Photographer – Simon Cecere, Hair – Clipjoint, Makeup – Media Makeup, Stylist – Chris Kontos
ADL Fashion Week is making a stylish return this October, celebrating the very best of the city and its fashion scene.
In 2025, it’s all about celebrating our homegrown icons. This year, ten South Aussies, from artists, makers, and designers, to performers and thinkers, are taking centre stage, each bringing their own unique style to the event.
These leaders have been chosen as they are defining and rocking the latest trends, and are truly being fiercely, fearlessly, and unapologetically themselves. They embody the perfect blend of tradition and innovation that makes Adelaide’s style scene one to watch.
Glam Adelaide is excited to exclusively announce that Isaac Humphries will be one of this years Icons. He’ll be joining the already revealed 2025 MasterChef Australia: Back to Win champion and Fugazzi co-owner, Laura Sharrad, Dr Nathan James Crane, fashion designer George Gross, artist Zaachariaha Fielding, designer and entrepreneur Nadia Mahmoud, and Acler and Significant Other’s, Kathryn Forth and Julia Ritorto.
Issac is a professional basketball player, singer, total icon, and the perfect addition to this list.
Adelaide Economic Development Agency’s General Manager Greg Ratsch, shared, “Isaac Humphries embodies what it means to be an Icon at ADL Fashion Week. From the court of the Adelaide 36ers to the stage of Adelaide Fringe, showcasing his extraordinary talent as a musician and artist, Isaac’s journey reflects the boundless creativity and authenticity of our city.”
Glam Adelaide chatted with Isaac, to learn more about personal confidence, what Adelaide means to him, and his fashion essentials. See what he had to say below!
When you want to feel confident, what’s your go-to look?
At the moment, I guess it’s like a nice baggy pair of, you know, cargo pants, and depending on what a realm or world I’m in and like a nice fitted tank or singlet or something, or a big, oversized shirt, hoodie, I think there’s like beauty and just like that streetwear vibe right now. So yeah, that’s kind of me at the moment.
Throughout your career in Adelaide, tell me your most memorable moment.
Wow. My most memorable moment in Adelaide? Depends what career, I guess, there’s a few there. Music-wise, I’d say selling out my Fringe shows that first year I did Fringe as an ambassador, and selling out my first ever concert was a really cool moment for me. Winning MVP for my team the Adelaide 36ers was awesome as well. But I think what tops it is, you know, as a whole, just being able to be in Adelaide and live as an openly gay man and athlete and just be myself, and that is a memorable moment for me all the time.
Is there one spot in the city that you like to introduce people to?
Yeah, I love to introduce people to 2KW for a nice dinner, and some, you know, cocktails and then always, if they’re up for it, go to Mary’s for a dance and show people the queer vibe in Adelaide. That’s our only space. So, yeah, it’s a great place to take people to.
How would you describe Adelaide’s creative energy?
I think Adelaide is full of creative people. I think it’s shown in that period where we have, like, Fringe and all of these festivals. I think everyone’s very open to new things here, and being immersed in the creative world, and having shows come down, come into town, and all that stuff is great. But I think having our own homegrown sort of, well, our own, like baby as Fringe and those festivals centred around creativity and artists and all that stuff is one of my favourite things about Adelaide.
Do you remember a moment when fashion helped you feel more like yourself?
Fashion for me has been such an evolution as it is for everybody. It’s when I was closeted. I was very, you know, straight to the point and never explored fashion that much. I felt like I would be outed with my fashion, I guess, or what I always wanted to wear. But since coming out and being able to express that on stage, especially as a basketballer, we have to wear a uniform, and there’s not much else we can really do there.
But I remember a moment where I felt just unbelievable on stage during a Fringe show. I had an amazing designer, Michelangelo, in Los Angeles, design a floor length black feather coat for me, and floor length is at seven foot, you know, massive. And I remember just being on the stage, being doused in smoke with strobes, just going 100 miles an hour, 450 people screaming, and just this big single backlit spotlight hitting me, and just erupting in this massive floor length feather coat with shoulder pads and the whole deal. It was very cool. And I just finally felt like this is this little kid who’s like, dreamt of wearing these androgynous clothes on stage, and now I get to do it and have all these people cheer for it. So yeah, that’s, that’s a highlight moment for me, for sure.
Is there a song that always recharges you?
Oh, this one will stump me for sure! Actually, I am a theatre nut at heart. So, yeah, I don’t always love the big rah, rah sort of music, but [it’s] not a song, but like a genre of song is just Broadway. Like I go to Broadway, I go to the Wicked and the Rent soundtracks and Dear Evan Hansen, Death Becomes Her, just anything Broadway just gets me into it. Recharges my soul, recharges my vibe. Yeah, that’s kind of a niche thing, I think, but, but I love it.
So how do you shift between the stage and the court? Is there a mindset, look or ritual for you?
Shifting between stage and court is a question I get asked a lot because it is very, very different, but there are a lot of similarities that I find anyway. There’s the energy, the rush, the adrenaline that I get from both. I don’t have necessarily a ritual or anything like that, I think I just compartmentalise what I’m doing at the time. Playing basketball in front of 10,000 people is awesome, but you’re with a team and you know, you’re about other people and what’s best for the team. Whereas when I’m on stage, I get to just be me and have it, you know, be with my band obviously, but I get to express more of an individual perspective as Isaac Humphries.
If you could wear only one item for the rest of your life, what would that be?
Oh my gosh, a hoodie. Just a big, oversized, comfy hoodie. Trying to find an oversized hoodie at my size is impossible. So when I get one, it’s worn to the death.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
This is the best piece of advice that I have ever received, and it has stuck with me for a long time. Obviously, in my field, I have to make a lot of decisions with a team of people, but like, at the end of the day, I have to make those decisions. And that advice was, it’s a quote, and it’s, don’t base decisions on the advice of those that don’t have to deal with the results. So, you know, take information, make informative decisions, but at the end of the day, if people aren’t living that life or dealing with the result of that decision, then you know, don’t base the whole decision on that entirely. So that’s helped me a lot in my in my career, for sure, and life.
Steal their Style
Isaac wears:
H&M Trench
Tom Ford Bronson Sunglasses in black/yellow
David Jones Jacket, Shirt, Tie and Pants
Adelaide City is your style destination—shop these pieces and more in-store at leading Rundle Mall retailers: H&M, Shades and David Jones.
For more information, click here.
