Wildest things overheard at Australian Fashion Week

I’ve been to plenty of Australian Fashion Weeks over the years – and yet each new installment never ceases to amaze, entertain and often bewilder me.

Yes, there’s no shortage of dazzling creativity on display at the runway shows, but to the outsider who isn’t part of the fashion elite, it’s the eccentric moments that really stand out.

This year, the whispers and wild rumours overheard in the front row at Sydney‘s Carriageworks and other venues were just as sensational as the outfits hanging off the models as they strutted their slender frames down the catwalk.

None of the fashionistas, influencers or others pictured in this story are among the eavesdropped – unless otherwise stated.

One of the more amusing moments I eavesdropped happened on Tuesday at the Beare Park show when an influencer who you might have heard of breathlessly related a health emergency to her manager. 

‘I’ve got to go right now. I’m going to get a scan. I’m so sick. I think it’s cancer,’ she said.

The manager wasn’t quite so alarmed, dryly responding: ‘Maybe you’re sick because you’ve been starving yourself all week. Try eating something.’

Ouch.

A day later, on Wednesday, the brutal reality of the influencer food chain was laid bare in another eyebrow-raising exchange.

My ears pricked up at the Bec + Bridge showcase when one influencer confided in a friend who was all too ready to offer a sympathetic ear.

‘I just hit 100,000 followers and my agent says I’m still “emerging”,’ she wailed.

As things kicked off on Day 1, I was settling into the Carla Zampatti presentation when a high-profile female PR professional whispered to a security guard: ‘What’s she doing in the front row? Her seat was further back’.

I could tell you who the alleged seat thief was, but she would never forgive me.

Perhaps the most quintessentially ‘Fashion Week moment’ also took place on Monday when I caught Carolina Santos – a former MAFS bride known for her scanty outfits and penchant for televised adultery – savagely mocking a stylist.

The fashionista in question, Jamie Azzopardi, was strutting through Carriageworks flanked by an entourage of minders tending to their extravagant gown.

Watching from a distance, Santos told me: ‘What the f**k is that? Does Jamie think [they] are at the Met Gala or something? Why are people holding [their] clothes?’

Being compared to a Met Gala arrival must have been positively orgasmic for them.