The history of Australia has been shaped by clothing, and the persons who wore, designed, or created it, from works of political opposition to tools of tyranny.
This is the part that style played in six of the nation’s historical events.
Embarrassing Annette Kellerman
With her dress, Annette Kellerman astounded onlookers. ( Sears Studio/NPG supplied )
First, let’s go back to Annette Kellerman, a pioneering Sydney diver and later clothing custom, at the turn of the 20th century.
According to fashion journalist Glynis Traill-Nash on ABC Television’s The Approach We Wore,” She was a crazy cat—a champ swimmer and diver and silent film star.”
I mean, is there anything this woman was n’t accomplish?
Kellerman’s occupation and fame were forged in the early 1900s by the feminist movement and the first feminism wave.
Women were beginning to gravitate toward wearing more useful clothing at the time, especially in Australia with our unusual environment.
Before she started acting in motionless, underground movies, Kellerman was a hero diver. National Film and Sound Archive ( supplied )
However, despite the engagement, it was still considered impolite for women to show their meat.
Because of this, when Kellerman visited the US in 1907 and put on a dress of her own design, there was quite the uproar.
According to a statement from Mackay’s Regular Mercury in 1953,” The svelte Miss Kellerman gained most notoriety of all when she scandalized the bathers on Revere Beach in Boston by walking down to the water wearing one-piece swimmers.”
” Shocked women covered their eyes and reached for their smelling salts, and powerful men turned pale at the shocking look.”
Kellerman persisted in the new fashion and finally debuted her own clothing line.
She did this in response to the growing need among American women for greater autonomy and empowerment over their own bodies.
According to Traill- Nash,” You may claim Annette Kellerman kicked off the modern swimsuit for women.”
She “gave them an example of anyone… wearing something useful, that gave them freedom of movement.”
colonization and clothing
Clothing can be about representation or power, but it can also be used as a form of control.
Nakkiah Lui, a poet, artist, director, Gamilaroi and Torres Strait Islander person, asserts that” Clothing played an enormous part in colonization.”
According to Lui, there is a long history of American institutions using clothing as” a tool of oppression.”
She recalls that they had a scheme known as the Clean, Clad, and Courteous in the late 1800s.
” You needed to keep yourself tidy. You had to dress appropriately, been polite, and have the proper habits.
Queensland’s Indian schoolchildren dressed in European garb in the late 19th or early 20th century. ( State Library Of Queensland supplied )
The scheme was applied to determine whether Indian children could enroll in public schools.
Lui notes that during the Stolen Generation, clothing and appearance were also used to support the removal of Indian kids.
” This is so new in the background of Australia. The kids could be taken, she claims, if their clothes were filthy or their hair did n’t look right.
Clothing was used as a tool to maintain the Stolen Generations scheme, which was actually murder.
Clothing has actually been used to dehumanize and persecute persons.
According to Lui, colonization was greatly influenced by clothing. ( Supplied )
Pink social short
Don Dunstan, a former South Australian Labor leading, elevated the notion that fashion was politically charged.
In 1972, Dunstan showed up to a gathering of state and territory rulers in Canberra wearing an all-white t-shirt and vibrant red pants.
Popular green clothes by Don Dunstan are currently available from the History Trust of South Australia. ( Supplied: Mark Eckermann’s History Trust )
According to the tale, he snuck out of a side door and went in front of the now-Old Parliament House to have his picture taken because, in his haste to make sure it made article information.
Dazzling Don Dunstan repeats” The hour magazine ran with the title.” According to fashion historian Dr. Madeleine Seys,” SA’s swinging leading stands out against the dark conservative interior of Parliament House.”
The bright clothes were n’t just a political prank, despite appearances.
In terms of societal reform and distinctive clothing, Don Dunstan was a pioneer. ( Dunstan collection, Ferners University Library )
Dunstan’s government was renowned for its cultural progress and was in power in the late 1960s and then again during the early 1970s.
It is credited with decriminalizing sexuality, investing in, and developing the arts, as well as enshrining women’s, Indigenous, or consumer rights.
The clothes came to represent Dunstan’s opposition to the traditional status quo and male fashion expectations.
They stood for the social transformation that his state and he brought about at the time.
The bright little pants have been revered as a representation of gay pride for decades, according to Dr. Seys.
These lovely and extremely small pair of shorts are intertwined with” This is queer presence, social inclusion — all of that comes together.”
Australiana
Australia’s style reflected and was influenced by what was happening abroad for a very long time after colonization.
But when manufacturers like Jenny Kee, Linda Jackson, and Ken Done started to capitalize on the distinctiveness of the world around them, the 1970s and 1980s witnessed that shift.
American manufacturers Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson. ( Supplied )
” We wished to use our clothes to convey ourselves.” According to custom Jenny Kee on her collaboration with Linda Jackson,” We wanted it to be American.
” We were operating from the inside out .”
” We were utilizing one another, our imagination, and this land.” This is the country that served as our inspiration.
Australiana was born out of that event of the property, flora, fauna, and views of Down Under.
According to Dr. Seys,” I believe this is where an American fashion aesthetic actually begins to take hold on a design level.”
” The use of fresh, vibrant colors, a fresh level of informal attire.”
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Australia’s potential for a global trend crowd was demonstrated by the pattern ‘ global success, which also served as an early indicator of the future success of our fashion business.
Catherine Martin, an Oscar-winning costume designer, says,” What they have done for American clothing is immeasurable.”
They gave us a voice—a unique words, in fact.
” A recognition that we are not in Paris, London, Milan, or New York.” On the edge of the world, we are our own unique individuals.
In the 1970s, Kee was modeling one of her first weaves. ( Janice Kee provided )
Reincarnated Mardi Gras
Have you ever wondered how Sydney’s Mardi Gras transformed from a political protest against the prejudice of the LGBTIQ society into an event for color, sparkle, and sequins?
The 1982 determination to appoint Peter Tully as the parade’s creative director served as part of the solution.
The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade is in motion. ( ABC )
According to photographer William Yang, who captured Sydney’s gay scene on camera, Peter Leigh received funding from the Australia Council to launch the Mardi Gras studio and assist in creating floats or costumes.
” That altered anything.”
The occasion was reborn as the vibrant party of gay tradition we recognize today under Tully’s direction.
It provided a chance for members of the community—and its allies—to show themselves and their identities through clothing and wigs.
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According to Yang,” There was a sense of independence.”
People emerged from the bedroom, giving you the confidence to stand out and shout,” This is who we are, and we’re going to be vulgar and hot.” “”
In 1984, two decades after Tully’s first festival, New South Wales decriminalized sexuality.
Burkinis landed in ocean
Like many other American kids, Aheda Zanetti grew up learning to swim.
But she recalls a moment when going swimming started to feel different.
Swim Sisters, formerly the Burkini Babes floating team, encourages people to get in the ocean and engage in physical activity. ( Swim Sisters provided )
According to the Lebanese-Australian fashion designer on The Way We Wore,” Puberty started, we’re developing, and we just do n’t feel comfortable wearing a bikini.”
” It did n’t imply that we disapproved of it. Simply put, we did n’t.
” We were constantly on the periphery.” I did n’t want my children to experience that.
Zanetti was determined to figure out a way to get back into the water, maybe with the help of other people.
Zanetti remained unfazed despite the rise of Islamophobia in Australia following the September 11 attacks and the racial protests in Sydney’s Cronulla Beach.
Aheda Zanetti, a Lebanese-Australian artist, appeared on the set of The Approach We Wore. ( Supplied )
She took things into her own arms and invented the first burkini in 2004.
” I went and purchased some fabric, and I began hand-sewing it.” That’s how it began, she claims.
It’s interesting that it was always a political problem, even though I created this swimsuit to change our way of life.
When Zanetti second swam in her burkini, she praised it as “beautiful.”
She says,” It’s like you’re entering a place where people are saying, No, you ca n’t go in there.”
Then, however, a person approaches and motions for you to enter. As you enter, you wonder,” Wow, why have n’t I been here earlier?” “”
Zanetti created her initial burkini in 2004. Tim Wimborne ( Reuters )
Her creation represented a turning point for Muslim people.
According to Zanetti, we encounter people who are snorkeling or surfing while wearing burkinis.
Australia represents shore culture, which is what it stands for.
They simply adore it, and I do too. Australia is my favorite country. It makes me whole.
Tuesday, November 21, at 8 p.m., The Manner We Wore is broadcast on ABC Television, or you can enjoy all of the episodes online at ABC iview.