I’m enjoying The Guardian’s Oz Stylewatch series, and wanted to share three pieces I found particularly interesting:

This article explains why it is so hard to find Australian-made shoes.

“Starting a fashion label in Australia is notoriously risky. Starting a footwear label is even harder. The production is more expensive; the makers are harder to find and more selective about who they’re willing to work with. Unless footwear craftsmanship becomes a hot new trade to learn, the mid-range shoe shortage isn’t going to change.”

Alyx Gorman explains how “office-ish” clothing is the new trend for Australia’s growing creative sector.

“This kind of clothing is office-ish. It takes workwear staples such as shirts and tailoring but changes the proportions and prints into something too quirky to pass for conventional business gear.”

Luxurious, bathrobe-esque coats are apparently the latest must-have for the Australian Winter, and have “muscled their way to ‘staple’ status”.

“Finally, a luxuriant bathrobe is a status symbol the high street cannot replicate. Without Max Mara’s specially milled cashmeres and wools (the real deal will cost you between $1,700 to upwards of $8,000, depending on fabrication and your fondness for fur trims), or Guo Pei’s yards of fur, these garments would be plain old cereal-and-milk encrusted dressing gowns. In a rich textile, the style is dangerous and beguiling, it begs ‘touch me’. It suggests you know what you’re doing. In a poly-wool blend, it simply says: ‘I have given up on wearing real clothes’.”

Fab Links from Our Members

Crutcher is blown away with Dixie of Inside Outer Style’s unique style and the fact that she wears hats so well.

Grammy-Award winning Chrisette Michele has launched a clothing line for “girls with curves”. Robin thinks it’s exciting to see more women of colour in the fashion industry, and, of course, to have clothes for a wide variety of bodies.

Brilliant ‘80s band Duran Duran goes down as the most stylish band of all time in Angie’s book. She LOVES the way they dress. Now the gents are 55 years young and looking better than ever promoting their new album. Go Team White Jeans.

If you love menswear and Italian accents as much as Skylurker, then this article and video on Pitti Uomo are for you.

This story about a plus-size Old Navy Shopper turning a fat shaming incident into a positive experience has been trending on Facebook. Daria has mixed feelings about it, and wonders what you think.

Autumn’s post about the Women’s World Soccer Cup really resonated with Lavinia, because this is exactly what she has been feeling as well.

L’Abeille found a roundup of comfortable and stylish flats, and because some are menswear-inspired she wanted to share some inspirational menswear looks as well.

“Shopping has to be fun,” Boscov said. “It’s not that you need anything. Shopping is entertainment and should be fun, and we have to remember that.” Vildy loved this quote from the chain store’s CEO Jim Boscov, and adds that she recently visited one of their department stores and thought it was delightful.