Modern Australian fashion

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Nicola Finetti, Dress of silk georgette, silk chiffon and metallic
embroidery on silk organza. Photographers: Lyn Balzer and Anthony Perkins. Image courtesy of Powerhouse Museum.

Modern Australia has a unique fashion style that is able to be clearly distinguished from European fashion lines. Whereas European fashion has a more tailored approach, Australian fashion has a more casual approach.

Fashion is distinguished from dress by its nature which is that is been fashioned or created, often by hand, and it reflects the prevailing styles in 'polite society' rather then being based on function. Fashion can be defined by colour, cut, cloth, garment type, garment styles and interpretation of looks. In Australia, these aspects of fashion have drawn from a wide variety of cultural sources which reflect our national identity.

Many of Australia's top designers such as Wayne Cooper, Collette Dinnigan, Akira Isogawa, Lisa Ho, Martin Grant, Carla Zampatti, Easton Pearson, Michelle Jank and Nicola Finetti whose creations are seen around the globe, have been inspired by an extraordinary range of Australian cultural influences.

Cut and garment type

A photograph by Helmut Newton, c. 1960, from the 'Paris End' exhibition.

Helmut Newton (1920-2004), No title, c. 1960, gelatin silver photograph in Paris End exhibition. © Helmut Newton and Henry Talbot Estates. Courtesy National Gallery of Victoria.

The choice of colour, texture, fabric and cut in combination with an outdoors life and a 'greater freedom' to express themselves has contributed greatly to an Australian sense of fashion.

Australian women know what they want to wear and their choice may vary considerably from what European and American women wear. They want to be comfortable and favour a casual attitude. Australian women tend to be tall, with good figures, which means they can wear pants and jackets, for instance, with flair and style.
Symons 1983 in Craik, 2006

Coats and stoles 1920s -

The cut and style of overdresses and coats in Australian fashion have been influenced by Chinese and Egyptian surcoats and Japanese kimonos. Formal and informal Chinese surcoats were brought into Australia by Chinese Australians in the last half of the nineteenth century. Egyptian 'Asyut' embroidered cotton coats purchased in Cairo were popular with ships passengers travelling between Great Britain and Australia.

In the 1920s and 30s, the cut of these coats was translated into a more casual and flowing line using light weight silks and local fur and down for decoration. A black & white chiffon silk velvet evening coat with pikle floral patterning made around 1920 has its sleeve and neck edges trimmed with broad bands of black swans' down - an exquisite light sensual combination showing definitive Chinese Australian influence (H6024).

The loose interpretation of a Chinese surcoat can be seen in a tangerine coloured georgette Chinese collared evening coat labelled by Freebody & Debenham, 1920 (H6214). Designers and dress makers 'Rosetta of Clifton' and 'Franosa' (H6017) created popular styles based on these cuts and local material, such as their hip length woman's overblouse in black chiffon with a crossover front and loose long sleeves, c. 1928.

Trousers and jackets 1930s -

Trousers and jackets in Australian fashion have their sources in the hardwearing garments of the early Australian military, the gold diggings, the squatters, aviators and aviatrix and the labouring classes of workers. Trousers were adopted by the squatters' daughters and the aviatrix of the 1930s and this contributed to trousers becoming a popular icon of the modern Australian woman. Women's experience in war time, including their contribution to the Women's Land Army, cemented the popularity of trousers for Australian women.

Carla Zampatti is renowned for her cut and interpretation of jackets and trousers, mixing traditional Italian styling with post-modern references to create a distinctive cut using cloth, such as linen and light weight wool, suitable for the Australian climate. Zampatti is regarded as taking women's business clothes into understated, elegant feminine styles.

Frocks - the mini skirt 1965 -

The cut of frock which has had most influence on Australian fashion was the mini skirt worn by English model Jean Shrimpton at Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on 30 October 1965. (Image ID 1754900)

'The Shrimp' left many VRC members aghast when, as a judge for Fashions on the Field, she wore this simple - and, at the time, revealing - outfit, sans gloves and hat, to Derby Day.

Prue Acton, a young 21 year old fashion designer in Flinders Lane, Melbourne, responded by supplying mini-dresses to her clients: 'Overnight we were cutting the skirts. We were cutting two inches off, and the next week, another two and another two. By Christmas we were up to something quite disgusting' (Interview with George Negus, ABC TV, 29 April 2004).

The young Australian designers of the 1960s recognised that, universally, young men and women no longer wished to dress like their parents. They created garments that were 'inexpensive, uncomplicated and chic'. The new 'look' was a fusion of image and attitude created through fashion, make-up, accessories and hairstyles. The new Australian fashion was:

a clean, well-scrubbed beauty, dead-level gaze and complete disregard for compromise or artifice. They go with their generation in a very Chelsea direction... these are the girls who will wipe the fashion slate clean and scrawl on it with their own straightforward, but unmistakable signature.
Flair, February 1964

Central to this was the establishment of the boutique with its mass-produced, ready-to-wear designs and fast turnover. This transferred what had previously been the preserve of the elite to a mass audience.

Prue Acton is said to have led the democratisation of fashion and laid the foundations for today's fashion industry through the process of converting her young girl's dress label into an international enterprise. Prue Action was described as someone who 'effortlessly created fashion in the Australian vernacular' (Humphries, 1996).

A photograph of a camel coat designed by Martin Grant, 2005-6.

Martin Grant, Camel coat, 2005-06 autumn-winter, wool, polyamide. Collection of Martin Grant, Paris . Photographer: Polly Borland. Image courtesy of National Gallery of Victoria.

The mini dress demonstrated the quintessential baby-doll look - synonymous with the 1960s - which displaced the womanly 'New Look' silhouette of the 1950s. Skinny pinafores, cut- away shifts and hotpants all represented new types of garments.

Martin Grant, established in Paris since 1992, has continued this preference and is well known for his finely cut, classic-lined signature dresses, coats and capes. His first collection on the official schedule of the Paris couture fashion runway shows of Paris Fashion Week was presented in 2006. Martin Grant began his career in Melbourne in the early 1980s and was named the Cointreau Young designer of the Year in Sydney.

Sarongs, saris and skirts 1970s -

Sarongs from Indonesia and saris from India have influenced the choice of cut in skirts and garment style for Australian women. Sarongs have been brought into Australia since around 1900, mainly from central Java, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Bali, Timor and Malaysia. Saris from Gujarat and Varanasi in India were notably brought into Australia from the 1950s. This influenced 'the look' of the 1960s and the hippy idiom.

In the 1970s, the sarong design became very popular through Mary Shackman who, after 1975, specialised in hand-painted and printed designs for her own resort wear ranges of t-shirts, sarongs and accessories. These sold through Country Road, Sportsgirl, Dynamite, Cherry Lane, Hot Shops, David Jones and Robert Burton. By the 1980s, the cut and style of sarongs came to dominate Australian beach wear and leisure wear and most Australian woman would have had at least one sarong style skirt in her wardrobe.

Fashion Promotion

Around 60 Australian labels are currently exporting their designs to boutiques and department stores in Asia, Europe and the United States. These have been helped variously by the fashion promotion events below.

Australian Fashion Weeks - Sydney and Melbourne

A photograph from 'The Source' exhibition of ready-to-wear apparel.

The Source @ RAFW . Courtesy of Rosemount Australian Fashion Weeks.

More than 150 Australian designers participate in the Australian Fashion Weeks each year - held twice each year with Spring/Summer collections in Sydney in May and Autumn/Winter collections in Melbourne in October and November. These events are attended by international fashion buyers and fashion media.

The Fashion Weeks also showcases the work of emerging designers. Especially noted by the fashion and beauty bible Vogue as designers to watch are Tina Kalivas, Claude Maus, Kit Willow Michelmore, Arabella Ramsay, and Gabriel Scarvelli.

Fashion Week includes an exhibition called The Source @ RAFW. A four-day event, The Source features ready-to-wear, streetwear, swimwear, men's and women's apparel, intimate apparel, footwear, and children's wear.

L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival

The Government of Victoria lays claim to being the leading fashion state in Australia, citing its participation not only in Fashion Week, but also as host of the Melbourne Fashion Festival, held each year in March. Established in 1997, it is a combined initiative which offers fashion-lovers a choice of catwalk shows, parties, product launches, exhibitions, and industry events to attend that capture the glamour and creativity of Australian fashion.

Careers

Many Australians have attracted international acclaim working in the fashion industry. As well as designing and textiles, other fashion-oriented careers include fashion journalism, fashion photography, make-up artistry, hairdressing, fashion styling, and of course, modelling. Aspiring designers in Australia usually complete a tertiary qualification, with the highest-profile course in Australia offered by Melbourne's RMIT.

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