Australian fashion is a vast landscape of talent, there is no ignoring this fact. At RUSSH, we are consistently trying our best to champion our Australian fashion industry in the way that it deserves. For us to do so, it is important we look beyond the larger labels and turn our attention towards designers making Australia as rich as it is in culture and history. Hailing from all over Australia, making clothing that honours their roots and their country is a myriad of multidisciplinary Indigenous designers changing the way we experience Australian fashion. Below, we’ve rounded up a few.
Kirrikin
Luxury resort wear that features artworks from contemporary Indigenous Australian artists. Kirrikin is an aboriginal word that roughly translates as “Sunday’s best clothes”, part of the language recoded by missionaries visiting the Hunter Valley in the early 1820’s, Kirrikin is part of the Wonnarua language revitalisation. Kirrikin sources artists from around Australia to curate each range communicating message and intent with prints that are produced onto sustainable luxury fabrics. With an expansive offering of resort wear, swimwear and accessories, you’re bound to find the right print and cut for you.
NORTH
NORTH works with remote community art centres around Australia to develop products that are both visually beautiful and high in quality. Their fabric is also designed by remote Indigenous artists allowing the Australian community to connect with the indigenous artists NORTH collaborates with. NORTH’s prints are tonal, intricate, and available in multiple cuts, as well as home textiles, and are committed to minimising their environmental impact. NORTH is also a part of the Indigenous Art Code of Ethics and ensure transactions of art and money are conducted in a way that empowers artists.
LYN-AL
Lyn-Al Young is a young Gunnai, Wiradjuri, Gunditjmara and Yorta Yorta fashion designer and artist. Each piece created is founded on the tree carvings, symbolic markings, waterways, totems and landscapes of Young’s four ancestral lands. Best recognized for her draped, water-like silks produced in earthy, prints, Young’s designs are well-loved in the Industry, and we can see why.
Lore The Label
The most vibrant of collections. Lore The Label by Shannon Brett is an explosion of colour and heritage. The artist behind Lore, Shannon Brett is an interdisciplinary artist and a descendant of the Wakka Wakka, Butchulla and Gurang Gurang clans of southern Queensland. Brett focuses on issues through art and practice that are close to heart: the survival, integrity and humility of Indigenous peoples.
Image credits: @kirrikinaustralia, @lyn_al, @o_north_o, @lore.the.label
