What are people in Canberra wearing?

by Steve Wright & Louisa DeSmet
29th March 2003

Good Cop

People in Canberra are at the dawn of a new era in fashion. Traipsing to Melbourne or Sydney to buy from new and interesting labels and shops are starting to become a thing of the past.

The new section of the Canberra Centre and the emergence of new independent stores such as Pink Inc, Rouge and Cow Boys and Angles are seeing greater access to designer labels from Canberra, Australian and other overseas Designers. The new big thing this season is the Military look and its here to stay. Epaulettes and cargos pockets stuck on everything will be the uniform until the end of the current issue in Iraq. This however is nothing new, history shows us that fashion is affected by war as much as anything else with Military looks becoming the norm in all past crisis.

Bad Cop

Unfortunately, since winter hasn't hit us completely, Canberra Casual will be with us for a few months longer. The new fashions will be only appreciated when the sun goes away fully. Individual style is a thing of the past. People just donít appreciate individualism anymore.

It could be that there aren't enough individual fashion shops in Canberra. Nearly every shopping mall has the same variety of clothing. The saddest thing of all is all the winter fashions are direct copies of the English chain store fashions. How many shops have the same khaki pocket jacket with epaulettes this is highly disappointing because there are so many designers who need a start.

Canberra has the opportunity to create a new style scene without being influenced by Sydney or Melbourne. Next time you go into your local mall to look for clothes, remember how many other people are going to be wearing the same clothes you are.