Model, television host and fitness fanatic Jason Dundas doesn’t baulk at double denim — in fact he even admits to dabbling in triple denim. Thing is, Dundas has the swagger and style to carry it off — oh, and he inhabits a body that boasts the kind of six-pack you can’t buy at Dan Murphy’s.


As menswear ambassador for David Jones, however, he’s here to encourage the less sartorially audacious fellas to be a little more daring when it comes to denim. For a start, it doesn’t need to be blue, it definitely doesn’t need to be casual and as, Dundas implores: Denim doesn’t need to be daggy.” His mantra? “Keep it clean, keep it masculine and keep it simple.”

If, every time you go out, your bloke asks “Can I wear jeans”, the answer can actually be “Yes”— most of the time. Done right, a jeans-based outfit will be just as welcome at a fancy restaurant as it is in a food-truck queue. Take a pair of dark jeans, such as the Calibre biker denims Dundas wears (pictured), and team them with a dark shirt, a smart jacket (just grab the top half of a single-breasted suit if he has to) and a pair of boots or dress shoes and he’s ready for just about anything.

 

Slick: Jason Dundas wears Calibre jeans, from David Jones.


This is Dundas’ third year with DJs, a gig he describes as “the sickest thing ever”. The former graphic designer grew up in Penrith, west of Sydney, where “they didn’t even have David Jones”.

“I look at the store as this holy grail and now it’s my job to represent fashion to the men of Australia and I take it personally because it’s my job to inspire them to want to buy clothes, to want to feel cool in what they wear, to want to shop, to want to wear new trends and to also look good and feel proud of it.”

Dundas, 32, ended up on television when he won an MTV talent-scouting competition. A long-running stint on Getaway followed and, most recently, he hosted The Big Adventure on the Seven Network.

These days, Dundas is couple of months into a plum gig as a roving correspondent for Entertainment Tonight in the US. “In the first five days I interviewed Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Aniston, Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow and John Travolta. So it’s an interesting gig, ” he says. “I think the exciting part is that my role will be travelling around the world to go to all sorts of different things, so it could be going to Super Bowl or going to a premiere in London or Miss Universe in Miami, so it’s cool.”

He’s also just wrapped filming a show for MTV America called Beyond Dance, which sounds a little bit like a hyperactive crossbreed of So You Think You Can Dance and Who Dares Wins.

“We took a bunch of dancers and we hung them off a building 60m above the ground and they had to perform a routine” he says, breathless.

Dundas says he settled into his “groove” as a television host after deciding acting wasn’t for him. “I auditioned for everything, Captain America, Spider-Man, ” he says. “But I don’t have the patience to wait around, I like controlling the game, so I thought ‘This is rubbish’.”

He’s also in the process of studying holistic health as well as getting his pilot’s licence, inspired by his new buddy Travolta. “I flew up to Malibu the other day, it’s awesome.”

 

© The West Australian

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