First Nations fashion back on the runway in Sydney

First Nations Fashion and Design (FNFD) returned to the runway in Sydney on Sunday night with Reclamation, an independent showcase timed for the eve of Australian fashion week.

The event marked the collective’s first runway show in four years, presented with an all-Indigenous cast of models.

Key Points

The Sunday night presentation brought the organisation back to live runway programming after a four-year hiatus. FNFD described the event as the first step in a re-energised approach to showcasing Indigenous design at scale and on its own terms.

The format was conceived to showcase Indigenous-led creativity across design, modelling and performance. The runway emphasised a unified presentation, culminating in closing performances that extended the show’s cultural focus beyond garments and into spoken word and music.

“Reclamation was never designed to fit comfortably within the existing fashion system. It was designed to challenge it, expand it, and ensure that our voices are not invited in temporarily, but embedded permanently within the future of Australian fashion,” FNFD founder Grace Lillian Lee told the Guardian.

The collective said Reclamation featured the work of six Indigenous brands and designers. FNFD assembled an all-Indigenous cast of models to present the collections, underscoring the event’s focus on Indigenous-led authorship across the runway.

The show concluded with live performances by rapper Barkaa and poet Luke Currie-Richardson. Their appearances closed the programme and were positioned as part of the event’s creative narrative, connecting the runway to poetry and hip-hop as complementary expressions.

FNFD’s run-of-show maintained a focus on collective representation, identifying the platform as an opportunity to gather multiple Indigenous voices within a single, high-visibility production. The six-brand format, paired with the all-Indigenous cast, underlined that approach.

FNFD used the occasion to announce that Reclamation is intended to become an annual runway platform for Indigenous designers, operating outside the industry’s formal structures. The organisation positioned this planned cadence as a commitment to continuity rather than one-off inclusion.

Reclamation’s return after four years, its six-designer format, and the all-Indigenous cast provided the framework FNFD described for elevating Indigenous creative leadership. The inclusion of Barkaa and Luke Currie-Richardson as closing performers further tied the runway to contemporary Indigenous cultural expression, rounding out a programme presented as holistic and self-defined.