Recently I discovered an unusual pattern emerging regarding the outback fashion trends of a small town. But it’s not what you think!

Most people expect the rugged and romantic outback to have their sexy stockmen wearing denim and boots, copping a tan from under the brims of their Akubras. Hmmm.

Anyway, when you look beyond the dust, the picture tells another story. Like the residents of the tiny Northern Territory town of Elsie Creek, they seem to make and break their own fashion trends, making them as unique as this bestselling series…

THE TUTU DANCE IN THE DUST

In THE ART OF DUST, we meet a little girl obsessed with tutus. It became an outback fashion trend that soon spread throughout the books in the Elsie Creek Series.

The tutu trend surprised me in XMAS DUST when the local children did a conga line dance through the small outback town that made many readers smile. Find out more HERE.

SKATING ON DUST

Roller skates have always proved to be a challenge for outback kids as we don’t have an abundance of sidewalks. Most of them scoot around in work sheds, or they’re annoying everyone in their household by circling around the house.

Ah, yes, good times.

But they found their way in ROLLED IN DUST, adding roller-skates to the outback fashion trends of a small town … who knows how far they’ll roll with this as some of the children have skates and tutus.

But it brought back fond memories for many readers who owned a pair of roller skates as a kid. So why not roll on to this post and see what you remember?

BOOTS SHUFFLIN’ DUST

Skipping to boots, in MUSTER IN THE DUST, it was a crash course in boots that are a serious part of an outback fashionista’s wardrobe. Ask any of the masters of the muster, and they’ll yak your ear off about what makes a good boot work.

So yes, having a fashion obsession with work boots is a thing. In fact, it’s an expensive outback fashion trend, especially for those cattlemen who invest in bespoke RM William’s boots where you’ll be lucky to get spare change from a thousand dollars.

But that didn’t stop me from making a wish list of boots on Pinterest. Or shuffle over for more on the humble shoe…

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BROLLY BE GOOD

It rains for half the year, turning parts of the Top End Region of the Northern Territory into an inland sea. So these prime weather conditions give the marvellous Miss Molly an annual reason to expand her fabulous collection of brollies in DIAMOND IN THE DUST.

Good gosh, Miss Molly, I never realised how many styles of brollies there were until I met you.

Check it out for yourself. HERE.

SOCKS IT’S NOT

Now slide across the page and make room for the one and only, scary, yet caring, Elsie Creek Softball coach.

Do not grimace when you see her. However, I think that may be the effect the coach is after – the shock factor!

In DIAMOND IN THE DUST, the colourful coach, Agnes, had created her own outback fashion trends that will probably never catch on. Anywhere. Ever.

Yet you can’t help adore her bravado as she traipses across the pages, to have many readers ask if we’ll see more of her.

Which we did, surprisingly, when she plodded across the pages in her football socks with thongs. Which is a huuuuge no-no! Yet, the Coach barged her way into the story of MUSTER IN THE DUST in ways I’d never imagined, but I was so glad she did as she helped a bunch of sunburnt ringers get ready for a very special annual event.

Be sure to tickle your toes with this post (He-he)

FLIPPING THE FLOP ON THONGS

Let’s flip to thongs and not the underwear style of thongs either. I’m talking about the Aussie Thong. It’s an Aussie wardrobe necessity.

Sure, they have their moments in resetting outback fashion trends when they’re shiny and new. But their purpose is to save our soles from walking across the sunburnt land, that’s hotter than a frying pan making us walk like deranged emus!

But in a recent scene from WRITTEN IN DUST, (that prompted this post) we find the town’s Top Cop takes note of the outback locals, where some bothered to wear shoes to a local event, instead of their customary thongs.

So why not learn some local lingo about the Aussie Thong. HERE.

WHAT DO A BUFFALO AND A TIARA HAVE IN COMMON?

When you have a small-town star with an even flashier owner, as found in Buffalo Dust, we raised the question that sent the fashion world into a string of dizzy fit! We unleashed a curiosity to headline the next fashion runway by doing the unthinkable, magical, and oddly majestic, and it was all to do with Buffaloes and Tiras!

So pour some champagne, sit in that fancy chaise, and adjust your tiara, Duchess, for this teensy read about buffaloes and tiaras HERE>>

A SMALL TOWN’S CLOBBER

There are limited shops in the outback and really the wildlife isn’t going to care what you wear. It’s why many wear the same clothes for work, rest and play, not bothering to start any outback fashion trends. Unless it’s due to lack of laundry time, or like one character who was forced to use fencing wire to hold her shirt together – they do forge their own fashion sense.

But then when the locals come into town, they certainly scrub up for the occasion, which may not put them on a catwalk in Milan, but it’ll get them service at the front bar of the local Elsie Creek Pub.

As you can imagine, I haven’t finished with the Elsie Creek Series. Which means that there is still room for more to come in the outback fashion trends of this small town, we haven’t even touched on bags, jeans, hats, gloves….