Australian fashion week 2023: Denni Francisco to be first Indigenous designer to hold solo show
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Loading... - Khalish Jasmay
- 22 Mar 2023
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For the first time in Australian fashion week’s 23-year history, an Indigenous Australian designer will hold a standalone show.
Denni Francisco of Indigenous clothing label Ngali said it was “exciting, exhilarating and a little bit terrifying” to be holding her first solo show at the event, which takes place from 15 to 19 May.
“When you’re the first at doing something it comes with a degree of responsibility,” she said at the event’s schedule launch. “There are cultural elements that come with everything we do, so it’s not just the creativity, it’s about ensuring it all comes together in a culturally appropriate way.”
Francisco, a proud Wiradjuri woman, has twice won designer of the year at the National Indigenous Fashion Awards. It will also be her third time showing at Australian fashion week, after featuring as one of six designers on the Indigenous Fashion Projects runway in 2021 and 2022.
Francisco said although a standalone show is a much larger undertaking for the brand (she will be displaying 30 looks rather than the six to eight looks typically shown by a designer in a group show), it will still be a collective effort. “We’re already talking to the First Nations accessory designers and looking at what we can do with them. Read More…
