First Nations Fashion & Design Makes Historic Return with 'Reclamation' Runway Show

On Sunday night in Sydney, on the eve of Australian Fashion Week, First Nations Fashion and Design (FNFD) staged their first runway show in four years.

The show, titled Reclamation, featured the work of six Indigenous brands and designers with an all-Indigenous cast of models. The event closed with performances from rapper Barkaa and poet Luke Currie-Richardson.

FNFD founder Grace Lillian Lee announced the organization's plan to become an annual runway platform for Indigenous designers outside the industry's formal structures.

Lee stated:

"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."