Australia’s premier consumer fashion platform, PayPal Australian Fashion Festival, today unveils a new Victorian regional festival with the launch of the Bendigo Fashion Series and Shepparton Fashion Series, supported by Victoria. Every Bit Different, City of Greater Bendigo and Greater Shepparton City Council.
The Bendigo Fashion Series will feature 31 events taking place from 12-20 September 2026, with tickets on sale from 9am AEST Monday August 17, 2026. The Shepparton Fashion Series will feature over 20 events taking place from 3-11 October 2026, with tickets on sale Thursday August 27, 2026.
After 30 inspiring years, PayPal Australian Fashion Festival recently announced a new brand strategy, changing its name from Melbourne Fashion Festival to reflect a broader national agenda, while remaining deeply connected in Melbourne and proudly part of the Victorian major events calendar.
Integral to this strategy is becoming a year-round fashion platform and expanding the Festival’s footprint beyond Greater Melbourne. The Bendigo and Shepparton Fashion Series embody this approach, both taking place outside the Festival’s usual annual February / March event dates. The Festival previously piloted its first dedicated regional programme, the Geelong Fashion Fortnight, as part of the 2026 annual event in February 2026 to great success with attendance of over 150,000.
PayPal Australian Fashion Festival Executive Director, Prue Mahar, said “The Bendigo and Shepparton Fashion Series are an exciting new step in continuing to extend PayPal Australian Fashion Festival’s footprint beyond metropolitan boundaries and deepening the commitment to fashion communities Victoria-wide. We’re creating meaningful opportunities for local designers, makers and creatives to be showcased on a major platform, while inviting new audiences to engage with fashion in a distinctly regional context. We’re proud to collaborate with Visit Victoria, City of Greater Bendigo and Greater Shepparton City Council and an incredible network of local partners to bring this programme to life.”
Victoria’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Natalie Suleyman, said: "For the first time, the Australian Fashion Festival is bringing its talks, workshops and exhibitions to Bendigo and Shepparton, giving regional communities a front-row seat to the best fashion talent in the country. Backed by the Victorian Government's Regional Events Fund, these two new series will draw visitors into the regions, fill local hotels and restaurants, and put Bendigo and Shepparton on the map for fashion lovers from around the world."
PayPal Australia Managing Director, Simon Banks, said: “Australian fashion is powered by creative businesses and communities right across the country, so it’s exciting to see the PayPal Australian Fashion Festival expanding beyond its traditional calendar and bringing fashion experiences to new audiences in regional Victoria. Fashion is PayPal’s largest retail category in Australia, and we’re proud to support more than 150,000 Australian fashion retailers and designers to connect with customers here and around the world. The Bendigo and Shepparton Fashion Series are a great example of how the Festival can champion Australian fashion year-round, and we’re excited to continue supporting its growth.”
City of Greater Bendigo Mayor Cr Thomas Prince said: “The City of Greater Bendigo is proud to host the first regional event as part of an exciting collaboration with the PayPal Australian Fashion Festival and Visit Victoria. As one of Australia’s leading arts and cultural destinations, Bendigo provides the perfect setting for the Bendigo Fashion Series, which will showcase a vibrant program of designer talks, exhibitions, live demonstrations, First Nations cultural experiences, hands-on creative workshops and a fascinating heritage walking tour.”
“With exceptional food and wine, breathtaking landscapes and rich gold rush heritage, Bendigo offers a stylish spring escape. We look forward to welcoming fashion lovers to experience the creativity, culture and unique charm and leave our city culturally enriched.” Cr Prince said.
Anchored in the vibrant regional centre of Bendigo, Dja Dja Wurrung Country, the Bendigo Fashion Series features 31 unique events, with many free or low-cost, including talks, workshops, exhibitions, screenings, tours and performances.
Events
Bendigo Fashion Series events produced by the Festival and on sale now include:
- Amy Lawrance: First Five Years Book Launch (19 Sep) - celebrate the evolution of Amy Lawrance’s distinctive, award-winning design practice, with her latest collection on display and a discussion featuring curator Paola Di Trocchio and model Yvette Lanfranca
- An Afternoon with Sonia Cappellazzo (20 Sep) - in conversation with designer Sonia Cappellazzo, accompanied by a live presentation of her modern couture collections
- Liz Sunshine Exhibition: How Fashion Makes Me Feel (12, 13 & 19 Sep) - documentary photographer Liz Sunshine's visual musings on our relationship with clothes through her camera lens and collected notes
- Liz Sunshine Talk: How Fashion Makes Me Feel (12 Sep) - Liz Sunshine speaks about her exhibition that follows the culmination of years spent outside runway shows, observing and documenting attendees
- Bracelet Making Workshop (19 Sep) and Earring Making Workshop (19 Sep) - hosted by Djaara multi-disciplinary First Nations artist and master weaver, Cassie Leatham, this workshop will demonstrate how to use native grasses and traditional weaving techniques
- Pageant Exhibition: A Retrospective (2010 – 2025) (12 Sep - 31 Oct) - surveying Pageant’s central themes and vision, this exhibition draws on fifteen years of friendship to offer behind-the-scenes insight into their creative partnership and process
- Pageant Talk: A Retrospective (2010 – 2025) (13 Sep) - join Pageant designers, Amanda Cumming and Kate Reynolds, for a guided tour of their exhibition and discover the story behind their acclaimed fashion label, research project and enduring friendship
- Fashion Illustration Workshop (13 Sep) - designer and illustrator, Estelle Michaelides, hosts two intimate watercolour workshop in the art of fashion illustration
- Bendigo Fashion Walking Tour (12 Sep) - Join Professor Robert Crawford for a fashion walking tour of Bendigo and discover the history of iconic retail precincts such as the Beehive, and journey through time to discover the unique beginning of the Myer emporium
- In Conversation with Liz Sunshine (12 Sep) - join documentary and portrait photographer, Liz Sunshine, as she discusses her practice as a form of observation promotes awareness for consumption from a place of curiosity and conversation
- Pageant Workshop: Mixed Media Collage (13 Sep) - Pageant designers, Amanda Cumming and Kate Reynolds, demonstrate how to create unique artwork using up-cycled fabric and mixed-media elements
- FashLab Regional Meet Up (19 Sep) - join designer and FashLab president, Julia Goodwin, and for a candid conversation on “The Tyranny of Distance. True or false?” with other independent fashion and creative practitioners
- Festival Runway Screening (12 - 20 Sep) - experience the excitement of the runway, with highlights from the 2026 PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival’s Premium Runway Series, featuring some of Australia’s most loved designers, coming to the big screen in Hargreaves Street Mall
Bendigo Fashion Series events produced independently by the local community will be released
on 20 August and include:
- Towards a Career in Fashion: Kip Preston Taylor (15 Sep) - one of RMIT’s brightest fashion graduates joins Lauren Ellis, Bendigo Art Gallery Curatorial Manager, for a conversation about his journey as an emerging designer
- Bourgeois Baroque: The Soundtrack of Style (20 Sep) - experience the music that accompanied the fashion, grandeur and social spectacle of the Baroque period with Melbourne’s acclaimed period instrument chamber orchestra, Genesis Baroque
- Plastics Reimagined: From Waste to Wearable (13 Sep) - join artist Cesar from Aoracreo at two workshops for 8 – 12 year-olds and then 13+ year-olds and discover how to upcycle ordinary plastic bags into stylish and useful bags and pouches
- Allan Doney Photographic Exhibition - Bendigo Tailor & Photographer 1900-1987 (12 – 20 Sep) - outdoor gallery experience created by the City of Greater Bendigo in partnership with the Bendigo Historical Society, showcasing post-war life from local tailor and passionate amateur photographer Allan Doney
- Discover Indonesia - BAIK Bendigo Australia Indonesian Klub Cultural Celebration (12 Sep) - vibrant cultural celebration showcasing the rich diversity of the Indonesian archipelago through music, dance, fashion and food
- Helena Richards - Collins: Fashion and Art Exhibition (12 – 20 Sep) - explore a locally created collection of unique garments featuring Italian wools, finest merino and pure silk velvets, and paintings featuring Australian and European landscapes, rich in the colour of the seasons
- Adornment Workshop (15 Sep) - couture meets craft in two adornment workshops for 10 - 18-year-olds and then adults, with fibre artist and costumier, Madeleine Somers
- Gallery Giggles - Fashion Fun! (17 & 18 Sep) - fun-filled and hands-on fashion adventure for babies to five-year-olds and their big people, in two workshops that explore fashion pieces from the Bendigo Art Gallery collection and use play and imagination to discover fashion as self-expression
- After School Art: Paper Jewellery (17 Sep) - turn paper into fashion and explore shape, colour and pattern while designing and making bold, one-of-a-kind jewellery pieces to wear or share
- Bushfoods Dinner & In Conversation with Cassie Leatham (17 Sep) - acclaimed Indigenous food expert, fashion designer and artist Cassie Leatham shares her knowledge, experiences, and passion for connecting people with Country through food
- Billabongs not Silos: Beyond Symbolism (12 – 20 Sep) - unique exhibition bringing together Indigenous artworks, cultural objects and stories from health, education and community organisations across Victoria, alongside significant works from the La Trobe University collections
- Cocktails & Couture (20 Sep) - designer Estelle Michaelides in conversation with Bendigo Art Gallery Curatorial Manager, Lauren Ellis, exploring the realities of designing and creating for high profile clients and fashion influencers
- Malamiya Mang Then & Now Exhibition (17 Sep - 3 Oct) - free exhibition showcases the thriving cultural expressions and artistic creative talents of Bendigo's of Dja Dja Wurrung artists and makers