RMIT School of Fashion and Textiles

STUDENTS

• 

  Georgia Brookes

  ‘Windfloss’ is a recontextualization of the Melbourne-born Sharpie subculture – characterised by its elongated silhouettes, cropped sleeves, short shoulder lines and platform shoes. After studying hundreds of archive images online, Georgia uses custom knitwear, laser-etched denim and three-dimensional badges to reimagine the distinctive tropes of this obscure look within a contemporary context.

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  Jieying Chen

  ‘Tangible Whispers’ reflects on childhood memories, cultural heritage and emotional happiness. The collection takes inspiration from Jieying’s grandmother’s room, drawing on her lace curtains, beaded chains and patterned plastic bags. Red is used as a hero colour and complemented by transformative elements such as cyanotype and beading.

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  Tay Chen

  This collection conveys feminine power, achieved by breaking free from the constraints of unhealthy aesthetics. Inspired by Alison Matthews David’s ‘Fashion Victims’, Tay draws on traditional corsets and crinolines to create new silhouettes. Each of these new forms focuses on expressing inner beauty and strength, rather than catering only to external aesthetic standards.

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  Xinglai Chen

  An autobiography about growing up and feeling out of place in a world dictated by the binary, where black and white dominate and everything grey is disgraced. The intention of “Up there Down here, Nowhere near” is not to provide resolution or solace, but to solely inspect the suspension of oneself in pure discomfort and the occasional moments of understated beauty and perspective.

• 

  Genevieve Elliott

  This collection tells a story of memory, longing and the ineffable nature of girlhood. Each dreamlike, surreal design blends a strong sense of nostalgia with an intriguing air of mystery, inviting viewers to reflect on adolescence and the beautiful fragility of youth. Crafted entirely from natural fibres, the collection uses traditional techniques like embroidery, screen printing and leatherwork in order to bring timeless crafts into a more sustainable fashion future.

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  Xukai Chen

  ‘Halo’ expresses the connection between a wearer’s identity and the external, physical form of the garments they clothe themselves in. The collection takes inspiration from the film ‘Prometheus’, drawing on the strange, futuristic shapes of its characters’ bodies. Further elements from the film are reflected within the designs, including its core aesthetic focus on architecture and religion.

• 

  Kit Faulkner

  ‘Costuming the Quest for Identity’ is inspired by tabletop roleplaying games, exploring how dressing up can immerse anyone into a new persona and identity. Traditions drawn from Hungarian folk costuming are combined with material exploration to create a fantastical world in which the wearer can freely roleplay. All the wool used in the collection’s felted textures is sourced from a sustainable and ethical wool store in regional Victoria.

• 

  Chloe Hurdsfield

  ‘Unfolded’ is a technique-driven collection exploring the application of hand ciment pleating. This labour-intensive process involves sandwiching fabric between two layers of pre-folded paper, creating an intricate, pleated pattern when pressure and heat are applied. Each garment within the collection is pleated by hand in Chloe’s own kitchen oven.

• 

  Joanna Lee

  Collection designed with Changmin Yun.

  ‘The Korean Festival’
  

  This collection reimagines the traditional Korean dress (Hanbok) into modern couture forms. The concept for this collection is an exciting fictional Korean festival with various characters that play roles which were prevalent in historical Korean society, including laundry women, instrument performers, female soldiers, brides, queens, entertainers, fan dancers and Korean mythological animals. Inspiration from this collection was from traditional Korean dress, objects and accessories, in the hopes of celebrating and reviving the overlooked culture.
  Exaggerated layering, luminous hanbok jacquards are used to create extravagant silhouettes. The concept utilises storytelling as a medium which comes to life through a runway performance.

• 

  Ethan Maurice Langholcs

  ‘Purls are just tears caught in the wind’ aims to make sense of social understandings around what is masculine and what is feminine. Everyday occurrences of masculinity – like the average man wearing a classic cable sweater – are deconstructed and reconsidered. Through unconventional design dialogue, traditions of tailoring and textile are used to create visually ambiguous forms.

• 

  James Mckerracher

  ‘Dark and Medullated Fibres’ is a menswear collection inspired by obnoxious, conceited businessmen commuting to and from work. Reflecting on their tight, poorly fitted and mass-manufactured suits, the collection critiques both the loss of artisanal craftsmanship within the world of tailoring and the loss of nobility in a mass-produced suit’s wearer. These designs are produced from more than 80% wool, and draw visual parallels between sheep shearing and decaying wool suiting – revealing the stained, corrupt layers beneath.

• 

  Carys Norwood

  ‘Certain Attraction’ is born from western culture’s idolisation of sport as a vehicle to explore themes of love and romance. The collection morphs the bow, the arrow and the wearer into one form, transforming them into unique silhouettes by wet-forming wood and leather. These pieces are placed under stretch garments to create a symbiotic relationship between two distinct layers. Carys takes further aesthetic inspiration from her childhood adoration of mid-2000s emo and skate cultures.

• 

  Marko Plavsic

  Pushing boundaries is impossible if there are no pre-determined boundaries to push. ‘Morphett’ reflects on my upbringing, exploring the tension between expression and restriction, with a focus on material decay of the wool fibre and silhouette.

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  Tanya Rayzman

  ‘Персики (Peaches)’ makes themes of identity tangible through the exploration of Tanya’s experience as a first-generation Russian Australian. Each garment reflects the lived experience of the designer’s family in the USSR, where fashion and dress become modes of resistance against a regime. This theme is further interrogated through the use of materials such as denim and nylon sports tracksuits.

• 

  Hansi Senanayake

  ‘Sportswear-Elegance Fusion’ integrates sportswear and eveningwear in order to hybridise two key design archetypes with rich, cultured histories – the basketball jersey and the column dress. Hansi draws on elements of traditional dress from her Sri Lankan heritage to create a collection of fashion fusions that challenge longstanding boundaries. Sustainable textiles are manipulated using printing and laser cutting techniques to carry these timeless archetypes into the fashion future.

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  Xiaotao Shu

  ‘Good Medicine Tastes Bitter’ is inspired by the influence of childhood memories and cultural heritage, married with themes of sustainability. Chinese herbs are used to naturally dye organic cotton and silk textiles before they’re screen-printed with imagery of prescriptions. Simplified tailoring techniques are used to minimise waste in order to merge tradition and innovation, creating a collection that celebrates the wisdom of Chinese herbal medicine.

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  Indigo Stuart

  ‘Inheritance’ reflects on the interplay between luxury and heritage, exploring the role of each in crafting emotionally durable designs. By emphasising the significance of handicrafts and wearer experience, Indigo creates garments that evoke a deep sense of sentimentality and attachment. Her own Scottish heritage is woven throughout the collection by drawing inspiration from traditional highland dress, particularly in the use of clan tartans that are preserved throughout generations.

• 

  Anjali Tulpule

  ‘Caveat Venditor’ is a sustainable alternative to the tradition of one-use wedding dresses. Anjali takes inspiration from the Indian wedding sari, which is cherished as a functional wardrobe staple for the rest of a bride’s life. Archetypes from Western and Indian bridal wear merge in the collection’s elegant, adjustable designs, each of which is crafted from natural fibres and lent dimension and texture by the use of sari-inspired pleats and flowing, organic embroidery.

• 

  Manfred Wong

  ‘Sea of Lust’ is a blossoming evolution of Manfred’s previous works, representing the natural progression and rhythm of the designer’s life narrative. The collection draws on American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe’s ‘Flowers’ and ‘Nude Figures’ series. Inspired by the association between blossoming and lust, these designs use the texture of plaster and enamel paint to capture common elements between flowers and the human form.

• 

  Changmin Yun

  Collection designed with Joanna Lee

  ‘The Korean Festival’

  This collection reimagines the traditional Korean dress (Hanbok) into modern couture forms. The concept for this collection is an exciting fictional Korean festival with various characters that play roles which were prevalent in historical Korean society, including laundry women, instrument performers, female soldiers, brides, queens, entertainers, fan dancers and Korean mythological animals. Inspiration from this collection was from traditional Korean dress, objects and accessories, in the hopes of celebrating and reviving the overlooked culture.
  Exaggerated layering, luminous hanbok jacquards are used to create extravagant silhouettes. The concept utilises storytelling as a medium which comes to life through a runway performance.

• 

  Ke Zhang

  ‘Metamorphosis’ explores the evolution of the men’s suit. This collection is a deconstruction and reinvention of historical and contemporary design, focusing on the fit and structure of the suit while also advocating for a slower fashion future. Ke retains the traditional tailoring techniques of suit makers and emphasises the craftsmanship of each piece within the collection, promoting the idea of quality over quantity.