After a big couple of days at Australian Fashion Week 2024, we sat down with star designer MICHAEL LO SORDO to discover the inspiration behind his big move into menswear…
Australian designer Michael Lo Sordo is an expert at the art of desire. “One must first feel desirable in order to be desirable,” he tells MAXIM, days after his resort 2025 show at Australian Fashion Week. This season, Lo Sordo transported his audience into a mini club land at Machine Hall in Sydney’s Kent St complete with live piano music.
“I always like to bring the customer into the world of Michael Lo Sordo, I like to transport them to a place where they can be themselves and where I envisage the clothes I design belong,” he explains. “I connect with the customer through the senses: through the music I choose, texture of the fabrics, fragrance of the room and the taste of the finer things such as the champagne I serve.”
On the Australian Fashion Week runway, the designer debuted a smoky ode to 1980s Paris nightlife and unveiled his take on sexy menswear. Lo Sordo coaxed top international models like Montana Cox onto the narrow catwalk for a collection heavy on barely-there chain mail and slinky cocktail dresses in his signature black. As always, Lo Sordo’s references were rich – from Paris Hilton’s 21st birthday dress by Julien MacDonald to the iconic Guy Laroche backless gown created for Mireille Darc in the 1972 French classic Le Grand Blond avec Une Chaussure Noire.
But the real star was Lo Sordo’s expanded menswear offering, including boxy leather jackets, silk shirts and club-ready sequin singlets. Describing the pieces as “100 per cent my personal style”, Lo Sordo says the impetus behind the move into menswear was “born from my frustration” at the dearth of quality menswear designers in Australia. “I started to make them for myself then it turned into making them for the collection,” he says. “The menswear collection is an extension of the women’s collection, it is designed to be worn as separates or layered together.”
The collection was a victory lap for Lo Sordo on multiple fronts. The designer, who recently turned 40, has carved out a place as one of the country’s most respected creatives with a growing international profile. He was even tapped to provide a costume for Bond girl Ana De Armas in 2020’s No Time to Die, a first for an Australian designer. Now part of his permanent collection, Lo Sordo’s Bond gown has already joined the likes of Macdonald and Laroche in the annals of sartorial history.
Australian Fashion Week, held across Sydney each May, faced strong headwinds this year amid concerns a smaller than usual schedule of shows would mean less eyes on the event. On the contrary, this year’s event was something of a palate cleanse and allowed breathing space for designers like Lo Sordo to step into sharper focus. The atmosphere on the sidelines of his show was electric – where else you could see club rats, WAGs and a former foreign minister all on the same front row?
Lo Sordo says the diversity of his audience reflects the inclusivity of his work, which attracts a broad church of customers who share a love for sexy, daring clothes. “The MLS customer has no boundaries, we are inclusive,” he says. “The clothing that we design is to be worn with confidence.”
Shop Michael Lo Sordo at www.michaellosordo.com
By REILLY SULLIVAN
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