Melbourne Style Week (M/FW) is right here and this yr they’re making an attempt laborious to be queer.
The occasion has come a great distance since its launch 30 years in the past, when its major purpose was to extend clothes gross sales within the metropolis's monetary district. Right this moment's M/FW is extra about present trend.
It is usually more and more about sustainability, having change into an area devoted to contemplating the way forward for the trade.
And this yr's occasion, which shall be held from October 21 to 27, focuses on being inclusive, making an attempt to focus on the wants and creations of numerous customers and designers.
Therefore the 2024 theme, 'You're Invited', which organizers say is in regards to the “individuality, neighborhood and expression” of Melbourne's trend scene.
And who higher to have because the face of that subject than G Flip, this yr's M/FW ambassador?
Style is more and more necessary to the queer and non-binary indie pop artist. Born and raised in Melbourne's leafy southeastern suburbs, the singer, songwriter and drummer has reached ranges of worldwide recognition simply six years after his 2018 debut single.
Worldwide audiences might know G Flip finest for his marriage to Chrishell Stause, an American actual property agent who rose to fame on the extraordinarily in style actuality present Promoting Sundown.
However in Australia, they're finest identified for his or her inescapable drum-heavy music, which additionally occurs to be downright queer.
This yr, they broke the file for essentially the most entries in a single triple j Hottest 100 and have two ARIA awards to their title. Beginning subsequent yr, there’ll even be a wax determine of his likeness at Madame Tussauds in Sydney. (Which the museum considerably bizarrely promotes as “Australia's first non-binary wax determine.”)
As G Flip has gone from wedding ceremony band drummer to superstardom, they've made a acutely aware effort to stay delightfully true not solely to their sexuality and gender id, but in addition to their decidedly masculine sense of favor.
After we spoke to G Flip forward of the massive week, they are saying it's virtually all the time been this fashion…
“My mom remembers me saying, 'I don't need to put on these garments, I don't need to put on these garments,' and I used to decide on my very own garments after I was a cussed two-year-old they usually all the time tended to be shorts, T-shirts, hats and sun shades. sunshine,” G Flip tells ABC Leisure.
Their relationship with trend grew to become sophisticated once they had been within the seventh yr of highschool they usually keep in mind witnessing the reactions to an older scholar's choice to come back out.
“It was rumored that they had been the homosexual individual at college and that made me, after I was 12 or 13, not need to share with anybody that possibly I assumed I used to be queer. It positively made me again off and really feel slightly uneasy.”
That have led G Flip to attempt to “conform” to the cis-het norm, placing on garments he didn't need to put on.
“All [my friends at school] She wore attire and skirts and there was a interval when she did, “however I simply didn't really feel comfy in any respect.”
It wasn't till after highschool that G Flip felt assured sufficient to return to sporting what he needed.
For them, that meant jorts, hats, bandanas, thick belts, outsized clothes and tank tops, which they are saying are important for enjoying drums due to the shoulder motion they permit.
That sense of safety allowed them to discover their sense of favor.
Since sharing their non-binary id in 2021, G Flip has experimented with gender-affirming clothes and matches that assist them really feel extra assured.
They've additionally leaned extra into what they describe as their “laid-back skating, grunge vibes… with surfer hair… however positively a queer aesthetic.”
“I really like sporting a binder with sure garments; it makes me really feel higher about my pores and skin and my gender id,” they are saying.
“And once you put on an outfit that makes you are feeling extra assured, your psychological state improves and that straight impacts your life and your day.”
Then got here Chrishell, whose trend G Flip describes as extra of the “formal” kind you'd count on from a actuality TV star, and who has additionally influenced her model in recent times.
G Flip (proper) says we have now Chrishell (left) to thank for her latest foray into formal put on. (Getty Pictures: Emma McIntyre)
“Since marrying Chrishell, I’ve attended many extra fancy occasions and purple carpets, which has allowed me [plunged] to a world of formal put on,” says G Flip.
“I've all the time cherished the go well with, however since [met] I've been making an attempt to be taught the artwork of smart-casual model, and I believe I'm beginning to grasp it: once we go to dinner, I all the time attempt to put my ripped denims apart and placed on some good, tight pants, possibly some suspenders, a pleasant tight go well with.”
They've additionally been engaged on their extra formal going out appears to allow them to higher complement Chrishell, who “is all the time dressed very, very fantastically.”
“I positively have extra fits and shirts in my closet as of late.”
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That's why the M/FW embassy is all the things for G Flip
G Flip says it was “lovely and wonderful” to be requested to be an M/FW ambassador in 2024, the primary non-binary individual to carry the title.
Given their sophisticated historical past with trend, and what they're making an attempt to perform by unapologetically presenting themselves as themselves to the world, this makes plenty of sense.
“The spine of my G Flip undertaking, regardless that it's music-based, is being the illustration of my little self; the illustration of youthful youngsters who want somebody who’s queer and within the music trade. [and] wearing t-shirts, dishevelled garments and caps,” they are saying.
They imagine that clothes is “an extension of who you’re as an individual” and describe it as “all the things” to the queer neighborhood.
“So I actually need everybody rising as much as know that they’ll specific themselves and put on no matter they need, whether or not it's from the 'male' or 'feminine' part, it doesn't matter.
“Garments are genderless. You simply experiment and take a look at what makes you are feeling good. I need to be a mirrored image of that, and I all the time need to be an genuine illustration of a queer one who is comfy in their very own pores and skin.” stay and put on garments that make them really feel good.”
That stated, you'll by no means see G Flip calling himself a queer trend icon.
“I believe that may give off Kanye's frenetic power,” they argue, laughing.
“If another person thought that, then possibly sure, however I don't really feel comfy saying that. That's one thing for different folks to do.”
Would you prefer to be thought of a queer icon sooner or later? Most likely.
“If I may help another person, I’ll. And if folks suppose I'm an icon for doing that, then I’ll.”
Melbourne Style Week It’s out there till October 27. G Flip will carry out on the runway closure showcase at Melbourne City Corridor.