Returning for its third year, the May 13-15 event will showcase more than 30 designers and Fashfest producer Steve Wright said the line-up represents a maturing of the event.

"What we see every year is a strong core group of designers that want to push themselves and they see Fashfest as a chance to experiment," he said.

"There's some really fun but I think also serious things happening. We're seeing designers maturing and coming in and saying, 'I'm going to make a serious statement'."

Fashfest will again feature designers from around the country, as well as for the first time, an international designer.

"When we started Fashfest in the centenary year, our whole reason for doing what we did was about demonstrating there is significant design talent in Canberra and I think we've done that now," he said.

"Now we're also taking designers from other parts of the world that are probably a little bit more conceptual and a little bit more intellectual in their approach to design, and then placing them here in Canberra."

New Zealand designer Melanie Child will showcase her line of upcycled designs, alongside Cameron and James from Melbourne, The Professor's Daughter from Adelaide, Miranda Sakhino from Melbourne, and That Bird Label and Boho Bird which, both from Cooma.

"I'm excited about Melanie Child - she's a really exciting designer and someone I've been chasing for a little while so it's cool she's coming on board,

"Then we've got Cameron and James who are going to bring a whole new ethical approach to men's streetwear. Canberra men have traditionally been seen as quite boring. Last year we brought on Braddon Tailors to break that grey suit image, and this year we're kind of taking it to the streets more."

Local labels Assemblage Project, Rockstars and Royalty, BMdesignsheadwear, Braddon Tailors, Perpetually Five, Recollection and Wright's own label with Louisa de Smet Corr Blimey also form part of the lineup.

Each night will be opened by a graduate designer from CIT, with newcomers MAAK, The Label, Mimetic, Illusory Cog, Little Jane Lane and Ziyah all making their Fashfest debut.

"It's really important for me about giving people in education some real world experience," he said.

"We're not about saying, 'well you're a student-y person so you do student-y things'. Everything that the students will be going through is exactly the same as all the other designers. They've been thrust into this professional sphere."

Each night will again have a different theme: activist, inventor, cartographer, engineer.

The biggest change will be the event's big move from Brindabella Business Park to the much warmer National Convention Centre.

"I kind of like the deprivation the other venue gave us but I think this new venue is maturing for Fashfest," Wright said.

"I have a certain love of wearing puffer vests and gloves and army jackets and I'm just going to have to think of a new exciting FASHFEST uniform for this year."

This year's full designer line-up in alphabetical order is Assemblage Project, Belle Bird, Bird Keepers, Boho Bird, BMdesigns, Braddon Tailors, Cameron and James, Corr Blimey, Hana, Illusory Cog, Little Jane Lane, Luke Chiswell, Maak, Melanie Child, Mimetic, Miranda Sakhino, Perpetually Five + Clare, The Prodigal Daughter, The Professor's Daughter, Recollection, Rockstars and Royalty, Sovata, Tanja Von Behrens, That Bird Label, The Label, Zilpah Tart, and Ziyah.