Melbourne Fashion Week: Whats Happening this Spring!

Melbourne Spring Fashion Week, like all good consumer events, has something to suit every taste. This season, we don't feel like waiting for any one or thing, so instead of milling about at catwalk shows, we're recommending nothing but talks, exhibitions, instore events and novel ways of presenting fashion. You'll learn more, see more and best off all, won't be stuck standing in line for half the time.Business Series - If there's one thing we could do more of in fashion, it's think and talk critically and openly about the industry, and how we could go about improving it. The MSFW business series is a step in the right direction on this front. Starting at 7.00 today, tomorrow and on Wednesday, this year's talks are about social media, surviving turbulent times and the benefits of creativity, and they feature people from Russh, Vice and Marks and Spencer
Men of Fashion - ACMI are screening four documentaries over fashion week that pay homage to some of the industry's leading Y-chromosome possessing lights. Names on the bill include Paul Smith and Vidal Sassoon. Lost and Found Show - MATERIALBYPRODUCT are onto something no one else in Australia is doing. The label creates clothes that are breathtakingly subtle, beautiful, and constructed to exacting standards. Their two part presentation is going to be a demonstration of what fashion can be elevated to.  On Tuesday at 7.45pm. 
Spotlight Emerging Designer Series - This season, a lot of the most interesting fashion on show is, in one way or another, coming out of RMIT. There is a showcase of past grads like PAM, Arnsdorf, MATERIALBYPRODUCT and Toni Matecevski, while the Student Exhibition displays the best of the school's new batch. The emerging designer exhibition at 1000 Pound Bend also has a lot of names worth watching. All three exhibitions will be open through to the end of the weekend, with some lasting even longer.  Decade by Decade: Fashion through the twentieth century - Want to get up on your fashion history? The Centre for Adult Education is presenting an overview of the way fashion has changed and evolved over the past 100 years.
Melbourne's Most Fashionable Lunch - On Wednesday between 12.30 and 1.30, a pack of editors are going to sit down for a chat - at the invitation of Marie Claire - about fashion, trends, and what is to come. This is not a particularly unusual occurrence, but the fact that it is taking place in a shopping mall food court is. This one is invite-only, but you can win tickets. Pacific Women's Weaving Circle at Alphaville - Taking traditional weaving techniques and applying them in a modern fashion context, the Pacific Women's Weaving Circle will be taking over Alpha 60's Fitzroy store from Wednesday evening, employing some of the brand's signature fabrics to create new kinds of objects and artworks. The interaction of handicraft and design is a huge trend in the industry at the moment, one that makes fashion reconsider its sense of permanency and preciousness, and this interactive, live installation is going to show why tradition still matters. This event is part of Mis-Design, an auxiliary festival who are doing lots of other clever, interesting things during the week too.
Pastels: Marios 4 Fat - This year, Fat are taking their annual t-shirt exhibition to another level, using it as an opportunity to launch their new (and by all accounts pretty special) concept store. They've also enlisted longtime label-staple and Fat-friend Marios to create a few particularly impressive T's. As well as exhibiting interesting art works in fabric form, this is probably going to be the party of the week, and we're not just saying that because our name is on the invitation.The Up and Comers Fashion Market - Taking place over the weekend of MSFW the Up and Comers market (as the name suggests) features emerging fashion designers. It's a nice chance to pick up something before everyone else has it, and if you've got a good eye and the designer ends up doing well, you earn bragging rights for all eternity. Melbourne Spring Fashion Week After Parties - It wouldn't be fashion week (consumer or otherwise) if you weren't getting tibbled for free at least some of the time, fortunately Cointreau are happy to indulge you.