A RESTOSPECTIVE: AFW26

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Long after the final look leaves the runway, fashion week lingers in the details. Months later, what remains is not simply the memory of collections under lights, but the people arriving, the movement between venues, the conversations, the confidence and the unmistakable sense that style was happening everywhere at once.

Cantabrian Magazine attended Australian Fashion Week as the only official magazine delegate, with Rohan Chakrabarti on the ground in Sydney reporting directly back to CM throughout the week. For an independent New Zealand publication, it was a meaningful position to hold and an opportunity to experience one of Australasia’s most important fashion events from within the industry rather than at a distance.

What stands out in retrospect is the professionalism of the entire experience. Australian Fashion Week was polished without feeling rigid, highly produced without losing its energy and exceptionally well supported across media, hospitality, transport, beauty and event infrastructure. Shark Beauty returned as presenting partner, with Destination NSW alongside a wider group of supporters including Uber Black, Afterpay, City of Sydney, DHL, eBay Australia, Epson, NIVEA and ST. ALi Coffee. Their presence helped shape a week that allowed the industry to move well and, more importantly, allowed the fashion to remain the focus.

Our favourite runway moment was AFW The Edit presented by NIVEA, a presentation that understood exactly where fashion sits now. Featuring Australian labels including AJE Studio, Anna Quan, Bec + Bridge, Bondi Born, Friends with Frank, Henne, M.J. Bale, Romy, Silk Laundry and Two.One, the show had an immediacy that felt fresh. The clothes were directional, desirable and wearable, with a clarity that made the runway feel connected to the wardrobe rather than removed from it.

There will always be room for fantasy in fashion, but there is equal power in seeing a look and immediately understanding how it could live beyond the show. The Edit delivered that balance beautifully. It was stylish, considered and shoppable, which gave it a relevance that stayed with us long after the final look.

Yet the most compelling fashion of the week was not confined to the runway.

The street style had its own authority. Editors, stylists, designers, photographers, creatives and guests arrived with a clear sense of self, and the spaces outside the shows became a second stage. Tailoring was reworked, vintage sat comfortably beside new-season pieces and colour, proportion and texture were worn with confidence rather than caution.

That was where Myles Kalus’ lens became so important.

His street photography captures more than clothing. It captures posture, pace, expression and that fraction of a second when a look becomes entirely personal. For this retrospective, his images are not secondary to the runway coverage. They are the pulse of the people and, in many ways, the clearest expression of what made the week feel alive.

The runway gives us a designer’s vision. The street shows us what happens once fashion is absorbed, interpreted and made individual. That exchange between industry and wearer felt particularly strong this year and became one of the defining impressions CM brought home from Sydney.

Rohan’s coverage also extended into the conversations surrounding the shows, including Style-ish: Live on the Lawn, hosted by Anika Joshi-Smith and Naima Fatema. Those discussions reflected the broader direction of contemporary fashion, where beauty, media, commerce, culture, technology and brand identity now sit naturally beside the clothes themselves.

That wider context matters. Fashion week is no longer only about what appears on a runway. It is about how fashion moves through culture, how brands create relevance, how media interprets the moment and how audiences ultimately choose to wear what they see.

From a New Zealand perspective, Australian Fashion Week also reinforced the confidence of an industry that understands its own character. Australian fashion is strongest when it embraces its particular mix of ease, polish, climate and attitude rather than looking elsewhere for permission. The best moments of the week carried that confidence effortlessly.

Perhaps that is why The Edit and the street style resonated so strongly with us. Both felt current without trying too hard, aspirational without becoming remote and stylish without sacrificing personality.

Australian Fashion Week 2026 may now sit behind us, but the collections remain available to revisit. Readers can explore the official Australian Fashion Week website for a full recap of the programme and to watch the shows online.

For Cantabrian Magazine, this retrospective is also a thank you to Australian Fashion Week for welcoming CM as an official delegate, to the sponsors and partners who helped create such a polished professional experience, to Rohan Chakrabarti for reporting from Sydney throughout the week and to Myles Kalus, whose photographs captured the energy that existed beyond the runway.

We went to Australian Fashion Week to see what was happening on the runway, but looking back, some of the most compelling fashion was already walking towards it.

Photography: Myles Kalus

Australian Fashion Week correspondent for Cantabrian Magazine: Rohan Chakrabarti

Visit the official Australian Fashion Week website to revisit the 2026 shows and full programme recap.That opening now feels much more aligned with the rest of the piece: polished, retrospective and fashion-led.