Aje’s 'Siren' collection was a natural next step for the brand

Since best friends Adrian Norris and Edwina Forest founded Aje in 2008, the label has become one of Australia’s most successful exports. Favoured by celebrities like Kate Moss, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Gigi Hadid, as well as local talent like Montana Cox and Phoebe Tonkin, the brand has built serious momentum in Paris — where they showed their Spring ready-to-wear collection last year and have since opened a concession at the Printemps flagship. With 45 stores across Australia and New Zealand and distribution through more than 70 international retailers, Aje has become a global proposition without ever losing its point of view.

But with their Resort 27 collection presented at Australian Fashion Week, Siren, Co-Founders and Creative Directors Norris and Forest made something clear: however far the brand travels, its roots remain firmly, beautifully Australian. As models walked the runway at The Lands by Capella — in front of guests including Maia Mitchell, Cate Underwood, Gabriella Brooks, Montana Cox and Gemma Ward — they traced an imaginative journey across the Australian landscape, vast and dreamlike and cinematic.

Aje

“Siren was conceived as a sensorial exploration of the Australian landscape, where coastline meets outback, softness meets structure, and instinct meets intention,” they explained in an interview with ELLE Australia before the show. The ambition was atmospheric and immersive — like stepping directly into the sun-drenched light of desert country. That translated to a palette drawn from the land itself: rusted earth tones, deep ocean indigos, washed sunset pinks. Texture followed suit, moving from the sheer, colour-washed organza of an outback sky to the rough tactility of sandstone, dirt and bark, rendered in vegan leathers and structural suede.

Western references sharpened the collection’s cinematic edge and lent some grit to Aje’s signature soft, fluid femininity. Standout pieces included Western-inspired shirts worn by Tatyana Perry — who last year walked for Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel debut — alongside leather short shorts and low-slung pants that commanded the room. While Aje has long mastered the event dress, these tougher pieces confirmed its strength, and fresh focus, on separates. Tough leathers worn with floaty pink camisoles and hot pants with high necked sequinned shirts, and gold medallions showed how the house codes of femininity, softness and wearability can be adapted and translated into every kind of woman’s wardrobe.

aje

Aje

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Correct ELLE IG Stories, 916 (71)

The direction reflected an evolving idea of the Aje woman. “[She] moves fluidly between worlds — coastal, urban and global — and we wanted the collection to reflect that versatility.” There is an ease and confidence to the Aje pieces debuted this season, but also a new kind of toughness. “They’re expressive and feminine but grounded in a way that feels modern and effortless. More than anything, we wanted her to feel instinctive, powerful and completely herself.”

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Aje

Present throughout were the brand’s now clearly established house codes — sculptural volume, texture, emotive colour and feminity — but evolved with disciplined, more structured accents. For Norris and Forest, the sculptural dresses were the emotional centrepiece. “They capture the balance of strength and softness that defines the collection,” they said. Equally considered were the tailoring and textured separates, while a final touch were the hand-painted botanical prints, softened into washed, dreamlike impressions — a unique imprint of the Australian landscape that confirmed, after all the international ground covered, that Norris and Forest are still deeply connected to their home.

“We are incredibly proud to show this collection at home,” the pair said in a release. “There’s a unique energy to showing in Australia — the creativity, the community and the connection to where Aje began. This moment feels both personal and progressive for the brand.”