Putting the #Straya back into Australian fashion – from koala corsages to bush gear, antipodean style is having a moment
‘Straya’, Australians’ mocking term for their country, is a cliché with cachet as Australiana comes back into vogue. Think trendy takes on the Akubra hat, kangaroo T-shirts, mullet haircuts, and that new Melania Trump scarf
“Straya” is trending – one million hashtags and counting on Instagram alone. It’s the Australian slang term for Australia, best said in the broadest Aussie accent.
Normally used tongue-in-cheek to denote anything that’s clichéd Australian, the word is close to being an unofficial promotional term for Tourism Australia, used by locals and international visitors alike to flag images celebrating the Australian lifestyle and landscape.
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Coincidentally, the hashtag’s growing popularity dovetails with a rekindling of fashion enthusiasm for Australiana, not seen since the 1980s.
That was the decade when Sydney artist Ken Done’s Australiana merchandise was all the rage, Princess Diana was photographed in a koala-emblazoned jumper from Sydney designer Jenny Kee and Grease co-star Olivia Newton-John launched over 40 Koala Blue stores across the US, Japan, Canada, France and Australia, selling Australian fashion and memorabilia.
A quarter of a century after Koala Blue closed, Australiana was seen all over the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia catwalks this year. It included Dion Lee’s collaborations with “bush outfitters” RM Williams and Akubra, and mullet haircuts at Strateas, Carlucci, Akira and Ten Pieces shows. The latter brand also showed an Ugg-style “Sharpie boot”, a nod to the 1970s Australian Sharpies youth subculture.