Another year has come and gone, but not without its memorable moments for the Australian fashion scene, plus our figureheads’ impact on the global industry as a whole.
Whether it was prestigious labels going under or home-grown models gaining international recognition both on and off the runway, we really did experience serious highs and serious lows during 2015. Scroll through below to see what made headlines for down under’s forever fast-paced industry.
1. Aussie models made it big in Hollywood.
Megan Gale, Abbey Lee and Courtney Eaton all appeared in Max Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, with Abbey and Courtney both going on to roles in Gods of Egypt as well.
Meanwhile, Teresa Palmer is having her best year yet, Phoebe Tonkin is killing it on The Originals, and life as Ruby Rose knew it was over when she sexually awakened the world with one wink on Orange Is the New Black.
Photo: Getty
2. Target announced two major designer collaborations.
Dion Lee lent his design expertise to the department store, which included his first ever activewear capsule, and Jean Paul Gaultier was announced for a Target collab to be released early 2016.
Photo courtesy of Target
3. Myer got competitive.
After ditching Laura Dundovic, taking on Rachael Finch and adding Aje to its stable, Myer also signed on to a partnership with Topshop due to bad sales.
Photo: Getty
4. David Jones also got a revamp.
By changing its ways to appeal to the cool kids, including a music video with Daniel Johns, an underground concert, new ambassador Jesinta Campbell, new labels, including Studio.W and RE: Denim, we hardly recognise the department store anymore.
Photo: Youtube
5. The war between the leading department stores was real.
Jessica Mauboy missed her Melbourne Cup performance after it was believed that she didn’t want to wear a pair of Myer shoes, the race’s official sponsor, preferring a pair from David Jones instead. Aurelio Costarella also swapped from Myer to David Jones this year.
Photo: Getty
6. Gigi Hadid became the face of Seafolly.
She joined the likes of Miranda Kerr, Jessica Hart and Martha Hunt by landing the coveted gig.
Image: @seafollyaustralia
7. Fashion Bloggers signed on for another season.
Season 2 saw Nadia Fairfax replace Margaret Zhang in a very smooth transition.
Photo: E!
8. Bridget Malcolm joined the Victoria’s Secret family.
In a “dream come true” for the blonde beauty, Perth-born Bridget made her VS runway debut alongside regular Shanina Shaik.
Photo: Getty
9. Lara Bingle, Robyn Lawley, Nicole Trunfio, Nadia Bartel and Kyly Clarke all gave birth to their first children.
Lara welcomed Rocket with Sam Worthington, Robyn welcomed Ripley with Everest Schmidt, Nicole welcomed Zion with Gary Clark Jr., Nadia welcomed Aston James with Jimmy Bartel and Kyly welcomed Kelsey Lee with Michael Clarke.
Photo: Instagram
10. Josh Goot went into voluntary administration.
Hearts around the country broke a little when Josh Goot put his eponymous line into voluntary administration, only to emerge and regain control a little over a month later.
Photo courtesy of Josh Goot
11. Miley Cyrus seriously pissed off DI$COUNT UNIVER$E.
When sequins and eye motifs showed up on Miley’s outfit for a 2015 VMAs performance, the Melbourne-based label suggested that the controversial singer ripped off its designs. It was unfortunate, considering both Miley and her stylist have worked with the Aussie brand numerous times before.
Photos: Getty
12. Bonds celebrated 100 years.
With Iggy Azalea announced as an ambassador for the milestone year, though, fans threatened to boycott the iconic brand altogether.
Image courtesy of Bonds
13. Fernanda Ly emerged.
From walking Louis Vuitton to fronting Teen Vogue, it was a good year to be pink-haired Fernanda.
Photo: IMAXTree
14. Yasmin Sewell landed a gig at Style.com.
The Être Cécile designer was announced as fashion director at the recently closed Style.com, giving us faith that the relaunch was in trusted hands with the Aussie fashion muse.
Photo: WENN
15. Jessika Allen sold JETS Swimwear.
JETS founder Jessika Allen and her husband, Adrian Allen, sold their company to the PAS Group after over a decade slaying the local and international swimwear category.
Photo: Getty
16. MBFWA became a game changer.
Fashion Week Australia will become the first annual, organised presentation of Resortwear after it announced a change in collections and timings.
Photo: Josephine Willcox for theFashionSpot
17. Nicole Trunfio’s breastfeeding cover made worldwide headlines.
For good reason, Nicole’s ELLE Australia cover shot with her son, Zion, received global recognition. Nicole quickly became the poster girl for normalising breastfeeding after that, continuously posting images and discussing the topic on social media.
Photos: ELLE Australia
18. Sass & Bide couldn’t catch a break.
After Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke’s departure from Sass & Bide in 2014, things were finally looking up when design director Anthony Cuthbertson showed the Fall 2015 at London Fashion Week. The excitement was short-live when he announced his departure from the brand just four months later, handing it over to Therese Rawsthorne.
Photo: WENN
19. We housed many, many international celebrities.
Cara Delevingne came to promote Paper Towns, Nicole Richie for the Golden Slipper, Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin for Hillsong, Giuliana Rancic for the ASTRAs, Kendall and Kylie for Forever New, Gigi Hadid for Guess, Khloe Kardashian for Kardashian Kids, Poppy Delevingne and Henry Holland for MRP, Coco Rocha for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival Sydney, Suzy Menkes for XX, Whitney Port for Priceline, Joan Smalls for Studio.W,
On top of all that, Taylor Swift finished the last leg of her 1989 tour here but didn’t bring out any special guests.
Photo: Ashely Mar for theFashionSpot
20. Collette Dinnigan launched a retrospective.
The esteemed Aussie designer celebrated 25 years in the fashion industry with a retrospective exhibition in Sydney. It’s running through until August 2016 if you’re interested.
Photo: supplied
21. Ellery went onto the Paris Fashion Week schedule for the first time.
While Perth designer Kym Ellery had shown her signature billowing silhouettes during Paris Fashion Week for four seasons, she was finally asked to make her debut on the Chambre Syndicale’s official schedule. She really needed some good news after someone crashed her opening show for MBFWA earlier in the year.
Photo: Monica Feudi/Ellery
22. We realised the issues with activewear.
Aussie comedy trio Skitbox made us reassess our social values with the release of “Activewear”, immediately going viral because so, so many of us can relate.
Photo: Youtube
23. Cody Simpson was part of Mario Testino’s first ever Towel Series couple.
Posing with then-girlfriend Gigi, Cody and the model got a pretty funny reaction for posing in Marion Testino’s first ever couple shot for his esteemed Towel Series. Unfortunately this year also saw the young golden couple break up, ruining the possibility of Gigi spending every Christmas down under for the rest of her life.
Photo: Instagram
24. The world wore beanies for brain cancer.
Carrie Bickmore brought attention to brain cancer, the disease which claimed her husband’s life, with her Logies 2015 acceptance speech, asking everyone to wear beanies in support. The result was something else.
Photo: Channel 9
25. Andreja Pejic became the first transgender model to be featured in Vogue
The Melbourne-raised model made history by landing a four-page editorial in U.S. Vogue.
image via VOGUE/Patrick Demarchelier
