Chanel Brings Its Runway to Sydney for the First Time
The French fashion house Chanel staged two runway shows in Sydney on Thursday 5 November, its first runway presentation in Australia, WWD reported. The shows were replicas of the brand's cruise collection, the between-seasons range that is usually shown ahead of the main calendar of fashion weeks.
The shows took place at The Cutaway, a newly renovated cultural and events centre beside Darling Harbour in the Barangaroo district of Sydney. According to The Australian, the presentation was held in Barangaroo, and the first show was scheduled for 2:30pm, with a second at 6pm.
The collection was first shown in Biarritz, a seaside town in south-west France, on 28 April at the Art Deco Casino Municipal. For Sydney, Chanel rebuilt the Biarritz set with mirrored walls and ceilings, plush beige carpet and gilded Baroque armchairs. WWD reported that the armchairs were shipped from France.
Guests included the actors Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and Joel Edgerton, the director Baz Luhrmann and the singer Kylie Minogue. WWD said the two shows drew 1,300 attendees, including 800 Chanel clients, meaning shoppers who buy from the house directly. Minogue later performed at an after-party at Wharf 2/3 in Sydney.
The cast mixed long-serving runway models with Indigenous Australian women. Julia Nobis, Gemma Ward, Catherine McNeil and Emma Balfour were among the veterans on the schedule. Five Indigenous Australian models also walked: Latahlia Hickling, Tatyana Perry, Tarlisa Gaykamangu, Cindy Rostron and Charlee Fraser.
Several of the casting choices have a history at the house. Matthieu Blazy, who designs the collections for Chanel, had already cast the Yolngu model Tarlisa Gaykamangu in Bottega Veneta's fall 2023 show, when he worked at that Italian label. He also cast Latahlia Hickling and Tatyana Perry in his debut spring 2026 Chanel show.
Chanel had announced the Sydney date in June. The shows followed a month of press coverage about the event, and the city's arts and fashion crowd turned out in numbers that the brand's own guest list reflects. For the people who build the clothes, the work behind a show of this size runs far beyond the runway: sets were moved across continents, and the cast and crew were booked for a single day of performance.
For readers outside the industry, the basic point is simple. A cruise collection that began in a French seaside casino now has an Australian run, and the people on stage and in the audience were chosen as part of that move.
