Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has highlighted a creative collaboration that brings together Melbourne’s fashion and infrastructure scenes. A group of RMIT fashion students were invited to the new Town Hall Station site within the Metro Tunnel for a photoshoot ahead of Melbourne Fashion Week, which begins on 20 October.
“Metro Tunnel but make it fashion,” Allan posted on X, sharing photos of the students posing in front of the station’s distinctive orange and blue interiors. “This talented group of RMIT Fashion students got a sneak peek of Town Hall Station for a photo shoot with @metrotunnelvic leading up to @melbfashionweek. Their designs are a reference to the Metro Tunnel’s orange and blue features—and I reckon they’ve done a fantastic job.”
The collaboration draws inspiration from the Metro Tunnel’s visual design palette, reflecting the colour scheme that will soon become familiar to millions of daily commuters once the project opens next year. The $12.7 billion project will add five new underground stations to the network and connect the Sunbury and Cranbourne/Pakenham lines directly through the city, easing congestion and improving travel times across the metropolitan system.
Allan’s post also drew a historical connection to another moment when fashion intersected with public transport. She shared an archival image of a fashion event held at Flagstaff Station in 1985 to celebrate the opening of Melbourne’s City Loop. “Here’s the fashion show hosted at Flagstaff Station in 1985, when the City Loop first opened,” she wrote.
The reference to “Flagstaff Fashions” captures a tradition of using major transport milestones as a stage for creative expression. Then and now, the blending of fashion and infrastructure reflects how Melbourne continues to frame its civic projects within a broader cultural story—one that sees trains and tunnels not only as pathways for movement, but as spaces that shape identity, design, and public imagination.
With the Metro Tunnel nearing completion and Melbourne Fashion Week set to unfold across the city, the images of RMIT students at Town Hall Station highlight a uniquely Melbourne mix of innovation, design, and public pride—a sign that even a construction site can be turned into a runway when imagination is given room to move.
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