Australia’s fashion heritage

Australia isn’t generally thought of as a country with a long and illustrious fashion heritage. It’s a relatively young country and, in turn, is a relative newcomer to the fashion industry, but that doesn’t mean our culture hasn’t started to have an influence. It’s the lifestyle of Australia that’s been the lifeblood of fashion and it’s starting to have an impact in how we design, with our multicultural yet laid-back nature fuelling designs and making fashion part of our identity.

The diversity of Australia means we can effectively cherry-pick different styles from around the world and incorporate them into our own designs, with our relatively young heritage leaving us with a blank canvas to suit our laid-back lifestyle. This has resulted in a highly eclectic mix of styles and looks, with casual designs being the order of the day. Of course, our landscape and climate has had a huge influence on home-grown designers—bright colours and prints reflect our beautiful scenery, and it’s no wonder we do so well with spring/summer collections around the world. With light, soft fabrics and beautiful designs it’s as much about comfort as anything else, offering the perfect mix of form and function.

And now, it seems that the cool, casual style of Australian fashion is making its mark in the international arena. Australian designers are quickly taking their place on catwalks around the world with several having been spotted during London Fashion Week over the last few days, and a lot of Anglo brands are making their way over here too (think TopShop, ASOS etc.). This is helping to solidify Australia in the fashion stakes making our country one to watch, and it’ll be great to see how fashion changes and adapts over the coming years to keep in-line with our beautiful, eclectic and stunningly diverse country.