Depending where you are in Australia, the chill of winter can be anywhere between the bitingly cold, to the more moderate cold mornings and crisp days. For the diversity of the cooler weather, you need to be just as prepared for something that can offer some respite from the cold, but maybe not as heavy to be sitting in discomfort when the sun eventually warms up.

Enter the lighter zip-up jacket. Constructed from anything from cotton poplin, to polyester, or even more luxurious expressions in silk, it’s an ideal inter-seasonal piece that isn't a proper winter jacket, that will carry you from sunrise to sunset as the weather makes its first or final turn for the day. A piece that has been appropriated by the club community, for the early-morning journey home from the venue; to sportswear, where it’s the ideal extra layer for a warm-up; or racing, where team jerseys are often kitted out in team livery.

For Afterpay Australian Fashion Week, perhaps no seasonal collection name than ‘Resort’ best encompasses the presence of these light, in-between jackets. Resort shoulders the period between spring/summer shows and their autumn/winter siblings. These sportier jackets straddle that period, and define most of our dressing styles then.

Sign up to the Vogue newsletter

At Maggie Marilyn, held under the setting sun in Sydney’s Rushcutters Bay at the Royal Australian Navy Sailing Association, the unlined spray jacket took on its maritime edge. Trimmed with preppy bolts of red and blue in the collar of an eggshell-white jacket. The typical sailing spray jacket is built for the days out on the water where inclement weather can spell doom, but still needs to be light enough not to restrict movement.

Later again, the sporty jacket became more transparent, now an even lighter garment with which to just throw over an outfit. Both nautically inspired inflections, they're pulling the idea of a simple cover, or blouson-cut that, out on the street, is a simple finishing piece to the delicate balance of autumnal layers. 

Sign up to the Vogue newsletter

Fashion has leaned into club culture for years; internationally, Prada, Burberry, and Givenchy have all tapped into the ’90s rave scene that emerged out of the English Midlands. Years ago, those parties by highways and in warehouses cemented a uniform for euphoric ravers that has carried through generations. Baggy, polyester—something breathable—tracksuit sets that made long hours of dancing a breeze.

At Verner, the colour-blocked jackets of years past were layered over ruffled skirts—a look that wouldn’t seem out of place if seen from the quick dash from club door to the awaiting ride home. Whether thrown on over a dress, or paired with its matching pants—seen on another look in the show—today it's as dressy as you want to make it.

Sign up to the Vogue newsletter

Echoed again at Wynn Hamlyn, the rave-ready uniform was matched with baggy stonewashed jeans in menswear and the unofficial club-shoe of Generation Z—the Salomon XT-6. Where Verner the crinkled finish of the material was more downplayed, at revved-up Wynn Hamlyn there was a glowing metallic sheen giving that extra edge to the jacket.

The underground ’90s rave-aesthetic revival, while it might seem contradictory to see it now so popular out in the open, embodies this edgier take on streetwear that is slowly becoming one with higher fashion. Gowns with cropped blousons, moto jackets with tailored pants—whether seen on the street style set, or the runway, the ubiquity of these styles of jackets are showing no sign of slowing down.

Maybe too, it’s their all-encompassing silhouette, which lends them a handy genderless edge that is lending to their staying presence at shows. Styled between menswear and womenswear with ease.

Internationally, designers like Martine Rose have made track jackets an integral part of collections, a nod to the designer’s roots in electronic music, sport, as well as ’80s and ’90s counterculture. Here however, these jackets are ideal for the hard-to-prepare for interseasonal weather, of which that period of the year is constantly in flux.

Taking a leaf from the AAFW designers’ books; whether your jacket is for the club or a day out, it is always better to be prepared.

Sign up to the Vogue newsletter

See more coverage from AAFW 2023 below:

All the street style from day 1 of Australian Fashion Week

The best dressed men at Australian Fashion Week

Inside Bondi Born's Resort 2024 runway show

All the street style trends spotted at Australian Fashion Week 2023

What the Vogue team wore to fashion week 2023