Emily Quach’s Copenhagen Fashion Week Wardrobe: Melbourne Central, Tony Bianco & Australian Style
No passengers. No freeloaders. No “maybe I’ll wear it” dresses with the tags still attached.
And while most packing lists begin with a white T-shirt and comfortable sneakers, Quach starts somewhere far more interesting.
“The first thing I pack is always a fun bag or a statement pair of shoes,” she says. “I build my holiday outfits around the special pieces I’ve collected because they’re what make a look feel memorable.”
Finally, travel advice for people who refuse to let practicality ruin a good outfit.
Ahead of her trip, Quach visited Melbourne Central to build a wardrobe capable of handling two completely different lives: winter in Melbourne and summer in Europe. The brief was simple—pieces that could be layered now, stripped back later and worn enough times to justify their position in the suitcase.
If she had to create the entire wardrobe in one shopping trip, she would buy three things: boots or kitten heels, forever jeans and a sheer long-sleeved top.
Yes, heels come first.
“I need a little bit of height, and I wear heels every day—even when travelling,” Quach says. “A great pair of boots or kitten heels will take you from work to dinner to events.”
Next comes the perfect pair of jeans: the kind that work with a white tank at midday, a tiny top at midnight and almost anything when you have already changed six times.
“Sometimes all you need in Paris is a pair of jeans and the perfect top,” she says—which sounds annoyingly simple until you realise she is right.
The sheer long-sleeved top completes the trio. Lightweight rather than wintry, it can be worn alone on a cool European evening or layered beneath a coat once Melbourne remembers it is freezing.
“The slight sheerness keeps it feeling a little sexy while still being modest,” she says.
Quach calls these pieces the beginning of a “forever capsule wardrobe,” but do not expect a joyless collection of black trousers and white T-shirts. One of her hardest-working capsule pieces is a pair of snakeskin wedge boots.
Not exactly quiet luxury. Much more fun.
“The best capsule wardrobe isn’t about following a checklist,” she explains. “It’s about collecting pieces you genuinely love, because those are the ones that naturally end up working together.”
It is a useful correction to the internet’s obsession with prescribing the exact same wardrobe to everyone. A capsule does not have to be neutral. It simply has to be yours.
Quach describes her style as “thoughtful, balanced and fun”—and is suspicious of the word effortless.
“I don’t actually believe effortless dressing exists,” she says. “I think the people who look the most effortless have usually put the most care and consideration into how they dress.”
Behind the apparently casual outfits are tailored fits, carefully chosen fabrics and a constant game of balance. If something feels overly feminine, she adds black accessories or chrome hardware. If a blazer looks too corporate, she introduces sporty trousers or a fluffy bag. If an outfit is monochrome, she combines silk, lace and leather to stop it falling flat.
The lesson? When colour is quiet, texture should gossip.
Even a basic tank can become more interesting when it is silk rather than jersey. Worn with a wool skirt and leather boots, the outfit still relies on wardrobe staples—but suddenly looks deliberate.
Then come the accessories.
This is where Quach lets the sensible wardrobe misbehave. Her current favourite is the brooch, which she uses less like jewellery and more like a tiny styling weapon. A vintage brooch can pull in the back of an oversized shirt, reshape a tank strap or pin up a hem to create an asymmetrical silhouette.
Before Copenhagen Fashion Week, she found a $20 feather brooch that made its way into several looks.
“It’s such an easy way to make something you already own feel completely new,” she says.
Her packing follows the same philosophy. A plum leather skirt appeared several times during her trip, but never in quite the same way. Styled with a corset, it became part of a high-impact evening look. Paired with a simple tank, the plum colour took centre stage. In Copenhagen, a long-sleeved top and kitten heels made it feel unexpectedly relaxed.
A red top received similar treatment. Quach wore it properly to the Marimekko show, tied it around her waist to add colour to another outfit and later worked it into her plane look.
Same clothes, different plot.
“I think people assume that feeling stylish and different in every photo means packing lots of clothes,” she says. “It’s actually about being more considerate and putting the effort in before you leave.”
In other words, the answer to suitcase panic is not more clothing. It is better casting.
Her approach to shopping has changed considerably since she was 18. After studying fashion and art history, working full-time and learning more about the industry, Quach stopped collecting pieces simply because they were trending.
Now, she would rather wait for something she genuinely loves—and sometimes save for it.
Her Balenciaga Le City Travel bag is the perfect example. She carries it to work, takes it travelling and uses it for overnight stays. But its real value is sentimental: she bought it after resigning from her first full-time job.
Her handbags, she says, have become markers of graduations, career achievements and new chapters.
“Every bag in my wardrobe has a story attached to it,” she explains. “And, if I’m being honest, that’s also my favourite way to justify a new bag purchase.”
A logic we will be borrowing immediately.
Quach is also making room in her suitcase for Australian fashion. She names With Harper Lu, Tony Bianco, JXS the Label and Maem Disko among the local brands she wore repeatedly in Europe. Colourful prints sat beside masculine faux-leather pieces and lightweight silk essentials—all mixed together rather than confined to a single aesthetic.
Because that is the point of her wardrobe: it is considered without becoming predictable.
And if you are heading to Melbourne Central for your own seasonal refresh, Quach has one final instruction.
Buy the Tony Bianco heels.
“Everyone needs a fun pair of heels,” she says.
Not another emergency basic. Not a sensible purchase made for the imaginary life in which you attend business meetings every morning. The heels—the pair that can make forever jeans feel like an outfit and convince you to book dinner somewhere fabulous.
The perfect travel wardrobe, it turns out, is not the one containing the most options. It is the one where every piece has somewhere to go, something to do and at least three excellent outfits waiting for it.
Written by Bella Blake
Visit Emily on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/emilyquach/ or Melbourne Central here https://www.melbournecentral.com.au/
