Fashfest 2014: Designer Review - Mont

Reviewing a line of Adventure Wear/Equipment, from the lens of a luxury and menswear blogger, was always going to be problematic.

To be honest, it has been really difficult for me to review the collection presented by Mont at Fashfest 2014 objectively. In fact, with all my reviews I'm really asking two questions: Is it wearable, and would I wear it? As I am not a remotely active person, and the idea of going and climbing a mountain, sleeping in a tent, and most of all having to invest in special clothes so that I wont get frostbite and loose toes or worse; well, it just doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest.

I will, however, do my best to keep the bias of my own sedentary lifestyle out of this review.

Starting with model Adam Ridwan ‘climbing’ his way up the runway brandishing a gorgeous anodized orange ice pick, and culminating with the models taking their final walk carrying climbing rope that linked them all together; the Mont collection was just really fun to watch. The models all looked great in the Mont gear, and importantly, believable in the adventure wear. It’s important to note that Mont’s designs are not audacious, despite being adventure wear, and realistically, they're quite chic for padded jackets in bright colours.

Something that really struck me with Mont’s collection is that the clothes looks like they are made out of science. I don’t know the first thing about Gortex or moisture wicking fabric, but simply looking at the collection, you can tell that these clothes will keep you alive in extreme conditions.

That said, this in-built survival science means that the clothes do not readily translate into street wear. Now, I know plenty of people who would happily wear anything from Mont around, to work, to dinner, to the movies; and that is fine for them. However, this is a personal style Blog with a focus on menswear and luxury, and I would personally have a hard time justifying the cost of a Mont jacket, given that I don’t do anything more climatically arduous than heading to the Farmer’s Markets at 7:00 AM in July.

Wearing gear that it referred to as 'Adventure Equipment' to go and get a coffee from whatever cold-pressed-fair-trade-paleo cafe is in this week, is also incredibly naff.

Special Mention must be made of the Mont sunglasses that a lot of the models wore on the runway, and which were a clear hit with the crowd, the models and the Fashfest 2014 team. I can see these being the next ‘it’ item here in Canberra.

All in all, it was a really great collection, clearly well made and nicely designed; but I'm personally just not into it.

With the exception of that orange ice pick...

If you’re looking to get your adventure on, Mont has a retail shopfront attached to its workspace at 14 Pirie Street, Fyshwick. They also have a website which is really up to date and easy to navigate as well.

Again, a huge thank you to gorgeous Ash from Silque Photography and Design for the amazing photos!