VAMFF: The Changing Architecture of a Fashion Festival

VAULT reflects on the Cultural Program of the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival, an event helping shift fashion’s cultural parameters.

By Laura Gardner APR 2015

The opening scenes of Gianluca Migliarotti’s 2014 film E poi c’è Napoli (And Then There’s Naples) trail on the coattails of an impeccably dressed figure, following him from the subway to emerge under the lofty domes and open sky of the city of Naples. Oscillating between stone, sky and cloth, the sequence forges a symbolic image of the city known for its sartorial culture. The film is a portrait that journeys through a city that embraces fashion, and it was just one of the films on show as part of the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival (VAMFF), which descended on Melbourne during March.

Like Naples, Melbourne has its own sartorial traditions. Now in its 13th year, VAMFF’s Cultural Program has reached an impressive scale, with events covering exhibition, film, performance and writing. The festival, which ran from March 14 to 22, presents an increasingly dynamic format for an event of its kind, inviting local and international creatives – such as filmmakers, designers, artists, writers and curators – to participate via a range of events.

This year’s program was diverse, and saw fashion objects morph across an array of contexts. Sitting alongside runway events and the festival’s Business Events Series, the program’s role was that of bridging a crucial gap between industry and public audiences. Some of the key events included the Fashion Film Series, the Project Series, the Offsite Runway Series and the newly added ... Subscribe to read this article in full

IMALENNOX STACMIACCA MelbourneMCA Roslyn Oxley Gallery