The fashion festival has kicked off with a blast of colour, and a blast from the past from pioneering designer Linda Jackson.
The Melbourne Fashion Festival's opening-night Joywear runway featured Jackson's signature vibrant prints, some of which dated to the early 1980s.
Joywear was a fabulous theme for a runway show, said Melbourne-born Jackson, who watched from the front row with friends and family.
"It's a big celebration in that way for me as well, and very special," she said.
The festival is marking its 30th year with a 15-day program of more than 100 events including a dozen "premium" runway shows, for which tickets start about $100.
At the Royal Exhibition Building, Nixi Killick's psychedelic designs, favoured by celebrities including Lady Gaga, epitomised the high colour of the Joywear runway.
As the 1992 dance classic Rhythm Is A Dancer blasted from the speakers, the label showed fluorescent bodysuits and minidresses made for the dancefloor - or bush doof.
"My core ethos is about colour and joy, dressing to express," Killick said.
"I refuse to believe that Melbourne is solely about wearing black, there's the whole spectrum of the rainbow here."
Gary Bigeni presented blue-green silver knits paired with pink metallic outerwear, and for men, flowing suiting - in lime green.
Romance Was Born featured the floaty sleeves and balloon skirting the label is so well known for, plus stand-out dresses crafted from columns of cut-out hearts, each line descending into a fringe.
From local label Fool Clothing, vibrant knits were combined with high-sheen fabrics in saturated colours, - even a trench coat was rendered in high chroma green and orange.
New York fashion designer Prabal Gurung was also in the Joywear front row, and said on Monday that runway shows were about community, and encouraging emerging designers.
"In an industry that moves at lightning speed, that kind of platform is everything, I've always believed that fashion should not exist behind closed doors," he said.
"Only festivals like this, open, public, accessible, remind us that style is for everyone."
The festival's ticket sales grew by 32 per cent in 2025, and the event has so far seen double-digit growth in 2026, festival chief executive Caroline Ralphsmith said.
