---
node: fashion_au_modern
type: fashion
slug: modern_australia_fashion
title: "Fashion in Modern Australia"
lead: "Modern Australia is known for a relaxed, practical dress rooted in the outdoors and the beach: the wide-brimmed akubra hat, the oilskin Driza-Bone coat, and surf boardshorts and beachwear are its symbols."
published: 2026-07-28
updated: 2026-07-28
change: "Created as a fashion sub-page under the history section (australia region)"
requester: internal
reason: "Per the owner's decision, fashion lives under each history era"
---

## Overview

Amid postwar prosperity and multiculturalism, Australian dress added its own outdoor style to the Western mainstream.

## Key garments and style

From the strong sun and a life by the sea, surfwear, boardshorts and sun hats became everyday wear. From rural tradition, practical dress became a national style — the felt akubra hat, the oilskin Driza-Bone coat, R.M. Williams boots. Multicultural migrants and Australian designers enriched dress, and Indigenous art and design live within it.

## Transition

Modern Australian dress keeps its relaxed, outdoor and beach-rooted character within global fashion.