There are excellent books and sites out there offering historical surveys of North American and British men’s fashions. Australian Menswear: A Social and Cultural History focuses specifically on what men in Australia were wearing in the twentieth century. As social historians, we also look for the stories behind the clothes.
We are interested in a diversity of men’s clothes and looks. We want to know what Aboriginal Australian men or immigrants and their locally-born offspring were wearing across the century. We are interested in clothing on mine sites and in working-class neighbourhoods as well as in offices, shops, artsy enclaves and the top end of town.
In this blog, the Australian Menswear team write about their research in progress. You can read more about who we are, the project and its aims on our website. Visit here for quirky stories, moving moments, reviews of exhibitions and books, and first-formed insights from documents, visits to collections and archives.