Abbie Chatfield stopped dressing for the male gaze and is happier than ever

Abbie Chatfield started dressing for herself and is ready to show the world her authentic self, but she says most of the magic happens when her stylist is pushing her out of her comfort zone.

Abbie Chatfield will always speak her mind – and wear her heart on her sleeve, so to speak.

She is who she is, and no, she won’t go to the Logies if she doesn’t want to.

But for years, she’s often dressed to attract “the male gaze”.

Today, head over heels in love with someone who is just as smitten – Peking Duk’s Adam Hyde, in case you didn’t know – she dresses for herself. She’s free to be show the world exactly who she is. And she loves it.

“I went through a period of time, probably for the past two years, where I didn’t really feel like I had a sense of self when it came to what I was wearing – because I was either getting dressed having to choose from clothes someone else had pulled for me – that was beautiful, but I had no say – or just wearing active wear walking the dogs. I didn’t really go out because I was working so much,” the candid FBoy Island host tells Insider.

“Because my job is so much about how I look and how I’m presenting myself, and obviously being a visual medium, you translate so much through an outfit … and the producers of the show and obviously Kim my amazing stylist – I just love so much – they really focus on (the clothes) really saying something.

“And I really care about what I wear.”

Abbie Chatfield loves that she can show the world who she really is.

Abbie Chatfield says there was a period of time where she didn’t feel like she had a sense of self.

She and reality TV stylist to the stars Kim Hurwitz have worked together for five years – since she was first on our screens for The Bachelor, in fact. Chatfield says their relationship works because they listen to each other and often the most magic happens when she’s pushed outside of her comfort zone.

“For the AACTAs, Kim styled me with Daniel Moore – he was the designer that made my little set, and that had a full skirt – so I am pushing myself out of trying to be just purely sexy, and now I’m trying to get more into, ‘What do I actually want to wear and what do I feel good in?’ And what do I think is a look – like an art look – rather than just trying to be … attracting the male gaze, to be honest,” she says.

“It’s interesting. I don’t even clock it until I’m doing a red carpet that I think, ‘Who’s gonna be there?’ … and I can feel myself being like, ‘Well is there anyone I want to sleep with there?’

“And that’s so stupid.

The reality star-turned host has stopped dressing for the male gaze and is wearing what she wants. Picture: Binge, Remco Jansen

“I should dress how I want to dress and in what I think is cool. So Kimmy has really helped me and encouraged me, getting me into things I wouldn’t usually wear – that have ended up being my favourite outfits.

“The reason why we work well together is we have very different personal styles and we dress very differently in our personal lives, but she reels in my ‘rough-around-the-edges’ style that I would wear out normally if I was dressing myself.

“And then she also listens to me when I say, ‘Absolutely not, veto.’

“And it isn’t a conversation or a fight – unless she really believes in it – and then she’d be like, ‘Let’s try it with these heels, let’s try it when you have hair and makeup on.’

“And then sometimes I’ll be like, ‘Oh, you were so right.’

“And there are dresses I look back on now, even from Bachelor days – that I go, ‘Oh, she was so right about that.’

“We listen to each other.”

Chatfield’s on-screen wardrobe puts the fun in FBoy. Her series two looks – always bright, colourful and unique, not a little black dress in sight – are some of her favourites. But in her personal life, a move away from fast fashion and a keen ethical and social conscience have taken her down the preloved path – and she loves that too.

Abbie Chatfield and her stylist Kim Hurwitz ditched the little black dress and swapped in more colourful looks for FBoy Island.

“It’s a really fun theme to be able to choose what you’re wearing get full glam, hair and makeup do a full look together as well with Helen, my makeup artist, and I don’t have to pay for it, so it’s great,” she laughs.

“In my personal life, I love Dion Lee and Ottolinger … I’m trying to not buy as many (high-end) brands like Area – even though I love them more than anything – but why am I paying $3000 for a dress I wear once and no one knows? It’s so stupid.

“The biggest thing for me, honestly, is trawling through Depop.

“I found a lot of second-hand Ottolinger there that I’ve loved, and a lot of vintage stuff.

“In my personal life, that’s what I’m trying to do now – even just to reduce my consumption – while that is hard in this industry, where I have to be on camera all the time.

“I also decided to really enjoy op-shopping again, which I didn’t for a long time.

“So I think that second-hand clothing, obviously, it’s harder – but if you’ve got time, you can really find some insane stuff on Depop that is way cheaper.

“Hire places are amazing, and also places like the Vault, where you can hire your clothes out – and I’m considering doing that, to then get more money to hire other clothes.

“It’s like a full-circle thing, where if I hire this out, I’ll have the cash to hire someone else’s designer dress.”

Abbie Chatfield has worked with stylist Kim Hurwitz since The Bachelor.

She loves Australian brand Sir, as well as RQ the label for their “chic, basic, really well-fitted corset tops, but not tie-up”, and loves pairing basics with a “sick pair of jeans”.

“So many Australian designers are doing amazing things that are really cool and not crazy expensive,” Chatfield says.

“And if you get a few cool pieces, and you can build on that.

“My biggest thing is – I think trend cycles have now gotten so fast, now everything is in – but nothing is in.

“That’s what I’ve noticed.

“Every shop has completely different stuff now, which is kind of refreshing because now I feel like there’s real freedom to dress however you want.

“And literally just choose pieces.

“Obviously there are some core basics that are always in – but I really do think trend cycles are so out of control now with fast fashion – that I’ve come back to like, ‘Okay, well everything is in and nothing is in’ – so what do I actually feel like wearing today?”

Abbie CHatfield says her relationship with Kim Hurwitz works because they listen to each other.

That’s where Kim Hurwitz – stylist for The Bachelor, Real Housewives and Love Island – comes in.

“This is Abbie in her element,” Hurwitz says of the new show, airing weekly on Binge.

“There definitely could not be a more well suited show for her.

“We have so much fun.

“People love her, and that definitely makes my job a little bit easier, because so many brands do want to work with her, which is always great.

“But after season one, I still look back at some of those looks and they’ll still be some of our favourites, but then this season, she messages me on WhatsApp and are constantly sharing pictures and images of things she sees on Instagram, anything she’s seen a celebrity wear to the Oscars – she’ll send it through and say like, ‘I love the neckline’, or ‘I love the print’, and then that acts as the inspiration.

“And then I start to search high and low.”

The hardest part, she says, is making Chatfield feel like the young female TV host she is – without taking away her authority.

Abbie Chatfield and Kim Hurwitz are constantly sharing outfit ideas with one another.

“There’s not that many female young hosts,” Hurwitz says.

“So it’s about making her look like she has a bit of authority as the host, but not like she’s older, so it’s quite like a tough brief – to make her look the part, but also keep her in her own style file.

“Even though her role is the same this season, we’re still trying to recreate the wheel constantly so there’s nothing that you’ll be like, ‘Oh I’ve seen that before.’

“The viewer tunes in and a large part, I believe, of what people are excited to see is what she’s gonna look like, how her hair’s gonna be styled what she’s wearing.

“It’s a really interesting part of that show, so we’re constantly trying to keep it interesting for people.”

Keeping it interesting is easy for a personality as unapologetically big, and forthright as Chatfield.

“That’s one thing that I think people love is you’re not sure what to expect when you see her and an outfit, and isn’t predictable, so that keeps even me on my toes for sure,” Hurwitz laughs.

“We look back at some of those outfits over the years and it’s just crazy how everything has changed – her whole aesthetic, all of our style has changed over the last five years.

“You can tell as soon as Abbie puts on something, and she feels good, it just helps everything come together. So I really feel like this season she was just in her element.”
That may mean lime green, fluoros, multi colours and really bright things – or latex in chocolate brown.

No colour was off-limits for Abbie Chatfield in the upcoming season of Fboy Island.

“Little mini dresses, she loves feathers – mixing it up with some latex different lengths – I like that every time you see her, you couldn’t bet money on it because it’s always going to be just such a different vibe,” Hurwitz says.

“Label wise, we worked closely with Daniel Moore Couture, he’s a local Australian designer who designed a couple of custom pieces including her finale dress, which is an incredible fully beaded dress that the fabric had been hand beaded in India and then we had to import it from Europe.

“One of her favourite stores is Girls With Gems, and they have you some local brands, Aussie brands like Sneaky Link, which is probably less available, it’s exclusive to them, so that’s always a great one because they’ve got great pieces that are very accessible, you can purchase it online, but it’s just not too heavily out there yet. And then sometimes it’s about pairing a shoe that could be from Zara or ASOS with an expensive dress.”

FBoy Island is showing now on Binge.