“Menswear has changed – if you’re going to wear a suit now,maybe it’s more special,something more exciting,maybe you push it a bit,” Melbourne-based Kimber says.
In the post-lockdown era,a duality has emerged:events have returned en masse,and many of them are attracting formal dress codes (sometimes unjustifiably);and people are dressing more for an occasion,even a feeling,than to a prescribed code.
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Stylist Karla Clarke says the looser rules give more freedom,but also more,perhaps even too much,choice. She says event dressing has sadly become quite uniform,“homogenised,and in black”,and welcomes a bending,not a breaking,of the rules.
“Black tie in Australia doesn’t mean ‘black-black’ tie – we’re a bit more relaxed,and people just don’t know what it really means,” she says. “[Most people] wouldn’t know it means not seeing an ankle[on women].”
That maxim was well and truly smashed on day one of fashion week,when Alemais opened the week with a feast of formal looks that leaned heavily into disco with a touch of Alice in Wonderland surrealism.