The Cream

Graduates across Australia vy for a spot in the Melbourne Fashion Festival’s annual showcase of future fashion. VoxFrock Rookies Paris Williment and Zoe Willis were there to wrap this inspiring 2026 crop of fashion’s most watched. Scroll down to meet the crew and click back daily for MFF updates by fashion’s future journalists and photographers.

Words: Paris “RATPARIS” Williment Photos: Zoe Willis

Anachronistic, whimsical storytelling; the unifying paradigm of MFF’s National Graduate Showcase.

Performed unabashedly, one epic fairytale after another radiated hope, whimsy, theatricality in their most shameless and ageless forms on the runway.

Caroline Caroline magnified Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Ana Kim made fierce and formidable funeral wear fit for the Baudelaire orphans.

And, perhaps most confounding of these fairytale references; Zhenzhen Hong somehow making pirate hats ‘in’.

The concept of sustainability was incorporated, without distracting from designers’ vision, in upcycled materials; wood, zip-ties, and Bryanah D’Costa’s film slide cloak, made for unforgettable fashion moments.

No designer, however, is doing unconventional materials quite like Jordan Williamson of Fantôme. His collection set the bar almost too high. I dare any designer, established or emerging, to try making kneepads and gardening gloves read as high fashion.

When Rose Guiffre was finally announced winner of the National Graduate Designer Award I felt an overwhelming sense of relief and pride.

I think we are all looking for those to put faith in, looking for reasons to hope for a more weird and wonderful future for fashion and I’m delighted to report, designers of the 2026 National Graduate Showcase delivered.

Meet the VoxFrockers

ZOE WILLIS, PHOTOGRAPHER
www.zoewillis.com.au Instagram: @zoerosephotos

Zoe graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Photography from RMIT and works in fashion and commercial photography. She is experienced in building and collaborating with creative teams for her own shoots and has assisted on campaigns for brands such as T2, Endota Spa and Seed.

PARIS “RATPARIS” WILLIMENT, JOURNALIST
Instagram: @ratparis

RATPARIS is a multidisciplinary creative with a range of talents including culture writing, makeup artistry, fashion design and theatre. Now a seasoned VoxFrocker, they also write about the culture and identities that define Naarm’s youth culture, in no small part as an excuse to enjoy it up close.