Australian Fashion Week (AFW) 2025 was once again held at the old Sydney train maintenance facility, now known as Carriageworks, in Sydney. The event, having been given a new lease of life by the NSW Government and the Australian Fashion Council, was slightly smaller than previous years, but no less spectacular. With two main runways, one called “The Runway” and the other “The Gallery”, there was no shortage of lighting fixtures for the 20-odd designer showcases across four days of shows. Lighting Designer Paul Collison oversaw lighting. Nick Macfie from Production Technologies provided technical and production management, as well as all technical staff and logistics management.
The Runway
The room space varied from show to show. Many had a classic, straight 20-metre-long runway, while others created more immersive and quirky environments. This space was bordered by an 18m x 5m LED screen driven by a Pixera Media Server, allowing for creative backgrounds and enabling designers to create bespoke environments for each show. Lighting the room were 80 Martin MAC Viper Profiles, 20 Martin Viper Performance, 30 Martin MAC Encore CLD Performance and 30 Martin MAC Quantum Wash – all under the control of an MA Lighting grandMA3 light. The MAC Encores were critical in providing a perfectly consistent front light.
“There are only a small handful of LED sources I’d use to light faces, and the MAC Encores are top of that list,” commented Paul Collison. “Stills cameras are significantly more sensitive to colour shifts and aberrations than broadcast cameras. Therefore, we need a fixture that allows us to dial in to the desired colour space with absolute accuracy. In my opinion, the MAC Encores are one of the few artificial light sources (not tungsten) that are capable of such a feat”
The Gallery
This was a space that allowed for absolute creativity for each show; there were no two shows that had an identical configuration. To accommodate such variety, the room featured 60 Prolights ELCPanel TWC, combined with 32 Martin MAC Encore CLD Performance fixtures. 24 Ayrton Diablos and 20 ShowPRO R3 Washes were used to create some creative splashes of colour and texture. The central aperture was lit with 12 Prolights ECLCyclorama 100. Once again, all controlled with a grandMA3 light control system.
“This was our truly creative space, with white walls and several options to light the space, we really had some fun in The Gallery,” added Paul. “The Prolights panels gave us a beautiful soft light option covering the more gallery-like shows, with the Encores and Diablos giving us a harder edge option for more precise runways.”
Technical Management: Production Technologies
Technical Producer: Nick Macfie
Lighting Designer: Paul Collison Eleven Design
Lighting Programmers: Jason Fripp, Tom Johns, Lucia Haddad
Media Servers: Adam Smith
Lighting Supply: Chameleon Touring Systems
Lighting Technical Management and Crew: Touring Industries
Lighting Technicians: Danyon McCue, Curtis Bennett, Levi Boes, Alexander Celi, Shonnie Skehan, Chantelle Young, Dane Boulton, Hugo Caterall
Opening Show
The opening event for Australian Fashion Week was for the Carla Zampatti label, held in one of the most stunning harbourside locations on Sydney Harbour. With the MCA, Sydney Harbour Bridge and the sails of the Sydney Opera House all bordering the runway, there was no shot that wasn’t a winner.
Paul Collison was also the lighting designer for this event, which featured an almost 50-metre-long runway with a live audience on each side. A challenging aspect was being outside and having only minutes to light the runway as the sun set, before the early evening start.
“Whilst it was an incredible location, it presented a multitude of technical challenges,” commented Paul. “I was acutely aware of minimising infrastructure and keeping a slick and clean look, of course without compromising the result for the camera.”
The runway was lined with 100 ShowPRO Fusion Wash 48, 50 located on each side of the runway behind the three rows of audience. The IP65 rating, small profile, and soft-edge diffusion made the fixtures ideal for this location. The “camera” end of the runway was covered with 15 Creamsource Vortex 4s.
“I must admit I was concerned with trying to colour match the Fusion Wash and the Creamsource,” Paul admitted. “The Creamsource had to set the base colour as they were the primary camera light. I was incredibly impressed with the Fusion Wash 48 fixtures and their ability to be dialled in to the Creamsource. With only minutes to do the final tweaks as the sun set and as the audience loaded, I was amazed at how quickly we could match everything. The Fusion Wash 48 was the star of the show, except for the clothing and models, of course!”
Resolution X supplied the lighting equipment and crew, with Paul remarking that the installation was slick and clean, with their concrete bases and simple steel pole supports.
