1 day ago
11
The second day of Australian Fashion Week began with male models, who have never had to concern themselves with looksmaxxing, stalking the sands of Tamarama Beach in Commas’ seaside show.
Wearing flowing resort pieces befitting the stretch of sand’s Glamarama nickname, these chiselled men could have been Dieter Brummer strolling the shores of Summer Bay in Home and Away or Patrick Schwarzenegger in The White Lotus, depending on your age and preference for number of buttons undone.
Part of the inspiration for Commas creative director and founder Richard Jarman’s striped rugby tops and work shirts, worn with matching cropped trousers in indigo and tobacco, was cricket.
“It’s one of those rare sports where people actually dress up, but then they roll their sleeves up, they relax, things get lived in,” Jarman says. “Think about the way someone like Steve Smith describes getting dressed. It’s high-low, it’s well-considered but functional.”
Sport is the traditional approach from brands persuading Australian men to open their wallets and their wardrobes. It’s why labels such as MJ Bale and RM Williams dress rugby players and Olympians, ignoring the runway.
Melbourne designer Christian Kimber has dressed his fair share of sports stars, with former AFL player Isaac Smith taking to the runway on Thursday for his AFW show, but finds that pop culture moments increasingly have customers placing orders.
“The TV series The Gentlemen worked very well for us,” says Kimber, who plans to showcase his more relaxed pieces alongside his Italian-inspired tailoring.
Handbag collector and Oscar nominee Jacob Elordi is also influencing the attitudes of younger customers.
“He’s so amazing because he’s giving a lot of confidence to Australian men,” says Kimber. “He’s quite a masculine Australian man, but he is quite fluid with his fashion.”
“It’s a style we can see men tapping into, although most of our customers don’t carry Birkin bags.”
With Thursday’s show Kimber is hoping to shed his reputation for considered Melbourne layers with more relaxed pieces and grow his customer base.
“We’ve always focused on our own climate,” Kimber says. “As we try and grow to different states and different cities, we definitely, want to push our resort collection further. But we will push at our own pace.”
Jarman is looking much further afield, beyond the waves at Tamarama, as a matter of continued survival and success.
“We can’t survive on Australia alone,” Jarman says. “We have a global market. Our business is led by Europe, followed by the Middle East, and UK. Australia has given us our identity and the world has allowed us to thrive with this business.”
It’s a formula that’s working.
“Australian customers want things that work at the beach and at dinner the same evening. International customers buy into a vision of that lifestyle. They’re purchasing the fantasy of an Australian summer.”
