Following the inaugural Fashions of Multicultural Australia (FOMA) platform that leveraged fashion to generate trade opportunities and foster social cohesion among Australia’s diverse communities in 2019, FOMA is set to return this year at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney on Friday 1st May 2020.
FOMA, proudly supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, will for the first time ever provide it’s culturally and linguistically diverse communities the opportunity to experience the FOMA Designer & Cultural Exhibit at one of Sydney’s iconic cultural institutions at no cost, thanks to a partnership with the Powerhouse Museum.
Audiences will be presented with the opportunity to explore some of the historical narratives, technological innovations, and cultural influences that have helped to define the multicultural landscape of contemporary Australia. The integration of these exhibits into the FOMA experience, several of which will be showcasing fashion, offers guests the chance to navigate multiple aspects of Australian culture. Combined with the FOMA Designer and Cultural exhibits, this will offer guests an engaging platform for cross-cultural interchange.
Undeterred from the initial mission statement that conceived FOMA in 2018, the platform will once again leverage the universal language of fashion diplomacy to unite cultures, generate trade opportunities, and foster social cohesion. Featuring a diverse program of First Nations, international and local designers, the platform will return with the same cultural and stylistic dynamism that saw the FOMA Runway Showcase welcome 3,000 guests and accumulate an audience reach in excess of 7,000,000.
Once again, FOMA will intertwine a spectacular multicultural Runway Showcase with a range of engaging Cultural and Designer Exhibits that highlight the many unique communities that comprise Australia’s contemporary, multicultural landscape. Fittingly, the Runway Showcase will be opened with a collaboration between Australia-based millinery designer Wendy Scully and First Nations designer Buluuy Mirrii, which will see two unique cultural fashion perspectives blend with one another to convey a unique story.
Whilst retaining most of the major government engagement as in previous years, FOMA is excited to welcome several new contributors including The Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Australia, The Embassy of Israel in Australia, The Embassy of Colombia in Australia, Consul General of India, Sydney, The Royal Thai Consulate-General in Sydney, ProChile and Embassy of Chile to Australia and the Consul General of China in Sydney through the China Cultural Centre in Sydney and China National Tourism Office. Similarly, the 2020 FOMA Runway Showcase will feature cultures that have not previously been explored through the FOMA platform, which are set to be showcased through First Nations designer Colleen Tighe Johnson In Collaboration With Australian Millinery designer Wendy Scully, Irish designer Brendan Courtney, Nigerian designer, Mayen Benson, Colombian Designer, Monica Tovar, Jordanian designer, Gina Barjeel, Indian designer, Five Pleats, and Israeli designer, Zohar Edelshtein Budde.
FOMA would like to thank and acknowledge the contributions of partners, The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade NSW, Powerhouse Museum and unimoni, without whom this platform would not be possible. FOMA would also like to extend its appreciation to supporters the Australian Fashion Council Biennale of Sydney and TAFE NSW.
