Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival Sydney 2013

Overview

This article is sponsored by our partner The City of Sydney.

With Sydney summer approaching, it's time to ponder the best ways to reveal a bit more skin. Enter Sydney is Fashion. Uniting Sydney's sartorial villages and fashion events throughout August and September, the festival presents the perfect way to ogle new garb, rediscover the experience of bricks-and-mortar retail and have bundles of aesthetically pleasing fun.

Starting things off is the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival. This four-day fashion celebration, running from August 21-24, offers you front-row seats to the trends of spring/summer 2013/14 with fashion shows and sales throughout the city and online.

General Pants Co. will kick off proceedings with an exclusive preview of their latest buys (think RVCA and new label B.BAM) as well as model Stef 'Bambi' Northwood-Blyth's debut collection has us on tenterhooks with promises of eclectic street fashions. Seems her fiancee Dan Single, of former Ksubi fame, has rubbed off on her — his latest DAAN collection will also feature in the show. Once the models have cleared out, ticket holders will be the first in Australia to shop the new looks, and will also receive a 10 percent discount in-store and online. Pick up tickets at select stores, and check out the website for details.

Grab some shopping inspiration from the two world-class fashion shows that will run nightly throughout the festival. A highlights show from this year's fashion week, The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia Trends event features local talents like Emma Mulholland, Romance Was Born and the effortlessly athletic HAN. For your glamour hit, head to the InStyle Red Carpet Runway, where gowns from Alex Perry, Collette Dinnigan and other high-end favourites will dominate the runway.

Other events to look out for include shows from Sportscraft and Market HQ, and a styling session with Kash O'Hara, one half of the sibling-run OHARA label. Styling at the Tea Salon will dish up dressing for your shape tips with a side of champagne and scones, before your half-hour professional stylist consultation and then round the day out with a stylist-assisted 30-minute 'power shop'. That last bit sounds like a Moet et Chandon fuelled mini-Boxing Day brawl, but it is sure to be one of this festival's more hotly contested tickets.

Image: Bec & Bridge, photography by Lucas Dawson.