With the financial crisis in the midst, one would think that Australians would get behind their favourite designers and purchase items from their collections and support Australian fashion. But instead of stimulating our own economy and helping each other out, fiends struck the RAFW to get their hands on whatever they could see during the momentary black out at yesterdays show.

When the blackout occurred, the kleptomaniacs hit the front row and swiftly took off with the goodie bags placed under each seat. Each bag was filled with a couple of hundred dollars worth of free fashion items and were a gift to front row guests.

Show organisers were forced into action and had to collect remaining bags, redistributing new ones when the lights returned. The theft put staff on high alert as they tried to keep the bags not taken.

Times may be tough, but stealing a gift bag from a fashion week has taken it too far. Desperate times have obviously called for desperate measures, but is anyone that desperate for fashion? It appears some are.

Goodie bags aren’t just a ‘free’ item to be thrown around; they are pieces of Australian designers hard work, work designed to impress someone in the fashion industry. RAFW is more than just an exclusive event, but it is an event that could start a young designers lifelong dream.

Shame on those who feel fashion is worth thieving.