Australian Fashion Week 2024 will celebrate a series of important firsts when the lights and music start at Sydney’s CarriageWorks on May 13. Headlining them will be the Carla Zampatti Presented by Porsche runway show. It will be the famous Australian label’s first AFW collection show in five years and the first for the brand’s new Creative Director, Karlie Ungar. The top-flight designer took the creative reins at Carla Zampatti in July 2021, several months after the ground-breaking fashion designer’s passing. The opportunity to steer the styling of this pioneering Australian fashion house brings great responsibility but also the power to carry forward Zampatti’s designing legacy.
“The empowerment of women is the absolute soul and heartbeat of the brand,” she says. “It’s reflected in everything we do. Effortless style, clean lines, and refined luxury with an Italian sensibility.”
Audiences will recognise this unmistakeable empowering style when Karlie presents the label’s Resort ’25 Collection at the Carla Zampatti Presented by Porsche runway show on the opening day of AFW 2024
“This is the first collection for the brand, showing in Gallery 1 on The Carla Zampatti Runway, in five years. I'm a great champion of runway. It’s a necessary moment to see and touch and to appreciate our manual trade. So many hours go into making our garments, our gowns, incredible tailoring and custom accessories. It's a moment to truly showcase our bespoke design, cut and craftsmanship, which has developed over the past 59 years.
“In today’s digital world, it's incredibly important to pause and celebrate beautiful clothing and the emotion and memories it creates.”
One look at Carla Zampatti’s collection illustrates Karlie’s point. Her creations exude luxurious design and build on the heritage of Carla Zampatti’s forward-thinking approach. They celebrate the label’s tailoring traditions by evolving its classic style with a modern edge.
“The empowerment of women is the absolute soul and heartbeat of the brand." Karlie Ungar, Creative Director at Carla Zampatti
“In a lot of ways style has become today’s fashion. The reinterpretation, contradiction and re-presenting of styles, proportions, ideas and genres. This has become fashion.”
The power of design
Karlie has spent most of her 23 years in the fashion industry working in contemporary women’s wear but she also spent six years styling high-end residential homes with her own interior design studio.
“I have always loved the overlap, concept and inspiration of multidisciplinary design. I draw on both disciplines every day.”
It’s one of the reasons the Porsche 718 Cayman Style Edition catches her eye. It embodies her refined design ethos, which includes “less is more, strength through restraint and always effortless.”
“These are formidable brands. Their aesthetics, as well as their quality and craftsmanship, are so defined." Karlie Ungar
“Porsche and Zampatti soundtrack people’s lives,” she says. “The milestones, the successes, occasions and achievements are all interwoven into the purchase of a Porsche or Carla Zampatti outfit.
“These are formidable brands. Their aesthetics, as well as their quality and craftsmanship, are so defined.
“To own anything classically perfect that never dates, and then to wear, drive or display it in a way that is uniquely you, that evolves over a lifetime with you, is true style.”
Australian Fashion Week 2024 commences Monday 13 May.
Info
Visit carlazampatti.com.au to discover more.
