A Time for Trailblazing Women
Review of Zimmermann Fall 2026 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
Arriving in the final few days of Paris Fashion Week, Zimmermann once again delivered her signature moment of lightness, but this season that breezy femininity was coupled with a deeper purpose. Presented just a day after International Women’s Day, Nicky Zimmermann dedicated her Fall 2026 collection to the women who rewrote the rulebook and forged their own paths to freedom.
Drawing inspiration from pioneering Australian figures – from novelist Miles Franklin to early sporting teams and adventurers who defied convention – the designer reframed the brand’s well-established romantic codes as a tribute to the often overlooked courage of women who moved history forward.
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Trailblazing Pioneers, Flights of Femininity, Freedom in Utility
A day after International Women’s Day (IWD) on Sunday 8th March, Nicky Zimmermann presented a collection that celebrated unsung female trailblazers from Australia.
The Zimmermann show, placed as it is only a few days before the close of Paris fashion week, has always conveyed a light-hearted feminine sensibility that feels like a palette cleanser whatever themes the week has editors divided on. And while there were dresses that you could imagine spending days in, for their layers of lace and satin, this was a collection that was a purposeful tribute to pioneering women with ‘confidence, independence, joy, and grit.’
A few days before the show a post on Instagram read that we were to expect “A new collection, shaped by women who rewrote the rulebook” and call it the IWD algorithm effect but social feeds have been proliferated with posts that have outlined, in black and white, the divide between just how far we have come and how far we have to go. Seeing as we have barely made baby steps in areas of equality for women, such as equal pay. Also take, for example, the fact that it was not until 1974 in the US, 1975 in the UK, and in the designers homeland it took until as recently as 1984 for The Sex Discrimination Act to end the unlawful practice of refusing a mortgage on the basis of sex or marital status!
Taking women from the 1920s who blazed a trail for future generations of women in Australia as her raison d’etre for fall, Nicky Zimmermann revealed that she also has close personal ties to one woman who ‘rewrote the rulebook’ i.e. her grandmother who was a lifesaver at Coogee Beach, as per the notes. There were also literary trailblazers such as Miles Franklin, who chose to never marry (controversial at the time), but instead dedicate her time to writing and sponsoring the next generation of authors. And the motoring duo Kathleen Howell and Jean Robertson, who became only a handful of women to be the first to drive across Australia. Sport, the great unifier, also featured heavily within the collections more preppy-focussed looks. Inspired by the designers discovery of references to the first women’s cricket team founded in Australia. She captured by the joyful mood that was conveyed in the team photographs that would often depict the camaraderie the women had for each other, as well as a joyful, cheeky attitude to life.
In platforming these women, Zimmermann is responsible for bringing the stories of these unsung Australian women to light, many of which the guests and editors in attendance will have discovered for the first time due to the designers due diligence. These women’s stories will also be immortalised in a set of scarves that were designed exclusively for the show, as the designer told The Impression backstage “We have an automotive one, one for the cricket team, all the artwork for the scarves was done in-house and we created about 10 different scarves for each of the scarf looks.”
In taking on the idea of freedom to achieve whatever they set their minds to, Nicky Zimmermann channelled that spirit of ‘risk-taking, [an] attitude of unfussy practicality, and cheeky humour’ that she found in the stories she unearthed. Developing a fall collection that both transported you to the 1920s and its fluid, feminine silhouettes and art deco influences, as well as the utilitarian uniform required by the sports and adventuring women who were on today’s moodboard. The commemorative scarves were refashioned into dresses and skirts, cricket whites were worn with a masculine edge, and jumpsuits were a nod to that uniform dressing.
Today’s notes talk of the fact that ‘movement is inherent to Zimmermann’s DNA’ and this was a collection for women constantly on the move, inspired by their ancestors to continue breaking down boundaries and blazing new trails.
THE QUOTE
[The collection was about] women being strong and having an incredible time in Australia in the 1920s, and it started with my grandmother who was a lifesaver, but females were not lifesavers in the 20s. So, I thought what else weren’t they, for example they were not mechanics they didn’t drive cars, they were not pilots, they didn’t have their own sporting teams. Then there were women whose photographs I found and they looked happy and strong…And then there was the other side with the lingerie and the layering and I love that they too looked so empowered going out, and I just thought that they’re the same woman, it’s was about their strength.
Nicky Zimmerman, creative director, Zimmermann
THE WRAP UP
In celebrating these trailblazers, Nicky Zimmermann managed to balance storytelling with the brand’s unmistakable aesthetic. The result was a collection rooted in the spirit of the 1920s yet entirely relevant to today i.e. a wardrobe built for women constantly in motion, whether across continents or social barriers.
By weaving these stories of trailblazing women into the fabric of the show, she not only highlighted the overlooked histories of Australian female pioneers, but reinforced the message that freedom and defiance have always been at the heart of the Zimmermann brand.
