Melbourne Fashion Week Opens With the Ganbu Marra Runway

Melbourne Fashion Week opened its latest edition in a gallery, not a marquee. The festival's first runway went up on Monday night inside the National Gallery of Victoria, where the ganbu marra runway brought ten First Nations designers and labels onto the floor of Gandel Hall. It is the first time the week has opened at the NGV, and the choice put First Nations design at the very front of the city's biggest fashion occasion.

A First Nations opening night

Ganbu marra means "one mob" in Woi Wurrung, and the ganbu marra runway lived up to the name. The lineup gathered Atyene Clothing, Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, Ebony Noire, Kaninda, Marnin Studio, OUT OF HAND x Lisa Waup, Rowland Vision, Saretta The Label, Van Ermel Scherer and Yapa Mali, a mix of emerging names and established studios. Styling came from Lindyn Rowland, the festival's First Nations creative director, who treated the night as an emotional experience as much as a fashion show.

The clothes on the ganbu marra runway moved between softness and sharpness. Billowing printed silk resortwear from Van Ermel Scherer, Saretta The Label and Yapa Mali opened the night on a gentle note, all flowing fabric and easy color. Then the tempo changed. The Rowland Vision segment arrived with sunglasses, suave suiting and flashes of cobalt under strobe lighting, with Charli xcx's track "House" filling Gandel Hall. Ebony Noire closed the show by setting traditional materials, croc leather and fur pelts, against a streetwear edge. Speaking to Style Up before the show, Rowland said he wanted people to feel the runway before they tried to make sense of it. Among the lineup was Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, the reigning National Indigenous Fashion Award winner, a detail that underlined how much weight the night carried.

Why the NGV matters

The festival is now in its 32nd year, but this is the first edition to open inside the NGV. The venue gives the week a different kind of authority, since clothes read differently under a stained-glass ceiling than they do in a convention hall. Presented by the City of Melbourne, the festival runs from 19 to 25 October with seven runways and more than a hundred events across the city, many of them free. Opening-night tickets for the ganbu marra runway ranged from $99 to $199, and the runway was followed by drinks and canapes to mark the official start of the week.

The crowd came dressed

The opening night turned the gallery forecourt into a second show. Guests gathered on a balmy evening in front of the NGV's waterfall and bluestone walls, and the street style held its own against the runway. Oversized shirts met bermuda shorts, statement skirts turned heads, and structured suits came in rich ruby tones, according to Broadsheet's report from the night. Turquoise ran through the accessories: faux-fur clutches, structured shoulder bags, suede heels and layered beaded necklaces, while silky draped dresses offered a bold take on the ocean tone. Broadsheet's opening-night gallery captured the looks as guests arrived.

For the designers on the program, the ganbu marra runway has become one of the most visible stages for First Nations fashion in Australia, a place where cultural storytelling and contemporary design sit side by side. Van Ermel Scherer's designer, Verity Van Ermel Scherer, told Style Up that the show was her label's first appearance on a Melbourne Fashion Week runway, and that the moment felt significant for the brand. The night's booking carried a message of its own: the week's most prominent slot went to First Nations designers.

The choice of opener says something about where Australian fashion is heading. For years, fashion weeks around the world have treated an Indigenous runway as a side event, scheduled early in the day and easy to skip. Putting the ganbu marra runway first, inside the city's most visited gallery, reverses that order. The message reaches beyond Melbourne, too: young designers watching from interstate saw that cultural storytelling and commercial polish are no longer treated as opposites.

The week now runs through Sunday, with runways, talks, exhibitions, workshops and independent events filling venues across the city. Fashion Journal, reporting from the ganbu marra runway, called it one of the most anticipated nights on the program. If the opening set the theme, it was the festival's own: wear the moment. Melbourne's fashion week is telling its audience to stop saving the good jacket for a special occasion.