Dion Lee set to kick off Australian Fashion Week this spring

Australian fashion designer Dion Lee is heading back to Sydney this May to open Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia (MBFWA).

The 30-year-old creative will kick off the week-long event by showcasing his 2018 Resort collection on May 14, breaking a long-standing habit of presenting his work during New York Fashion Week.

"It's great that Mercedes-Benz Australia has been able to support one designer each year in a show that really does help to define a designer's vision and amplify that globally," Lee told Vogue Australia.

Launched in 2009, the designer's eponymous fashion line is known for its contemporary, tailored approach to womenswear. Fittingly, its first-ever collection was shown at Australian Fashion Week, and Lee made a name for himself when he became the first designer to put on a catwalk show at the iconic Sydney Opera House a year later, in 2010.

Lee is just one of over 50 designers scheduled to make an appearance at Australian Fashion Week, which will run from May 14 through 19. Additional big names include homegrown talent Toni Maticevski, who opened the show in 2016, and Hollywood stylist-turned-designer Rachael Zoe.