Global Trend Report '08 - Melbourne

Australia has gone monochrome. Colors are out and black, white, and gray are in. Most guys have a good pair of vintage leather dress shoes. Skinny black or blue jeans have been staples forever, and given the summer heat wave, they’re often worn simply with a plain t-shirt. A casual hoodie and black leather jacket are then added at night. Boy’s hair is generally pretty short, and some are keeping it long on top and at the front. No surprises here.

When the weather cools, we’ll start to see a lot of fitted plaid shirts. The key thing for men is keeping it pretty basic while remaining smart and neat. Still, they don’t shy away from the giant man purse on occasion. (Ew.)

There are thousands of expensive vintage stores here that have done the manual labor of sorting out the shit from the gold so they can justify charging $75 for a jacket. Cute girls who can pull off a weird mix-and-match look will often blow you away with a wacky combo, like a white lace dress with white socks over leopard-print tights and perfectly matched brown leather accessories. This can really only be mastered by a select few, and we bow before them in awe.

Interesting leggings, which cost almost as much as jeans, are everywhere and are often worn with a cute pair of vintage pumps with little bows. Dresses are loose and comfortable. A cropped vintage leather jacket finishes off the look.

Some girls are still trying to convince everyone else that high-waisted jeans are a good idea, and they will generally team them with a tight bodysuit or tank top with some dainty detailing. But you can only wear this if you’re anorexic (or, to be more politically correct, if you “have a high metabolism”). Everyone else will appear to have mom-jeans pouch syndrome, which is kind of like a kangaroo pouch, which is actually kind of funny because, you know, Australia.

Summers get really hot in Australia, and it’s tempting to bare your little piggies by wearing flip-flops. Ugh. Strappy leather Jesus-y sandals are slowly replacing the cheap dime-store flop, so there is a tiny consolation in that. But still, weird sandals? Do you really want to go out like that?

Photos: Jessie French