If Australian Fashion Week is the industry’s polished headline tour, then Wings is the underground mixtape— striking, passionate, and impossible to look away from.
For two nights, May 8 and 9, the Plaza Hotel in Sydney swapped its usual facade for something a little grittier: a sensory overload of chains, mesh, distorted guitars, and gender-defiant silhouettes that walked like they meant it. Wings isn’t just a fashion festival, it’s a fashion statement. With eyeliner under its eyes and steel in its bones.
Let’s go runway by runway.
DAY 1 / MAY 8: FEVER DREAM ENERGY
Grounding the whole thing was a moment of respect—a Welcome to Country that set the tone: Wings might be wild, but it knows where it stands (on stolen land!).
First up: Jody Just, serving raw-hem rock star flair with a wink to post-apocalyptic ravewear. Think graphic denim and leather jackets, pops of acidic colour, graffiti, belt chains and spikes all paired with a puffed-up attitude. The looks wouldn’t be out of place in a Kid LAROI video or onstage with Posty, and that’s not a coincidence – a few of the models on stage were successful performing artists in their own right… I’ll let the lore stew on this note.
Then came SPEED. No intro needed. Alvi Chung’s hardcore-punk-meets-haute-goth collection Phantom Revolt was part runway, part live gig, featuring Sydney’s G.U.N. tearing up the stage in the designer’s collection (think androgynous, trench coats, black, red and thigh splits). Models stomped with spiked hair and razor-thin brows, trailing slicks of black kohl like war paint. Snakeskin motifs and crimson sheers wrapped the body like armor. Dangerous, sensual, unrepentant. The night’s pièce de résistance arrived in the form of a dress composed entirely out of electrical cables, wearable art to solidify the collection’s industrial-apocalyptic bent.
Post runways, the night divulged intp a series of performances from some of Sydney’s best performance artists, musicians and DJ’s. Talent for the night included Basjia, MaggZ, DJ KILIMI, AGONY, Kidskin and more.
DAY 2 / MAY 9: CHURCH OF THE UNHOLY RUNWAY
Day two crept in slowly and spiritually, unsure of how Friday’s lineup could match the previous night’s energy (but soon to find out). Brisbane-based couturier Jotéo opened with his collection Vampire of the Vanities – a show that felt like a séance. Black velvet, silhouettes blending nature with fairytale and garments that moved like ghosts. His pieces rendered the Plaza Hotel crowd speechless, with the hushed audience erupting into applause at the runway’s conclusion. Job done.
Next up, enter Amiss – founded by Vanessa Gray in 2021 and now a designer duo with her brother Joshua – who brought future-tech fever dreams to life. With a runway built like a peaceful clearing in the Aussie bush (you could smell the gum and eucalypt from the front row!), Amiss delivered a gigantuan three-part show, Intention, encompassing different iterations of the label’s design philosophy. Floaty lace dresses contrasted with forest green latex, handkerchief silhouettes and calculated cutouts for looks that were ethereal, fae-like yet rebellious. The crowd was transported to Amiss’s realm and back (a realm where ideas, not possessions, are the highest form of currency) with the rising and setting of the designer’s self made LED moon.
And then: Catholic Guilt. A little late but more than worth the wait, Naarm designer Ella Jackson gave us the show people will talk about for years with Down to the Water. Chainmail shimmered under the Plaza Hotel lights as models engaged in perhaps the most complicated runway choreography to be seen thus far, with moments of rest, daring duos and group gatherings sending photographers wild. Each look depicted hard-edged femininity, with chain link spaghetti straps, leather paired with demonic makeup and entire chainmail gowns turning princesses into queens of darkness. Catholic Guilt has already been to Paris, wrapped around Julia Fox at the NGV Gala, but here at Wings, Ella returned to her label’s underground origins. Alive, sharp, and slightly unholy.
Once the runways were done, Wings turned the Plaza Hotel into an extremely well-dressed warehouse party. SKYE, Cold Heat, and Solsa shredded expectations on the main stage, while DJs LAU, FUKHED, and Thick Owens spun basslines that had the walls quivering. In the basement, Shantan Wantan Ichiban stitched together a set that was all heat, allowing Sydney’s fashion faithfuls to celebrate until the early hours.
And now Wings continues to celebrate…
For the next two weeks, the Plaza Hotel will be doubling as a Wings pop-up store—a place where the looks you gasped at on the runway can actually be touched, tried, and taken home. It was a gesture that made sense in Wings’ universe: fashion as community, as rebellion, as something you live in—not just look at.
Wings was pure grit and all class. It absolutely wasn’t safe and it wasn’t trying to be. It was fashion with blood in its teeth, reminding us that runway shows don’t have to be distant and that fashion can scream like punk and move like poetry simultaneously. In the middle of the city, in a heritage hotel usually reserved for champagne brunches and elegant weddings, Wings carved a portal to a different kind of future.
And if you were there? You already know. If you missed it? Better mark your calendar for next year.
