AS QUIET AS A MAUS

By Benjamen Judd

There is a member of the QT team that has been spending a lot of time down in Melbourne recently. Like – a lot of time. Almost every second weekend. We seriously thought he was smuggling gum leaves or bananas across the border. Then we started paying a little attention to the clothes he was wearing and it clicked. He had been shopping! And holding out on us!

Claude Maus is a Melbourne-based (obviously) clothing label that is doing things to our minds. Made for both men and women, the aesthetic is a dark retelling of an old nursery tale – grim, gothic and completely gritty. Lots of leather and linen, basically.

Having originally started in 1999, Claude Maus is the pseudonym under which artist and graphic designer Rob Maniscalco exhibited art projects. After evolving into a fashion label, Claude Maus very quickly established Maniscalco as one of Australia’s most dynamic and challenging fashion designers with his well received debut collection. In 2003 Claude Maus won the L’Oreal Designer of the Year in both Men’s and Womenswear categories. Since then Maniscalo has evolved his label to include a no-nonsense range of men’s and women’s denim jeans, leather jackets and gothic-inspired streetwear.

Until recently, the label has been made relatively unavailable in Sydney (hence the constant travel) but thankfully for us, the website now has a fully functioning online store where you can snap up some of the best of Melbourne fashion there is on offer.

Just a warning – these clothes are not for the timid. Coming in a thousand shades of black, the collection reads like a rock star in the middle of a nightmare that is actually the latest film clip for their new single. Check it out here.