The designer mobilised more than a dozen dedicated "floor wipers" to dry his mirrored runway after a deluge before his show for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia on a rainy Monday.

When the pink cloths were whipped away, the prom dresses came out to play in Perry's Varsity collection, inspired by American college gridiron players and homecoming queens.

"I love all that colour blocking the gridiron players' jerseys have and I thought we should make it into little cheer leader dresses and throw in a couple of homecoming queens at the end," Perry said.

"It's a little bit tough, a little bit younger and a little bit cool."

Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio opened the show in a colour-blocked short-sleeved crop top and flirty flip mini skirt and closed it in a black and petrol-blue mini dress with flouncy ruffles.

The show marked a new, youthful direction for the designer, who announced at the end of January he was moving to Myer from David Jones in order to court a demographic beyond his traditional eveningwear clientele.

It should go down particularly on the La-La Land red carpet, where Perry now dresses the likes of Sandra Bullock, Eva Longoria and E! News co-host Giuliana Rancic, who sat in the front row along with Sarah Murdoch, Kerri-Anne Kennerley and actors Emma Lung and Emma Booth.

While the present-day paparazzi jostled to capture those select seats at Perry's show, Aurelio Costarella looked back to the late modernist photographer Man Ray with his Solaire collection that explored the solarisation techniques of the Dada and Surrealist artist.

Kym Ellery also looked to the light with her Opaque collection of eveningwear inspired by the relationship between brightness, shadow and form.

For some guests the presence of Gerard Butler in the front row proved almost as tantalising as the looks on the runway, with women queuing up for selfies with the Hollywood star before he discreetly slipped out of the venue at the show's end.

But MBFWA is about more than celebrities and clothes. The NSW fashion industry employs 70,000 people and last year contributed $6.4 billion to the state's economy, according to Katrina Hodgkinson, NSW Minister for Primary Industries and Small Business.