For the first time in its eleven-year history, Australia’s largest celebration of First Nations fashion will unfold beneath the open sky on Larrakia Country at Charles Darwin University’s city campus. Over two evenings, the runway will wind gently around one of Darwin’s oldest living landmarks, a heritage-listed boab tree that has quietly witnessed generations of change.

Planted more than 140 years ago, the boab has endured war, weathered Cyclone Tracy and remained deeply rooted as the city grew around it. When the campus was designed, the tree was never seen as something to work around. Instead, the buildings and boardwalk were carefully planned to protect it, allowing the landscape to shape the space, rather than the other way around.

Country to Couture has never asked culture to fit around fashion. Instead, fashion has always grown from Country, from community, and from the stories, knowledge and relationships that continue to shape every collection, every collaboration and every person who becomes part of it.

While audiences gather to experience remarkable collections from First Nations designers and artists, another story unfolds all around them. It begins long before the lights come up or the first model steps onto the runway. It lives in production meetings, rehearsal spaces, dressing rooms and countless conversations that begin months before a single garment is worn. It is carried by the producers, dressers, stylists, photographers, backstage coordinators, volunteers, mentors, artists, designers and creative leaders who quietly bring Country to Couture to life.

Over eleven years, Country to Couture has become much more than a runway. It has become a place where people return.

Designers return with new collections. Producers return to mentor emerging crews. Volunteers become coordinators. Models become mentors. Friendships become creative collaborations. Each year, the community grows a little stronger.

If the runway is where stories are shared with the world, backstage is where many of those stories begin.

That sense of belonging is reflected in the journeys of the people who help bring Country to Couture to life, from behind the scenes. 

Pakana woman Bonnie Starick, of the Truwulway Nation in Lutruwita (Tasmania), first became involved with DAAF in 2018 while coordinating the Walantanalinany Palingina (WaPa) arts stall. What began as one opportunity gradually grew into many more, with Bonnie contributing across Cultural Keepers, Country to Couture, the National Indigenous Fashion Awards and Indigenous Fashion Projects. Each experience has expanded her knowledge of event delivery, backstage operations, curation and public programming, while opening new pathways into fashion and textile design through mentorship. Living in Lutruwita, where opportunities to connect directly with Australia’s fashion industry have traditionally been limited, Bonnie sees every experience as something she can take home. “Country to Couture is the highlight of my year,” she says. “It gives us an opportunity to share our unique stories of Country, Sea Country and cultural practice through textiles and fashion.”

For proud Bard woman Kartika Christophers, from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, returning each year is about something much deeper than producing a runway. After more than two decades mentoring First Nations creatives in the Kimberley, including the past five years through Kimberley Aboriginal Fashion, Textiles & Art (KAFTA), she describes backstage as a place where confidence quietly grows. She remembers the hugs before someone walks onto the runway, the tears afterwards, the laughter backstage and watching complete strangers become family over the course of a few days. For Kartika, every designer arrives carrying a story, and every person behind the scenes shares a responsibility to honour it with care.

Proud Yawuru, Jabirr Jabirr and Gija woman Rhiana Powers has experienced that same sense of purpose through her work with KAFTA and Country to Couture. She believes representation extends far beyond the runway itself. “Representation needs to exist at every level of the industry,” she says. “It is not enough to see First Nations people on the runway if decisions are still being made without Indigenous voices in the room.” Some of her favourite moments happen backstage, sitting with designers as they share the stories behind each piece, knowing those stories are being supported by people who understand their cultural significance.

For emerging creative and Yawuru, Bardi and Kija man, Jake Powers, Country to Couture represents possibility. Returning each year has provided opportunities to learn alongside some of the country’s leading First Nations designers, producers and creatives, while imagining what the future of Indigenous fashion could become. His hope is simple: to one day see First Nations designers, and the platform that has nurtured so many of them, recognised on the international stage.

Although Bonnie, Kartika, Rhiana and Jake have followed different pathways, they all speak about the same thing. Country to Couture is more than an annual event. It is a place where people return to reconnect, to learn, to mentor and to create opportunities for others. Over time, emerging creatives become experienced practitioners, volunteers become producers, and those who once arrived looking for a pathway become the very people helping guide the next generation forward.

“Country to Couture is the highlight of my year. It gives us an opportunity to share our unique stories of Country, Sea Country and cultural practice through textiles and fashion.”

 – Bonnie Starick

At Country to Couture, cultural safety is not something that begins on runway day. It is built through relationships, trust and respect long before the first garment reaches the stage. It is reflected in the way designers are supported to tell their stories, the way artists, models and communities are welcomed, and the way every person is encouraged to bring their whole self into the space.

For many collections, the journey to the runway is deeply personal. They carry stories of family, Country, identity and cultural knowledge. Having First Nations people working across production, styling, dressing, creative direction and leadership helps ensure those stories are understood and carried with care. It creates an environment where creativity can flourish because people know they are surrounded by others who understand the significance of what they are sharing.

Backstage, experienced producers work alongside emerging crew members. Models preparing for their first runway stand beside those who have walked for years. Dressers learn from stylists, volunteers work alongside seasoned event professionals, and knowledge is shared generously. Every role, no matter how visible or unseen, contributes to something much bigger than a single evening’s performance.

Perhaps that is why so many people describe Country to Couture as feeling like family. Each year, old friendships are renewed, new collaborations begin, and another generation finds its place within a community that continues to grow.

Today, Country to Couture is much more than a fashion event.

It has become a place where careers begin, ideas are shared, partnerships are formed, and lifelong friendships take root. A place where artists, designers, models, producers, volunteers and communities come together, not only to celebrate First Nations fashion, but to strengthen it for the future.

Like the boab that now stands at the heart of this year’s runway, Country to Couture continues to grow because its roots run deep. Each year brings new designers, fresh ideas and emerging voices, while those who have walked the journey before return to share their knowledge, encouragement and experience.

Perhaps that is the true legacy of Country to Couture.

Not simply the collections that grace the runway, but the community that continues to grow around it. A community built on generosity, culture and connection. One that understands that when opportunities are shared, everyone grows stronger.

As audiences gather beneath the branches of the old boab this August, they will witness extraordinary First Nations fashion. They will also witness something far less visible, and perhaps even more remarkable: a community grounded in Country, whose future continues to grow together.