Juanita Page, a 33-year-old designer and proud Gooreng Gooreng and South Sea Islander woman, is preparing to unveil her solo collection at Australian Fashion Week 2025. She’ll be making her debut in this eagerly awaited new show up against fellow designer James. Combined, they hold the potential to subvert outdated concepts of menswear with vibrant, playful and expressive designs.
Page’s collection borrows liberally from her colorful family celebrations, bringing to the event an energy marked by love, connection and community. She has been, for decades, devoted to interrogating what it means to be a man and how risk is a necessary component of the fashion game. In her view, it is essential to offer men the same freedom of expression that has been historically afforded to women.
When I was first learning fashion, it was almost automatic that everyone would lean into women’s wear, Page remarked. “That made me wonder: who is designing for anybody else? It became this creative blank canvas for me.”
Her line has become equally recognized for its innovation as it has for its dedication to sustainable practices. Using burlap, silk, wool, cotton among other natural fibers in her designs, Page’s production schedules run in small bursts, sometimes even under the manufacturer minimums. Admittedly, this approach is not without its hurdles, but it’s a testament to her commitment to ethical fashion practices.
“It costs more, it’s harder as a small brand. It matters,” Page stated.
With 25 ambitious streetwear silhouettes, her debut collection is designed to challenge how Australians think about menswear. Page’s way of looking at it though, is that a lot of men in Australia have very little flair to how they dress. She poses the question: “What if dressing could be expressive too? What if we gave men permission to play?”
The aspirational quality of Page’s label is intrinsic to her practice, which pulses with exuberance and affirmation. She likes to think that her designs would encourage people to dare to be different with their style. “If someone wears something they wouldn’t normally try, and they feel good in it, then that’s the win,” she explained.
For Page, these designs were profoundly shaped by her experiences growing up within the context of her Indigenous heritage and connection to her community. “Storytelling is a big part of culture for me, and every collection starts there,” she said, highlighting the significance of narrative in her creative process.
Page is one of the few women in Australia creating menswear. She really drives home the need to cultivate a more inclusive culture across the fashion ecosystem. We don’t disparage women, labeling them eccentric or attention-seeking when they step outside the norm or take risks with fashion. We call it ‘a look,’ she noted. We need to provide men with the same liberation.
Through her show at Australian Fashion Week, Page seeks to provoke conversations about masculinity while encouraging men to embrace bolder fashion choices. She hopes that her collection will foster confidence among wearers, emphasizing that “confidence builds in those moments. That’s what I want our clothes to do.”
