Style Elevated: The Fresh Faces of Australian Fashion

What makes Aussie fashion so unique? In the words of Australian designer Joe Farage: “Living in Australia, we are surrounded by amazing natural color and light — from our harbor to the center of Australia, we have a unique palette of color and texture to draw on, not found in other parts of the world.”

That subtlety is not lost on Australian fashion bloggers who love to bring this sensibility online in an incredible showcase of Aussie fashion — and they’ve attracted large loyal audiences to match.

These 12 independent Australian fashion publishers offer a surprising jolt of beautiful fashion inspiration — and have attracted fans from around the world.

Emma Bergmeier, Dropstitch

Emma Bergmeier’s blog started life as a street fashion blog dedicated to documenting Perth’s most stylish inhabitants. Today, Dropstitch is a broader celebration of all things chic, with street fashion images, event coverage, interviews, competitions and original fashion editorials. What we love about Bergmeier’s blog is its almost make-believe styling that seems to have a touch of Hans Christian Anderson dust sprinkled on it.

Sarah Donaldson, Harper & Harley

Part of the über cool Fellt Australian fashion blogging set, Sara Donaldson is a 23-year-old blogger and e-commerce fashion exec originally from Brisbane who has almost 20,000 Instagram followers. Her appeal is clear. Clashing the beautiful, modern threads of favorite designers such as Australia’s Zimmermann, Camilla and Marc, and Ellery or Stella McCartney, Alexander Wang, Chloe, and rag & bone against weary industrial or urban settings, somehow works like flowers sprouting in city cobblestones.

Nicole Warne, Gary Pepper Vintage

The stylist Nicole Warne has a social media reach of more than 1.5 million people every month and was even hired by new fashion brand Talulah to join the catwalk models at Australian Fashion Week shows in Sydney this year. Watch for stunning shots often in grand natural or architectural settings.

Liam McKessar, Front Row Suit

Keeping men in the fashion picture, Liam McKessar serves a daily dose of men’s style, lifestyle and social news, kept masculine and simple. We like the way he weaves in iconic cultural images to add a touch of humor to his styling, using everything from Richard Gere’s American Gigolo to the Addams Family to illustrate the latest in men’s styles.

Jasmin Howell, Friend in Fashion

Friend in Fashion traces creator Jasmin Howell’s breezy take on fashion and style across cities as far flung as Melbourne, New York, London, Paris, Milan and Tokyo. It is attracting a growing audience to its blog, Facebook and Instagram sites, which all display Howell’s signature ethereal images and subdued style.

Briony Whitehouse, a girl, a style

An Australian who pulled up her roots to live in the U.K., Briony Whitehouse has the éclat to attract big brand collaborations with the likes of Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo. Her fashion sense merges the best of British with the vintage discoveries you might make while scouring the markets of Notting Hill. She then tops it off with her open and unassuming Australian style.

Alicia Hannah Naomi, Sea Of Ghosts

With its slightly gothic flavor, Sea Of Ghosts is an ongoing chronicle of fashion and design with a focus on dark styling and the local jewelry industry by Melbourne-based metal smith and style blogger, Alicia Hannah Naomi. Since 2008, Naomi has been cultivating and refining her style using her blog to document the journey.

Hannah-Rose Yee, Capture the Castle

A university student with six years of blogging under her fashionable belt, Hannah-Rose Yee’s Capture the Castle does capture its audience with a mix of fashion, food, film and even touches of French philosophy. In Yee’s words, she “posts about everything from Tiffany box blue nail polish to the clothes on Yasmin Sewell’s back. She cooks with Sophie Dahl, laughs with Alexa Chung and pines over Phoebe Philo’s designs. Hopefully she’ll get a degree from the university of life, but for now she’ll settle for a blood-orange shopping bag and a couple of chocolate covered snakes.” Sounds good to us.

Rachel Yabsley, I Want What She's Wearing

An aficionado of street-school style, aspiring photographer and style student Rachel Yabsley is the creator behind the popular I Want What She’s Wearing. With simple, crisp, easy-going images and style, her blog has that addictive quality that continually draws you back. Rather than log long hours at local cafes watching people, you can reply on Yabsley’s camera to capture the inspirational styles on the streets of Australia for you.

Darren Luk, Boy Moments

Words are few, images thick, and to get to the fashion and accessories, you must first wade through all the boy-stuff (think images of clubbers going hard in neon-lit nightclubs, moody film noir décors and the odd vintage car). But for Boy Moments readers who prefer their fashion diluted with just these kinds of visual condiments, this creation of aspiring designer and fashion student Darren Luk rocks.

Connie Cao, K is for Kani

Marketing and law student Connie Cao (all her friends call her Kani) founded K is for Kani in 2010 to set her on the path of achieving her ultimate dream: working in fashion and design. It has done that in spades, becoming a stylish if slightly quirky showcase of Cao’s kitsch and vintage fashion ensembles, alluring color palates and intelligent words. Oh, and K is for Kani also sits in the Fellt fashion stables.

Mandy Shadforth, Oracle Fox

Yet another jewel in the Fellt crown, Mandy Shadforth’s Oracle Fox has developed a huge following for its bohemian style. A contemporary visual artist, Shadforth shares her artistic inspirations and bohemian style through Oracle Fox, as well as all things to do with photography, fashion and art. Shadforth herself has collaborated with surf brand Billabong, and the site is definitely one for the free-spirited hippy chick at heart.

Can't get enough? Neither can we. There are many other rising (and risen) stars in the Australian fashion scene - here are some others worth a look:

Romy Friedman’s StyleMeRomy

Patty Huntington’s Frockwriter

Hayley Hughes’s Fashion Hayley

Phoebe Montague’s Lady Melbourne

Joelyne Karen’s The Sydney Girl

Emily Fang’s Little Black Book

Zanita Morgan’s Zanita

Megan Aney’s An Australian Wintour

If you know of others, we’d love to hear about them.