AUSTRALIAN FASHION WEEK has never lacked for beach adjacency. Courtesy of taking place in Sydney, multiple shows have turned to the the city’s most famous prop as a backdrop – Clovelly, Bondi, Tamarama – attracting designers who understand just how deep our relationship to our coastal regions are. What is rarely seen, however, is menswear that genuinely earns the word “resort”. Street, yes. Tailoring, sure. Resort – sometimes. Like it’s a treat.

Perhaps it is because it’s also the best way to describe what it felt like to catch Christian Kimber’s new vision for menswear this week: an absolute treat.

Better known for his chunkier, utilitarian knitwear and rugged tailoring, Kimber pivoted hard into warm weather dressing for his Resort 2027 collection. He had, he told Esquire ahead of the show, been inspired by the style of locals he saw while taking a family holiday on the island of Paros. A quick google and you can see how he, and his wife Ren, became enamoured with the locale. 

That time spent in the Aegean was immediately recognisable from the first look – a popover linen shirt, trousers with a chore jacket, all in the same vivid azure that is so emblematic of the region. This particular hue would be repeated, along with varying whites and sea (and arguably olive) greens. You could feel the landscape of Kimber’s holiday through the clothes. Just as you could easily imagine the sea breeze billows below the lightness of the fabrics.

Silhouettes draped and breathed in natural fibres that had been cut flow in movement: paperweight cotton shirts, lightweight basket-weave knits, fine merino, linen knits and raw silk scarves alongside the wider resort separates.  The brand’s signature chore suit was recut in sheer white linen and paired with a wider-leg trouser, transforming a cooler-months staple into something entirely appropriate for a long Greek lunch.

While it’s hard to pick favourites from a collection that went from strength to strength, three did stand out: The blue shirt from the opening look, a knitted zip jacket and a suede bomber that, on close inspection, had been stamped with what looks like contour lines off a map. Also, a pair of black lace-up moccasin-style shoes. 

Watching as the procession of talent walk out – talent that drew from Kimber’s world of friends, personal and brand, including actor Remy Hii, ex-AFL player Isaac Smith, chef Joel Bennetts and musician Oliver Cronin, alongside campaign face Billy Kennedy making his runway debut – you also got a clear idea of just how diverse the Kimber man is.

“A lot of my clients need what a resort collection offers,” Kimber told Esquire after the show. “And the question was ‘how can we elevate it? How can we make that a bit more refined’.”

The refinement process, explained Kimber, wasn’t too far from the kind of man he was already dressing.

“We made things a little more louche, more relaxed. The idea of going on holiday is also a time to let go a bit – wear some colour, take a bit of a risk. This comes through in all those Grecian blues, light greens and the suede.”

One of the great things about covering fashion is watching designers grow. To remember where they came from, watch how their vision evolves (or stays true to its origins; both are positive and not mutually exclusive).

In Kimber’s case, it’s been finding his feet as a designer who understands how to balance provenance and the present. He’ll always be the lad from London. He’ll always be a Melbourne designer who championed rugged, urban tailoring.

Now, he’s also the designer who you reach for when you’re packing for your next Mediterranean escape.

To be fair, Kimber’s always had a sense of the terroir in his clothing. A good designer should always be aware of the landscape they’re living in because that’s fundamentally what clothes are for, a layer between us and our environment. Not too long ago, he released a rugby shirt inspired by the colours of his home away from home, Victoria’s Mornington peninsula. 

His 2027 Resort collection gave the sense Kimber had added the final puzzle piece to a wardrobe jigsaw he has been building for more than a decade.

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