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‘It’s about life and dance and colour’: inclusivity still in fashion on Australian runways

Amid a backslide in the industry’s commitment to body and age diversity, at Australian fashion week some designers are taking a different approach to casting

Now her clientele reads like a roll call of Australia’s female creative class: producers, artists, chefs and writers, including Saskia Havekes, the director of Potts Point florist Grandiflora, who took to the runway this week. Mathews joins a long list of designers at Australian fashion week who platform their communities by casting their friends, clients and collaborators in shows – including Alix Higgins, Nicol & Ford, Jordan Gogos, Gary Bigeni and Romance Was Born – the last of which is celebrating 20 years in business. Photograph: Jason McCawley/Getty ImagesIn an industry often characterised as aloof and self-serious, fostering a warm and welcoming atmosphere on and off the runway feels forward-looking – a necessary departure from a tradition of closed doors and exclusivity that has long been critiqued as superficial and unattainable.

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