Trackies and tailoring: Reko Rennie's rules of style

For the Naarm-based artist, it’s all about looking slick, with a rotation of suits and tracksuits

By Tyler Dane Wingco

Published: Mar 23, 2026

GROWING UP in the western Melbourne suburb of Footscray in the ’80s, Reko Rennie was already immersed in the local breakdancing and graffiti scene at the age of 11, and with it, the subculture’s style it entailed. “Nike runners, tracksuits, Lacoste, Polo Ralph Lauren,” were the essential pieces and brands needed to gain entry.

Today, in his interdisciplinary career spanning painting, sculpture, and film, Rennie dresses as the mega-star artist in a collection of emerging and established labels from the likes of Gucci to Willy Chavarria; he is partial to “anything Italian”. Rennie has also incorporated suits into his rotation for events like gallery openings, but a tracksuit is never far away; though he admits he would never wear the two together. What’s stopping him? “Well, as I get a little older, I want to look a lot more slick,” he says. “I love to get dressed up and take pride in what I wear and how I wear it. Growing up without money – my mother always made sure we looked decent as we could be.”

Rennie lives in South Yarra, which means he isn’t immune from the all-black outfit stereotype of the artsy, fashion-forward crowd of the city. Interestingly enough, and looking at his work, he only just recently took to rocking colour. Rennie’s autobiographical body-of-work explores the iconography of his Kamilaroi heritage, one of the largest Indigenous nations in Australia, rendered in his signature of geometric shapes and graffiti style in neon colours that expand beyond the often romantic language that surrounds Aboriginal art – to reflect what Aboriginal art and identity looks like for, and is lived by, a contemporary Aboriginal artist.

The summation of his material interests and artistic MO was the motivation behind his 2024 solo exhibition at Ames Yavuz Gallery in Sydney, titled Urban Rite. Faceless men, their skin made from Rennie’s diamond shapes, are dressed in T-shirts tucked into pleated pants to double-breasted suits; accoutrements span gold watches and rings to Adidas Sambas. Behind some of the figures are vintage cars, a passion of Rennie’s, in particular a pink champagne metallic 1987 Porsche 911 that he owns.

“It came up in Sydney a few years ago. It’s now become my daily runabout,” he says. “I really love driving something older. It’s such a different experience driving an analogue car. As a young boy I had a couple framed pictures in my bedroom, one was an ’87 Carrera and the other a Ferrari 308GTS, and I guess it was just something I aspired to drive and own.”

As he switches out of his old school Hard Yakka painting overalls that he wears in his studio, Rennie is preparing for a bumper year of travel ahead to exhibit new marble and bronze sculptures and paintings for his Amez Yavuz Gallery solo exhibition in London in October, and another solo show in Milan the following month. He travels a lot, in fact, he’s chatting with me from Los Angeles. It’s working and collaborating with other international creatives that he finds most inspiring, in work and in style. “I’ve found the common thread with many creatives is their intensity and commitment to making their work,” he shares. “And every creative has a hustle – that’s inspiring.”