Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival

Take the excitement of fashion week, remove Lara Bingle and those pricey palm-sized salads, and you’re left with something along the lines of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival.

The (fittingly) more jovially dubbed sister event’s main jam is giving you a front-row seat to the top trends of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, but there’s plenty to make sure your Dr Scholl’s Party Feet get sufficiently wrecked. It just won’t be from waiting in line.

Score a seat to the opening Bendon show for an exclusive lingerie presentation taking you from playful to provocative (and that’s before the closing segment from Macpherson Men). Or if you believe it’s what’s on the outside that counts, the key “Trends” show offers a fast-paced edit of MBFWA collection from local fashion luminaries Ksubi, Lisa Ho, Alice McCall, Kirrily Johnston, Carl Kapp and Akira.

But of course fashion isn’t just about looking at pretty clothes. All tickets grant you access to the Festival Hub for post-show Tempus Two drinks, performances and beauty consultations, while VIP ticket holders can slip past the red rope to rub well-clad shoulders in the Star Lounge.

It’s not just refrigerated pizza that’s even more enjoyable second time around.