David Jones Indigenous Fashion Projects runway

All the highlights from the David Jones Indigenous Fashion Projects runway

Five Indigenous-led labels have made their Fashion Week debut.

Senior Content ProducerGeorgia Weir

Last night five First Nations fashion designers gathered to make their stunning Australian Fashion Week debut for the David Jones Indigenous Fashion Projects (IFP) Runway. Under the motif of ‘In Relation Way’, five Indigenous labels weaved stories of legacy, matriarchy, honour, connection, arrival, and Country into their breathtaking collections.

This year, the 2024 cohort of the Indigenous Fashion Projects included men’s swimwear label, GALI Swimwear; women’s swimwear brand, Ihraa Swim; ready-to-wear menswear label, JOSEPH & JAMES; lingerie favourite, Lazy Girl Lingerie; and womenswear from art and lifestyle brand, Miimi & Jiinda.

Founded by the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) Foundation in 2020, the IFP Pathways Program is a two-year fashion program in partnership with David Jones. The program fosters and mentors emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander designers as they foray into the fashion industry.

“We are looking forward to a beautiful runway for 2024,” said Indigenous Fashion Projects Manager, Michelle Maynard. “As our designers present their new collections, their stories are woven together inspired by land and waters, memory, culture and our people. Our show brings together our way of being, In Relation Way.”

Guests included fashion mainstays like Bianca Spender, Edwina McCann and Jessica Rowe as well as other media personalities such as Julie Bishop, Adam Goodes, Budjerah, Narelda Jacobs and Brooke Boney.