Australian fashion week 2023 in pictures: Ngali’s Denni Francisco becomes first Indigenous designer to hold solo show

As with many firsts, Denni Francisco feels the privilege – and the burden – of representation. The Ngali founder and proud Wiradjuri woman is the first-ever Indigenous designer to hold a solo runway at Australian fashion week. It is an ‘exciting, and also a little bit daunting’ endeavour, she says, where she felt the responsibility to ‘represent our culture and our Country well’.

Ngali’s 2023 collection, which debuted on 17 May, is titled Murriyang – which translates to ‘skyworld’ in the Wiradjuri language. From the fluid silhouettes to the featured prints from three First Nations artists, Francisco says the collection is an imagining of ‘how we would see Country and waterways from the sky’.