This is why menswear has never been so interesting
Designers are reimagining Australian style as men show they are more willing to experiment with the way they dress.
You’d need only look at actor Oscar Isaac looking resplendent in one of luxury American brand Thom Browne’s preppy-with-a-twist grey skirt suits, or Jeff Goldblum’s penchant for vibrant camp sleeve shirts, Timothee Chalamet in backless Haider Ackermann and leather vests on the red carpet and any number of the dapper gents loitering outside the fashion shows anywhere around the world to realise there has been a major shift in menswear.
This is reflected on international runways where key trends in recent seasons have included everything from super-baggy denim to suits worn without shirts and technicolour swirls at the likes of Louis Vuitton and Versace. Men are embracing double denim and soft tailoring, florals and leather.
As more, and new, menswear brands join the Afterpay Australia Fashion Week schedule, this sense of liberation and experimentation will be reflected in the kinds of clothes shown on the runway this week.
Jeremy Hershan, founder and creative director at Australian menswear brand Haulier, whose career includes stints at Savile Row tailor Gieves & Hawkes and Australian brand RM Williams, will show his first presentation for his brand this season.
Hershan, who started his brand with one signature – stylish but practical – canvas tote bag and has since evolved it into a collection of well-made, cool separates (singer Joe Jonas recently wore one of the brand’s red washed suede jackets) says Australian men are more willing to experiment with the way they dress.
Having spent 10 years away and then returned to Australia in 2015, he has observed Australian men, and fashion brands, evolve.
“I think men are not afraid now to forge their own path. I think in the past Australia was a little bit more reluctant to have its own point of view in terms of fashion, and particularly in menswear. But I think in the last (few years) there’s been some great trailblazers in the menswear scene in Australia that has encouraged men to kind of dress with a little bit more flavour and inspiration. I think that’s where Haulier comes in,” he says.
Melbourne-based designer Christian Kimber, winner of the 2019 National Designer Award and Savile Row trained, also joined the AAFW schedule for the first time, showing on Tuesday.
His clientele ranges in age from around 28 to men in their 70s – all of them, says Kimber, with a sense of curiosity and an interest in life’s pleasures such as style and art and travel – are adapting their wardrobes to changed ideas around dress codes, formal dressing and what to wear to the (hybrid) office now.
He says men still want to look, and feel, as good as they might have once done suiting up for the 9-5 every day.
“I think there’s been a massive shift. Covid fast-forwarded where menswear was going anyway, it was becoming more casual. It was becoming less about full suits and most of my guys don’t wear suits unless they need to for a meeting. So how do you still feel as good as you did in that suit in your casual clothes? Something we think about a lot about is what’s the solution for that guy who’s not wearing a suit any more but still going into the same environment? Maybe it’s a chino in the same shape and soft tailoring. We do a lot of over-shirts and pieces that fit between it pieces that fill that void,” he says.
“Clothing is about emotion and that feeling for me. So if we can make people feel as good as they did in those clothes, then that’s why they’ll come back to us.”
Wynn Crawshaw, creative director of New Zealand brand Wynn Hamlyn, which showed both menswear and womenswear at AAFW, says the breaking down of dressing rules means he has seen more fluidity in how people get dressed. Men, he says, also want to have more fun.
“Menswear has become more casual, fluid and open to breaking out of traditional looks. We see this in our brand as many men wear pieces from both our women’s and men’s collections and vice versa,” he says.
“I think in markets globally, the menswear fashion industry is crying out for newness and a different perspective. As I mentioned above, I see this as a shift away from traditional and making everyday dressing more fun. Australia is no different – bold colours, prints and contemporary silhouettes are livening up the designer contemporary space.”
Australian designer Anna Quan, who celebrates 10 years of her brand this year, also has introduced more unisex pieces on her runway. She says it simply made sense.
“It just seems like a natural progression for the brand as we already have men buying into some of our pieces online,” she says.
“The male customer wants versatile investment pieces that they can buy once and wear over and over.”
Other new menswear entrants to AAFW this year include First Nations fashion labels Gali Swimwear and Joseph & James, which will debut the first menswear collections at the David Jones Indigenous Fashion Projects runway on Wednesday, which will showcase the designs of seven Indigenous fashion brands. Meanwhile Gary Bigeni showed the brand’s signature colourful and joyful gender neutral designs.
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