Any Australian members?? How do you feel about Australia's fashion?

[therawpower]

Which Australia brand is your favorite?? How do you feel about australia fashion??
I have a feeling that Australia is a bit left out in the fashion world...is it just me?

 

[Desi]

Is a lot of mid-priced brands for men still on that Goth Ninja tip (ex. Chronicles of Never) or flashy sportwear?

I used to follow Australian menswear a couple years go. Still on the mailing list for a handful of shops.

 

[50two]

I love Dion Lee and thats about it. I don't think Australian fashion design is particularly "bad" or anything, but I find his aesthetic appeals to me quite a lot. And its nothing derivative of New York fashion week thank god.

 

[deer_st0p]

I'm not too familiar with many of Austrailia's brands, but there is one Claude Maus that has a few interesting items....though it's rather hard to find. Only a few online stores carry it.

 

[senorgemma]

I'm with 50two, I only like Dion Lee. Oh and sass & bide. I don't really like Australian fashion very much, and Australian Vogue is horrendous!

 

[mrsjamesdean]

A lot of Australian brands doesn't really suit my aesthetic... I like Bassike and that's all I can think of but I'm sure I have odd pieces here and there from brands I don't usually buy.

 

[gnarlitude]

What about Josh Goot!

 

[barbiestolemyDVN]

^ yea dion lee, josh goot, romance was born, friedrich gray, are some of my favourites

 

[GeniedeMelbourne]

Street style is unbelievably bad.

Labels I like are: Claude Maus, Romance Was Born, Lover, Dion Lee and Tina Kalivas.

 

[senorgemma]

^I think it depends where for street style, Melbourne (where I live) has amaaazing street style sometimes, and sometimes it's just everyone being clones as each other *sigh*.
Ohh can't believe I forgot about Josh Goot! And yeah Romance Was Born is very nice too.

 

[rox_yr_sox]

When I was much younger, I followed the Australian scene and read Vogue Australia (and had little contact international fashion) and thought it was great then. Nowadays, after so much exposure to international fashion, so much of Australian 'high' fashion looks derivative and amateur.

There are a few gems, as people have mentioned (Josh Goot, Dion Lee), but for the most part, designers who show in the fashion weeks here are so influenced by overseas sometimes you can barely see any originality.

I have to disagree about Romance Was Born though, who are one of the most over-hyped designers in recent years. I find most of the stuff they make horrendously ugly. I remember some Kirstie Clements quote from after she'd just seen their show: something like (and I'm paraphrasing) "oh, they're ready for Paris, so extremely talented". Woman, are you blind?

As for cheaper, everyday clothes. I struggle to find things I really like.

 

[therawpower]

I agree with senorgemma that people tend to clone each other's style....aussie tend to wear the SAME THING, and i rarely see people wearing high heels during the day...
perhaps the only aussie magazine i found inspiring is RUSSH at the moment....
as for brands, i like LOVERS and Tristan Blair.

 

[makeitawful]

I find Australian fashion so draining and dissapointing. I don't shop online so I just basically get what I can at the stores and that bums me out because the choice (especially for guys) is so limited. I find shopping to be the most draining thing and I tend to get really quite grumpy during it. I love fashion but Australia really isn't the place for it. As much as it tries, it's just always a bit cringe worthy. The worst thing about it is, it's so uninspiring.

 

[mrsjamesdean]

I think Australian fashion is bland compared to every other fashion cities simply because-I'm just generalising- most people don't really care about fashion and high end brands. This is probably why Aus is noted to be 'laid back' hence why not a lot of people wear heels during the day(referencing previous post) and in conjunction it can be seen with the LACK of availability of high brands or simple retail stores (H&M, Topshop etc). I mean if there was a huge demands for designers than stores would have happen ages ago. I.e even Vietnam has Balenciaga store or and Australia doesn't... though there has some improvement with Sydney's Westfield opening some new stores.

 

[darkglass2009]

I think there a handful of Australian designers that are fantastic- the ones that come to mind and that are my personal favourites at the moment are Arnsdorf, Tina Kalivas, Akira Isogawa, Karla Spetic, TV, Josh Goot, Dion Lee, Dress Up and Gary Bigeni.

Australia is a small country though (by population) and we are far away so it's not surprising that we have less exposure internationally. But I think slowly but surely interest in Australian labels is growing, both in Aus and overseas. And yep generally most people are pretty laid back with dressing but I also think that is slowing changing too, but then I'm from Melbourne where there are lots of really wonderfully dressed/fashion conscious people so I can't really comment on other cities.

 

[lucy92]

ive never been to australia, but i really admire alice mccall, lover and willow.

i wish these brands were more available in the states.

 

[pandapoo]

i really miss having australian brands at my fingertips. my favorites were/are kirrily johnston and lover. two VERY different brands but i feel like i dont have a distinct, straightforward style and these are the ones i admire the most.
romance was born is always very interesting and i have one of their pieces, i would love to have more, but even in sydney it was never as accessible as many other brands.
gary bigeni is a recent addition to my list of loves.

 

[misspistol]

I adore Akira and Easton Pearson.
A lot of Aussie designers seem to rip off popular designs for our slightly delayed market and street style is generally pretty tragic although whoever mentioned well dressed people in Melbourne on the previous page was right. Melbourne has some amazingly dressed people!

 

[Sea Of Love]

I used to hate Australian brands, i found them unncessarily(sp?) pretentious or as I like to say "big hat, no cattle". Brands like sass and Bide, Wayne Cooper, Alex Perry and worst of all Alana Hill make me want to vomit in my mouth - all this hype for basically fugly mediocre clothes. However, in the past probably 2 years I have found a few Australian designers that I really like being Easton Pearson, Akira Isogawa and Lover so I have come round to a certain extent and will stick with the ones I like and have nothing to do with the ones I hate.

I think the problem with Australian fashion is that
1. we as a culture diss anything that is 'home-made' sort of like a warped version of tall poppy syndrome. Where we might see a photo of a french womans steet style we are enamoured with the details whereas we see a photo of an Australian woman and instantly pic apart the bad bits.
2. It is very trend and 'scene' based which only really caters for a small amount of Australian's that are into this style. We love the classic style but then opens the wardrobe and throws on their hipster-clone uniform.
3. we are 6 months behind because of the different seasons and there is no way the europeans will follow australian designers making us the ones that are behind in the season.
4. The population is so small that it doesn't really warrant the bigger stores opening in Australian so there is only so much choice.
5. It is similar to sports, you may play tennis at the local Sydney tennis club and be a superstar but then you go to Wimbledon and come a dire last because you can't compare against the 'big-guns'. Basically you are only as good as your competition (in dressing) and Australia is not on a world fashion scale so even our best fashionistas don't compare.

And now I am rambling to much and not making sense.

 

[siene]

I guess Australian fashion still has a long way to go. I hate how our clothes are too set on following trends, they pass so quickly and its difficult to find beautiful classic pieces. Our street style isn't fantastic, we're miles behind Europe and the States in that sense, i guess its due to following trends, so we're all wearing similar things and it makes us predictable and bland. I agree that we are behind in seasons, but in a sense it should make us more advanced to know what to expect in upcoming seasons.