The 2019 Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival, ran from March 1 – 10 at the historical Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne, the World Heritage listed home venue for the annual runway event

Designers who paraded their garments during the event included Carla Zampatti, Yeojin Bae, Elliat, Bianca Spender,Dion lee, Manning Cartel and alice McCALL.

Representative of the international exhibition movement style, which began in the mid 19th century, the Royal Exhibition Building reflects Byzantine, Romanesque, Lombardic and Italian Renaissance styles and features a dome modelled on the Florence Cathedral.

Construction of the building in Carlton Gardens was completed in 1879 for the first Melbourne International Exhibition which ran from October 1880 until April 1881. A few years later, the Royal Exhibition Building hosted the 1888 Centennial International Exhibition and remains one of the great enduring monuments to the International Exhibition movement, which began in the mid-19th century.

The Great Hall was used as a hospital in 1899 for patients suffering from the Spanish Influenza pandemic and during the Second World War, the building housed Royal Australian Air Force trainee technicians, It became the venue for the first Commonwealth Parliament of Australia in 1901.

In July 2004, the Royal Exhibition Building was granted a World Heritage listing and is one of the few major nineteenth-century exhibition buildings to survive worldwide. For further information visit www.VAMFF.com.au