Fashion in Indigenous Australia

Published: July 28, 2026 · Updated: July 28, 2026

In Indigenous Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples lived on the continent for more than 65,000 years with climate-adapted dress: minimal clothing and body adornment in warm regions, and the sewn possum-skin cloak in the cold south.

Fashion in Indigenous Australia — Author: William Barak (Wurundjeri) — Figures in possum-skin cloaks (1898) Public domain Source

Overview

The dress of Aboriginal Australians — one of the world’s oldest continuous cultures — took many forms according to regional climate and ceremony.

Key garments and style

In warm regions the body itself was the site of dress, with ochre painting, scarification, and ornaments and headdresses of shell, feather and animal teeth. In the cold south-east, possum pelts were sewn into a warm cloak (the possum-skin cloak), incised with designs on the inside, worn as a valued garment and handed down.

Transition

After British settlement in 1788, Indigenous dress came under great pressure, but traditions such as the possum-skin cloak are today being powerfully revived.

History of this period

Indigenous Australia c. 65,000 years ago – 1788