The Melbourne Fashion Festival will acquire a new name after Virgin Australia signed in to become its new major sponsor.

The festival will now be Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion and the name will stay for the next three years, according to the deal inked by the airline company.

The deal, which also includes a new logo and a joint sales and marketing program, aims to attract interstate and international visitors to the largest consumer fashion festival in the world.

Festival CEO Graeme Lewsey said the move will "inject a much-needed boost into local fashion and retail."

"It's using their global networks for the benefit of our Australian designers and retail industry," he said.

Virgin Australia's Judith Crompton also echoed the benefit of this partnership to both the fashion and tourism industries.

"We are delighted to partner with this iconic event, which shares our values of innovation, style and our commitment to fostering emerging and established local, Australian talent," she said.

She also shared how the airline's domestic and international network can help boost festival attendance.

"As a full-service airline, we are uniquely placed to captivate new audiences in Australia and around the world, allowing us to further support tourism in Victoria and evolve the festival on the world stage."

"We are working closely with the festival to come up with new and unique ways to promote the events across our channels both in the air and on the ground. We look forward to welcoming the attendees on board next year."

Meanwhile, while L'Oreal's name has been dropped from the festival name, it will remain as its beauty sponsor. This also means the famed powder room and beauty workshops will stay with the festival.

L'Oreal Australia's Johan Berg said it did not consider pulling out from the festival even after knowing of the new partnership with Virgin Australia.

"We have been an active partner of the Festival since its inception and we remain extremely committed to the event and the Australian fashion industry, moving forward," he added.

The Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival is slated to run from March 17-23, 2014, with a variety of activities related to the festival scheduled through the entire month of March.

The festival's new program highlights, campaign creative and Web site will be revealed at the VIP campaign launch Dec. 4.