He’s shaped how Australians dress for 50 years. And he’s far from done

Steve Bennett is peering over my shoulder. But he’s not trying to attract a waiter’s attention or even the eye of someone at another table. Instead, he’s assessing what people are wearing.

Bennett was at Country Road for 25 years until he left, somewhat bruised, after the company went public following a buy-back from department store Myer, which owned it for six years in the 1980s. “The Country Road experience was a real joy. I suppose it was like sport – if you love what you’re doing, you do it better than if you don’t,” he says.

When I ask what the experience of having Guillain-Barré was like, Bennett pauses to consider his response: “Amazing.” Huh? At first, people tried to dissuade Parker, who herself owned a successful chain of hair salons, and Bennett from making “sportswear” – at the time, the biggest money in fashion was still in dresses. But Bennett could see JAG and Just Jeans were starting to make waves in casual wear. Already, his instinct for retail was spot on.

He rebuffs the “revolutionary” tag, but agrees the launch of menswear in 1984 “was a real explosion in the brand”.

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