The Language of Dress~ Hats and Bags

I have just finished Semester One of my final years studies at Curtin. One of the Fashion Unit for this semester was 'Language of Dress' which exists as a research unit for our final collection development. My concept stems from my background and experience of farming in WA. My research included wool as a fibre, the process of natural dyes and rusting, the use of my own constructed wool felt.

The first part of the Unit was the explore the idea of 'accessories' and their relationship to the body. My exploration into this lead me to the use of wool felt in hats, something I now aim to further develop for my final collection runway show in December.

And so continues my love of felt in each of the garments shown above. I am obsessed with wool as a sustainable and dynamic fibre as well as a product which supports the Nation. Whether I have come to love wool on my own, or it was the nagging from farmers I know to promote wool (or a bit of both), my collection will be all encapsulating of wool and the life that surrounds it~

Wool in a Life; a material investigation

“Wool in a life”

Coming from a farming background and currently studying fashion, I am fascinated by wool and the extreme life-cycle it undergoes. I conducted a material investigation exploring techniques such as Nuno-Felting and creating 3D forms in felt. I used atypical elements found in the shearing shed such as discarded wool sweepings, dirt, rusty objects and bark as a way of forming colour and texture which speaks of the beginning of the cycle of wool. My aim for this project was to portray the remarkableness of wool in its processed state,  as well as the beauty in the natural and the dirty which may even compel this component to be ‘fashion’, so continuing the cycle.