What do you love most about designing fashion?

I really like making and sewing… I find it really meditative.  I use the making process as a way to develop new ideas.  I don’t draw the same hierarchical distinctions that some do between domestic dressmaking practice and commercial fashion design practice - it’s a bit more blurred in my practice.  I also love observing the social interactions that occur around fashion, the relationships between people, clothes, shops, designers, media…

What drew you to special occasion wear and to forming the Red Carpet Project?

My first job as a fashion designer was designing made to measure wedding gowns for Melbourne label Mariana Hardwick. I found it really fascinating the way that people would recount to me their interactions with the beautiful dresses from that label - be it their own dress, a friend’s dress or the fact that they used to sit on a certain side of the tram so that they could see the dresses in the window as they went past. The enchantment that dresses hold is very powerful.

I went through a period where I was becoming more aware of the damage that human behaviour is having on the environment and was wondering about how to apply this to my fashion practice, and I thought back to that initial experience and wondered if I could use the enchantment that dresses hold to communicate a message. The Red Carpet Project has evolved from there.

What are you currently working on?

My next project, The Front Row, is inspired by the similarities between the celebrities who walk the red carpet and the fashion people who occupy the front row of the fashion parade.

For the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival Cultural Program I am creating a range of garments that will be worn by people attending various events throughout the festival. Each garment will be borrowed and I’m hoping to have the pieces worn in different ways, on different days, and by different people. I will be running and documenting the project from a gallery space that is open to the public.

Special occasion dresses are generally only worn once and then sit in a wardrobe, so I’m interested in a model of fashion whereby the dresses can be shared, with the designer acting as a moderator and custodian.

What is your greatest challenge in producing sustainable garments?

Sustainability tends to focus on materials usage and issues such as recycling or organics. It’s a challenge to think beyond this and to imagine all of the other ways that fashion could be sustainable. The sustainability debate is a logical and scientific one, while fashion is an illogical, cultural thing, and these are not easily merged.

Do you have a favourite eco-fashion designer?

I’m a huge fan of MATERIALBYPRODUCT for their systematic consideration of the question of waste throughout all aspects of their practice.

What is your greatest piece of advice to wearers aspiring to make sustainable choices?

I think your choice of the word wearer in this question is important. There is a dangerous misconception that sustainability only relates to consumption, and that we can buy our way into a sustainable lifestyle.

While it is great to support a designer or business that is doing something really unique, or to consider longevity and durability when shopping, there are a whole range of ways we relate to clothing that has nothing to do with shopping.

One example of this is laundering; where the bulk of a garment’s environmental impact is in water and energy usage. Just asking ‘Why did my clothes end up in the washing machine?’ opens up a fascinating discussion on our everyday expectations in relation to hygiene, cleanliness and social norms that can become a springboard for more sustainable practices.

Join us next week for a conversation with talented Berlin designer, Julia Knüpfer, as she reveals the importance of creative freedom, and her enduring loyalty to ethical production. To find out more about the exhibition click here, and click here to keep exploring sustainable fashion through Object Eye.