Welcome to the first in our series: “Fashion Tribes”, first published in Spectrum/The Saturday Age/The Sydney Morning Herald. In the few minutes, you’ll meet Melbourne’s Tailored Men, Racetrack Fashionistocrats, Denim Nerds, Sneaker Heads and Bush Doof and Festival Girls, connoisseurs of the myriad styles that we can all harvest to amplify who we are as individuals and, in a glance, the tribe we belong to………..
Click back tomorrow to meet our Tailored Men, the first of five up-close and personals.
So, who’s tribe are you?
Words: Janice Breen Burns Photographs: Simon Schluter
On a sunny Saturday I’m walking: CBD first, then out to the ‘burbs. I’ve set myself a task, a kind of field survey of urban fashion tribes: who are they, what are they wearing?
And, just to be clear; we’re not talking fascinatingly radical sartorial sub-cultures here. No, this walking field trip is more about your ordinary urban sartorial sub-clusters. You and me. Yours and mine.
The Age, Spectrum. FAshion Tribes series , Music Festival girls. story by Jan Breen Burns. Pic Simon Schluter 18 October 2018.
We’ve harvested our wardrobes from the same vast pool of pants and frocks and whotnots and cobbled combinations that we know – or hope – speak volumes about who we are. But even more compelling, to my mind, is how the cut of our jib is also a beacon for who we belong to, and who belongs to us.
The Age, Spectrum. FAshion Tribes series , Sneaker Freakers. story by Jan Breen Burns. Pic Simon Schluter 18 October 2018.
Our tribe, in other words, is written in our pants (and frocks, cardigans, etcetera). In fact, our tribes, plural, because we constantly switch; sometimes boldly, sometimes ever-so-subtly, to comply with the dress codes of our social and professional groupings. (Aren’t we clever?)
So I go walking, first up Swanston, down Bourke, along Elizabeth, up Collins, where Outer Melbourne trains in to shop on weekends. Then to Malvern, where Middle Melbourne resides in leafy prosperity; and shops along Glenferrie and the fancy fashion strip down High Street.
By mid-afternoon I’ve clocked more than 30 tribes and observed their most obvious tricks of dressing to belong. I’ve jotted “arty mature women” beside “black layers, Camper flats, backpacks” for example, and “neo-hipster girls” next to “vintage frocklets, ruby lips, short bangs”.
The Age, Spectrum. FAshion Tribes series , The denim aficionados story by Jan Breen Burns. Pic Simon Schluter 18 October 2018.
For “global logo athleisure combos and flash sneakers” I’ve identified the “cashed-up international students” tribe, and I’ve hitched “messily knotted ponytails, hot-brand layered yogawear and cool prams” to “new working mums”.
The Age, Spectrum. FAshion Tribes series , FAshions on the field ladies. story by Jan Breen Burns. Pic Simon Schluter 18 October 2018.
The longer I walk and write, the more blindingly obvious all our tribal tropes appear: Lycra-ed, middle-aged men, for example, hobbling clickclack beside gobsmackingly fancy tech bikes. I know you. And, slick-suited/groomed/perfumed real estate agents (looking slightly more harried and hungry than usual this Saturday), I know you too. And one of my favourites, peppering both city and suburban streets: the long-married elders tribe in neat, modest, often beige ensembles of archival cardigans and slacks.
The Age, Spectrum. FAshion Tribes series , the tailored men. story by Jan Breen Burns. Pic Simon Schluter 18 October 2018.
