Out of Line

Australian fashion is often accused of being derivative; Australian designers of foisting copies of European designs on the unsuspecting consumer; Australian women of slavishly of slavishly following European fashion. But is this really the way Australian women's fashion works? This work argues that Australian women's fashion may be superficially derivative, but that quite distinctive patterns of wearing resonate in their dress. Challenging beliefs that a specific national identity is exclusive to men's dress, it rethinks the notion that European couture is merely imposed on female consumers.