Blair Archibald – Australian Fashion Week

With his debut at the 2018 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia show, Blair Archibald has proven that his eponymous brand is going to become a trailblazer in a time when menswear appears to be overcrowded with loud logos and gaudy casual wear.

Archibald was raised in rural New Zealand and after graduating with first-class honours moved to be based in Melbourne where he designs and produces his menswear label. His budding fashion career has already been marked with accolades and global attention, winning the 2017/2018 International Woolmark Prize for Australasian menswear. Blair Archibald pieces are contemporary with a strong sense of intentional design emphasising wear-ability, reflecting the slow fashion approach is the designers use of traceable, sustainable fabrics.

Blair’s designs hold angular precision and are evidence of his attention to detail as well as the fabrication process. He crafts all the samples himself and stated in a recent interview with Manuscript that he’s “invest[ed] in engineering design” and the brand itself “investigates the relationship between soft tailoring, sports and workwear”. Each collection is based on a component of geographical exploration that is integrated into the clothes, with past collections such as the FW 17 Aviation and SS16 Yachtsman.  Modern, wearable, and inspired are accurate descriptions of the runway show at Aussie fashion week as Blair premiered Season Six – The Last Knitting Mill.