PROJECT MISE EN PLACE
Aria is the iconic two-hatted, Matt Moran-run restaurant that overlooks the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. If you’re lucky, you can snag a seat with a view of both.
In service since 1999 and with a longstanding status as one of Australia's finest restaurants, Aria’s had to continually evolve.
Coming into Aria's 25th year, we were looking at making a few changes and wanted to move away from the black and white uniform into something more modern, while maintaining a classic style and silhouette.
- Toni Clayton, Aria General Manager
From brand updates to menu to interior renovations, the focus then turned to staff uniforms. With the front of house in traditional, structured black suits, the team wanted something more modern and true to Aria.
The Aria management team with the restaurant’s owner, Solotel, the group that boasts other key venues across Sydney like Chiswick and Opera Bar, commissioned Worktones for the job.
There’s a really strong legacy there. This project was about taking the uniforms into the new chapter that Aria had entered and making them look and feel like they belong in the restaurant that it is - one of the showpieces in Australia.
- Huw Bennett, Worktones Director
PROCESS NOTES
By the time that the Aria brief arrived, Worktones had been working with Solotel for five years. One of those projects had been the Aria chefs apron, so it made for an easy and organic start.
A key pain point for uniforms previously was that there was a lot of inconsistency. Even with guidelines in place, if staff were required to source pieces, there will always be differences in interpretation.
With a full top-to-bottom bespoke uniform brief on the table, the first round 0f designs explored a broad range of ideas - the use of stark colours and accessories such as a tie, for example.
We were tasked with making those considered decisions for the team to bring the look up, make it smart and actually make it uniform.
- Huw Bennett, Worktones Director
The process was unorthodox in that we responded to an initial brief, but each round of design revealed nuances in what would and wouldn’t be suitable. We took the same silhouettes and each time, adjusted the shape, colours and some of the details but the idea always centred on uniforms that were more comfortable and offered a level of sophistication that was expected of Aria.
- Huw Bennett, Worktones Director
ORDER UP
Just in time for Aria’s 25th birthday celebration, the front of house uniforms were hand delivered for a fitting and photoshoot.
The uniform included pants, a buttoned shirt (a riff on our Rose and Roy from the ready-to-wear range), waist coat, apron and pin.
All garments were created in the same soft cotton linen fabric, using white and natural colours.
The uniforms offer a good mix of unisex and sex-specific pieces, for those garments that require a more tailored fit.
With a commitment to sampling, workshopping and revising, we ended up with a really good result, especially with regards to size inclusivity. The pants and shirt are tailored to male and female-specific size curves to achieve a fitted look, but the apron and vest worked well as unisex pieces.
- Huw Bennett, Worktones Director.
House Special - The Pants
House Special - The Vest
House Special - Signature Pin
THE REVIEW
"Working with Worktones was amazing. It was great to be a part of the process, working through different iterations of the uniform until we were all united. Being able to customise different details as we honed in on the final product was really valuable and we ended up with something we are really happy with. Our staff are loving them. It’s a beautiful new look, but still a classic, practical, and comfortable uniform for our team to feel good in every day."
- Toni Clayton, Aria General Manager.
