne from 28 September to 25 October including dedicated First Nations, sustainable, student and bridal exhibits, and more than 30 independent events run by designers and creatives around the city. Worth building a full week around if you can.
Interested in Where Fashion Is Heading?
If workshops like Healing Stitch and Creative Wearable sound like your kind of Saturday, or a career figuring out how sustainable fashion actually gets made and sold appeals to you, our Fashion & Sustainability and Fashion Marketing programs are built around exactly that kind of thinking. Come say hello at Atelier Collarts: Collcept during Melbourne Fashion Week and see some of that work in person.