What to wear to Australian Fashion Week? It seems everyone got the same brief. Or … briefs.
“I didn’t wanna have that dirty look where I’m just wearing lingerie – I wanted to make it fashion,” says Fatemeh Mozafai, 28, a nurse who’s strutting around for photographers in a see-through net dress that shows off her white underwear.
She’s not attending a runway show. She is the runway show. Camera’s flash.
“The look just came to me. I was at the shops three hours ago. I had no idea what I was gonna wear. I went to the shops and I saw this dress. And I thought it would be nice if I just ripped out the lining and didn’t wear anything underneath.”
The net dress was $71. The jocks totalled $45 from Cotton On. The ensuing attention? Priceless.
“This is the first time I’ve done this kind of look – it’s very new for me.”
The annual week-long style event is flooded with influencers, models and anyone who wants to be someone. They all descend on Sydney’s Carriageworks – an industrial former railway yard that’s transformed into fashion ground zero – with the mission of making a statement.
This year, less is more. What you see is what you get – whether you want to, or not. Exposed underwear – visible briefs, bras and G-bangers under sheer dresses – has slipped off the runways and onto the streets.
“More people are starting to do it lately. It’s taken off and gotten more into mainstream. I think you can really see it this Fashion Week,” says beauty queen Maddy May, 27.
She gestures towards her chest.
“This is a sheer lace bra under a sheer lace top.”
Sheer on sheer. A recipe for disaster? The potential danger is what’s keeping Maddy warm on this chilly evening.
Fashion writer Glynis Traill-Nash isn’t convinced of the trend. She ponders the topic aloud while walking through the crowd, her eyes landing on several visible butts.
“Edgy, yes. … Chic? I don’t think so,” she says.
“Everyone’s very body-positive these days and I’m very applauding of that but I couldn’t do it. I sound so old … but leave a little to the imagination.”
On cue, videographer Polina Andreeva, 26, walks past. Her black Rick Owens lingerie set, which retails for close to a $1000, is on full display beneath a sheer yellow frock (“it’s vintage H&M”).
She says she usually pulls out this look when she’s going on a date. How do the blokes react?
“It’s usually straight to the hospital,” she says. “But I always get a call back.”
Model Ellie Williams, 21, is braving the 13 degree temps in a G-string underneath a see-through dress. She says the cold is the least of her worries.
“You’ve got to be prepared for it, because you are practically naked and that can be a little stressful sometimes,” she says. “And I do enjoy an exposed whale tail – I’m a Y2K girly through and through. A low-rise jean and a G-banger that’s up to my lower back is perfect.”
She wasn’t even born in 2001 when Gwen Stefani supercharged the whale tail phenomenon in the video clip for the song Let Me Blow Ya Mind with rapper Eve.
Neither was stylist Isaiah Ilagan, 19, who’s showing off the slinky straps of his thong.
“I’ll do a G-string when I’m feeling more feminine and then if I’m feeling more masculine I’ll do a brief waistband showing,” he says.
Tonight’s string of Lycra floss is from Amazon.
“Don’t @ me,” he says of the cheap and cheerful strip of fabric. “I got a pack of five for 20 bucks.”
What are the rules of wearing underwear as outerwear? A value pack of Bonds briefs usually won’t cut it.
“You can’t just wear any underwear. It has to be a thong,” says Regina Hayju. “I get a lot of looks.”
Ali Kitinas is wearing La Perla, which can retail for up to $600. And on top she’s wearing … doesn’t matter.
Even the boys are getting on board – showing off the waistbands of their Calvin Kleins and Tommy Hilfiger briefs.
Model James Parr, 27, has his low-slung CK jeans hovering just below his hip bone to show off the silver elastic of his CK jocks. But it’s a delicate manoeuvre.
“I can’t move too much because my pants will fall down,” he says.
And that would be too much.