Seven graduates from six design schools around the country have been invited to propose a Fashion System for Tomorrow that inspires new models of practice, informing Australian fashion that is authentic, sustainable and valued. A national fashion student design brief: “Consider what you wear” invites visitors to dress up in the garments and see themselves on the catwalk.

Fashionably Early offers designers a non-commercial space to think, encouraging diverse solutions, experimentation, risk taking and play. “I hope this interactive exhibition will inspire people to experience the depth and breath of the fashion solution; the artefact, its image and the sensory experience of wearing thoughtful design,” says the exhibition’s curator Kate Shaw from the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) Bachelor of Design (Fashion) program. “What’s also really exciting is the (folded cardboard) exhibition space being designed by architects FJMT.

Participating design schools are: Canberra Institute of Technology; RMIT School of Architecture and Design; RMIT School of Fashion and Textiles; University of Technology, Sydney; Queensland University of Technology; Curtin University of Technology; and ANU School of Art. For more on the participating designers, exhibition philosophy and blog, see the website.

For dates and ticketing, see GAD, Gallery of Australian Design.