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| ADP dancer Jahna Lugnan performing in "Off the Fringes" during the opening night fashion spectacular. |
Presented by Australian Dance Party, and Kelli Studio as part of the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival, supported by ACT Government and the Canberra Institute of Technology. Cr
Presented at CIT Woden Campus November 6 & 7, 2026.
Evening Spectacular, November 6th Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS
Building on its highly successful launch at The Vault last year, the event this year was staged over two days at the CIT Woden Campus.
The first evening of the festival was devoted to a lavish
fashion spectacular, which began with an inspiring presentation by Australian
fashion icon, Linda Jackson AO.
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| Fashion design icon Linda Jackson AO addressing the audience during the opening night fashion spectacular. |
Jackson reminisced about the circumstances leading to the establishment of Flamingo Park Fashion with her design partner, Jenny Kee, and how that partnership led to them becoming acclaimed pioneers of Australian fashion. Her talk was presented in front of stunning film footage of garments and fabric designs which led to that acclamation.
A centrepiece of the evening was a new dance work, “Off the Fringes”,
choreographed especially for the festival by Australian Dance Party Artistic Director,
Alison Plevey.
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| ADP dancer Gabriel Sinclair performing in "Off the Fringes" during the opening night fashion spectacular. |
Performed by ADP dancers, Ashlee Bye, Gabriel Sinclair, Jahna Lugnan and Max Burgess, costumed by Kelli Donovan and performing to an exotic soundscape performed live by Sia Ahmad, the work commenced with the dancers costumed in drab boiler suits, moving as though depressed.
The mood changed however when the boiler suits were
discarded to reveal Donovan’s spectacular jewel-coloured creations, to which the
dancers responded with cleverly choreographed lyrical movement suggesting a mood
reaction to their clothes.
That idea was further enhanced by a third costume change which
heralded a delightful segment during which each of the dancers returned to the
stage to describe, with amusing, heightened gestures, the rescued garments they
were wearing, and what those garments meant to them.
For Jahna it was her black tee shirt, worn over bright red
pants, which represented her attachment to Canberra. For bare-chested Gabriel,
it was his black tracky daks with “a hole in the knee and a split in the crutch”.
Max was proud of the singlet top, prized because of an adjustment by a friend. For Ashlee it was her elegant ombre silk dress, made with love by her Aunt-in-law, particularly
treasured because of its concealed pockets.
Having neatly established the raison d’etre for the festival,
the dancers vacated the stage amid appreciative applause, to music played by on
a wooden accordion-like instrument by Sia Ahmad, who had joined them on stage.
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| Models displaying circular fashion during the opening night fashion spectacular |
Then commenced the main event. A spectacular fashion parade demonstrating the endless possibilities of recycling discarded garments and materials, with more than sixty models showcasing the inventive creations of twelve participating design houses.
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| Modelling circular fashion during the opening night fashion spectacular |
The parade commenced with garments by Corella & Crow, followed by Dissonance, Saloon, Fia Lucia, the Green Shed, Neo3DT, Treerose Revival, Magenta Fox, Harry’s Clarry, Blak Label Dreaming, Keli Studio and Linda Jackson.
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| Modelling a Linda Jacson creation during the opening night fashion spectacular |
The event ended with all the models retaking the floor to provide one last look at their modelled garments, before inviting guests to join them on the dancefloor, or take opportunity to revisit the many stalls and seek out favourite pieces spotted during the parade, having whetted their appetite for the myriad events scheduled for the rest of the festival.
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| Party time following the opening night fashion spectacular Photos by O&J Wikner Photography. |
