Matteau

Matteau's name gives away its method. The Australian swimwear and resort label, started in the mid-2010s by stylist Ilona Hamer, joined "matt", as in not shiny, with "eau", the French word for water. Its suits are plain, matte, well-cut pieces made by Australian manufacturers, sold alongside a wardrobe of linen, silk and cotton clothes.

Who started it

Hamer worked as a fashion stylist, for a time based in New York, before Matteau. The brand was hers from the start; actor Phoebe Tonkin appeared as its face across three seasons between 2015 and 2017, which gives a sense of when the label first reached a wider audience.

Where the business is based day to day, and whether anyone else founded it with her, is not stated by the brand. What it has said is that it is ten years old: it marked the anniversary with a book, which fits a start around 2014 or 2015.

Matt, not shiny: the design idea

What the brand says

Matteau describes its ethos as "simple and considered" and its products as "humble and without artifice". It says it designs styles to last rather than to turn over with the seasons, and that it works closely with its Australian manufacturers on fit and quality. That is a familiar line in fashion. What makes it credible here is the range itself, which changes slowly and repeats the same shapes year after year in new colors.

What the swimwear looks like

The swim range is small and built from a few recurring silhouettes, each made in several cuts:

• maillots, or one-piece suits, in square, asymmetric one-shoulder, racer-back and balconette versions, plus a high-cut "Nineties" maillot
• bikini tops ranging from a petite triangle, string and wrap triangles to a plunge, a crop top and a bandeau with a ring
• briefs graded by coverage, from high-waist and classic to a "Nineties" Brazilian, a petite brief and the "Tres Petite", which the brand itself calls daring

Construction details are spelled out. Suits are fully lined and made from recycled nylon with elastane, with twin-needle stitching on some styles and clean, seamless finishing at the front of others. Fabrics come in flat, saturated tones such as tomato and clay, often with a crinkled texture, rather than prints. Bust darts on the one-shoulder maillot are the kind of tailoring detail more usually found in a dress than a swimsuit.

From swim label to wardrobe

Matteau no longer sells only swimwear. Its online catalog now lists more dresses than swimsuits, along with shirts, trousers, skirts, cashmere, belts, bags, towels and sunglasses. Clothing is made in organic cotton poplin and twill, silk crepe de chine, cotton-silk voile and linen. The sunglasses are handmade in Italy from Italian acetate. The swim-led customer, in other words, is now offered the whole holiday.

The tenth-anniversary book, titled WARM, runs to 360 pages and more than 200 images by 13 photographers, among them Hamer herself, Chris Colls, Gil Rigoulet and Purienne. Its subject is less the suits than the places they are worn, from Cadaques in Catalonia to Croatia.

Where it sells

The brand ships internationally from its own site, with prices in Australian dollars by default. Its stockist list spans Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. In Sydney it is carried by David Jones in Bondi Junction and on Elizabeth Street, and by smaller boutiques in Double Bay and Bondi Beach, with Halcyon House at Cabarita Beach on the far north coast of New South Wales.

For a swimwear archive, Matteau is a clear example of the pared-back Australian resort label: few prints, no hardware beyond a ring or two, and a brief chosen by how much it covers rather than by what is printed on it.

Last updated October 28, 2026