WHEN ISAAC QUAYNOR answers the phone, one of the first things to come up is that the AFL, more than any other sport in Australia, is the most fashion-conscious. 

“I think like any environment, you’ve got some players that are and then there’s some that don’t really care for it, which is completely fine,” he says. “At Collingwood, we’ve got some great personalities who love to tap into the off-field side of football.” 

Teammate Pat Lipinski, he says, “loves his fashion” – the pair allegedly trade notes on trends and fits – and he rates Darcy Moore among the club’s more fashionable players. Then there’s Melbourne, whose pre-game arrivals have, he says, “kind of transcended the game.”

So how far off are we from full NBA-style tunnel walks? “I don’t know. I’m pushing hard, trust me. I’m pushing hard,” he says. “No, honestly – I really do believe we’re not far off. I think as a game we can take things and learn from the NFL, the NBA and other massive industries out there.” As proof: “To see all the fits that the lads are wearing is really cool. I’ve been pushing hard behind the scenes at the Pies.”

Perhaps it’s closer than even Quaynor thinks given just that the Venn Diagram of the sport stars and style leaders is almost a circle. He’s the case study: Collingwood defender by trade, fragrance collector – pushing 300 bottles – by inclination and now, the face of heritage footwear label Julius Marlow new campaign Own The Moment, launching the debut of its Investment Collection this month.

The new partnership between Julius Marlow and Quaynor was celebrated this week, with a gathering of the influencers and fellow friends of the brand at Tetto Di Carolina in South Yarra. Alongside the first looks at the new styles from the Investment Collection, guests toasted the evening with a choice of spicy margaritas and Negronis, a contrast to the chill Melbourne weather, and elevated canapés, while DJ Andy Murphy provided the soundtrack. There was an interactive element, too, with guests given the chance to have their new Julius Marlow kicks given a freshen up with an on-the-spot leather touch-up station.

For a brand that has dressed Australian men since 1928, the pairing is a shift in register – younger, less formal, closer to the bar scene than the boardroom. Head of Julius Marlow Charlotte MacIntyre frames it around confidence, pitching Quaynor as the modern, ambitious note the campaign wants to strike. Aesthetically, the Investment Collection builds on familiar silhouettes in a contemporary manner, like the Coda dress shoe and the Colt Chelsea boot.

Quaynor’s style credentials go right back. The 25-year-old remembers raiding his father’s wardrobe as a kid – family photos showing him passed out on the couch, swallowed by a jacket built for his six-foot-three father. “I would go into his wardrobe and dress up in all his clothes,” he says. His father, of Ghanaian heritage, was always sharply dressed, and the habit stuck hard. Working with an Australian heritage brand like Julius Marlow, he says, taps into something more specific than the international names he’s fronted before. “Something that always hits really true to me is being able to work with brands that are from my country, my city, where I’ve grown up.”

His own style has undergone a recent evolution. Streetwear is being phased out; something higher-end, more minimal, is moving in. “I find I am going definitely straying away from a bit more of the real streetwear type of vibe to a bit more of a higher end, bit more minimal, slightly more classy type of aesthetic,” he says, before conceding the obvious. “I think I’m maturing… It hurts to say, but it’s true. The Julius Marlow connection right now comes at the perfect time – it’s the perfect bridge to help me continue evolving into that.”

The loafer in particular staged a comeback of its own. “I was a bit of a loafer hater early days,” he admits. “I didn’t see the vision. And then a full circle moment – here I am doing a campaign in them and absolutely loving them.” 

Specifically, the Xavier and the Omit, both from the new collection, are the pairs he keeps circling back to – which tracks, for a man who talks about getting dressed, on the ground or off it, in near-tactical terms. “I love this quote, that preparation kills self-doubt,” he says, describing a pre-game routine built around the same pasta order and a hot-and-cold spa session with teammates before kick-off. The logic holds off the field too: know what you’re wearing before you walk in, and the room takes care of itself.

That instinct runs to fragrance as much as footwear. Quaynor puts his collection at around 300 bottles, rotated daily out of necessity rather than indecision. “I literally wear a different fragrance every single day,” he says. “I need to use them or else they’re going to go off.” The day of the interview, it was Clive Christian’s Town & Country; the day before, Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Oud Satin Mood. “I’m fragrance and fashion obsessed for sure,” he says.

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