The Australian Fashion Festival Ltd (AFF) the not-for-profit organisation that owns and produces the PayPal Australian Fashion Festival, today announced that Launa Inman has retired as Chair and Director at the Festival’s Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, following five years as Chair.
The AFF Board has elected Deputy Chair and Director Kallie Blauhorn as the Festival’s sixth Chair. The Festival enters this next phase in a strong financial position, with AFF reporting a surplus of $212,460 for FY26 at today’s AGM. Blauhorn will formally commence the role at the conclusion of the AGM. Inman has worked closely with Blauhorn to support a smooth transition for Australia’s longest running and most culturally significant consumer fashion event.
A Director of AFF for seven years, including two as Deputy Chair, Blauhorn brings more than 20 years of leadership across Australian cultural and not-for-profit institutions. She helped establish the Festival’s Foundation, which supports emerging and early career designers and the Festival’s broader work. Previously Director of the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh), she oversaw its nationally significant collection, exhibitions, public and school programs, visitor experience and financial sustainability, and later chaired its Foundation until 2024. Blauhorn is currently President of the NGV Women’s Association, a Board Member of St Vincent’s Institute and a Member of AMPLIFY’s Foundation Board.
Her earlier career included roles with the United Nations Development Programme in India, Very Special Kids and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in Australia. Her cultural leadership, governance experience and deep knowledge of the Festival position her well to lead AFF into its next chapter.
Inman’s departure brings to a close 16 years of passionate service on the AFF Board, and she has served as Chair since May 2021. She became Chair while the Festival was navigating COVID-19, and guided AFF through its recovery and into its next chapter as a national event, delivering a surplus in FY26.
Inman brought to AFF distinguished experience from a career at the top of Australian retail, including seven years as Managing Director of Target Australia, and senior roles as Managing Director of Officeworks and CEO and Managing Director of Billabong International. She was named Telstra Australian Businesswoman of the Year in 2003 and received the Australian Marketing Institute’s Sir Charles McGrath Award in 2015.
Working closely with the AFF Board and Executive Director Prue Mahar, Blauhorn will oversee the Festival’s next phase of growth.
Outgoing Australian Fashion Festival Chair, Launa Inman:
“It has been a privilege to serve on the Australian Fashion Festival Board for 16 years, and to chair it for the past five. The past few years asked a great deal of the Festival, our designers and our partners. I want to thank our partners, sponsors, government, designers and the wider industry for their support through COVID-19 and the years that followed.
The Festival is now national, with Melbourne still as its home and it is entering a new era. I am delighted to hand over to Kallie. She understands this organisation and Australian fashion and I have every confidence in where she will take this Festival. I wish her much success.”
Incoming Australian Fashion Festival Chair, Kallie Blauhorn:
"I'm thrilled to become Chair of the Australian Fashion Festival. Seven years on this board has given me a front-row seat to the brilliance and originality of Australian fashion. My goal is to continue building a Festival that celebrates our nation's creativity, inspires our audiences and delivers real results for Australian designers and retailers."
Australian Fashion Festival Executive Director, Prue Mahar:
“On behalf of everyone at the Australian Fashion Festival, I want to thank Launa for her leadership, her counsel and her friendship during an important time in the Festival’s history. Launa became Chair in 2021, when the Festival and the industry around it were navigating a global pandemic. Her contribution extends well beyond any one moment.
I congratulate Kallie on her appointment as our new Chair. Kallie knows this Festival well, and she knows what it takes to lead a cultural institution. I am delighted to work alongside her as we take the Festival into its new era.”