Visionary Melbourne Designers Shaping the Future with Sustainable Practices
Discover Melbourne Fashion Hub’s 2024 lineup: visionary Melbourne designers from top institutions pioneering transformable fashion and sustainable practices. Join us in shaping the future.
Access to MFH and designer’s media kits
Details were correct at the time of publishing.
Canwen Zhao
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) GRADUATE
Brand: 35 Life Instagram @canwen35.fashion
Streetwear and casual wear
gender-inclusive/ size-inclusive/ transformative fashion
- Winner – “We Are the Makers” Sustainable Fashion 2023 award
- Finalist – 2023 ID Dunedin International Designer Awards
- 2023 Sino-Italian Youth Future Fashion Design Competition – Innovative Designer Award
- RMIT’s 2023 graduate residency program – Close Proximity exhibition
- 2023 PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival – Global Victoria Showcase, International Student Selection
Canwen is a versatile Melbourne designer who excels not only in fashion but also in graphic and trend-setting IP design. Her proficiency spans diverse domains, providing a solid foundation for confidently executing any style.
Zhao’s design style, marked by its diversity and uniqueness, employs a multidimensional design language and nuanced colour application. Through intricate details, she intricately weaves emotion and narrative complexity into her creations.
Design Practice
Her “35 Life” project (a sustainable fashion initiative) transforms second-hand materials into urban streetwear. Featuring vibrant red-green hues, it conveys Eastern aesthetics and imbues the collection with a sense of unity. Nominated for numerous global awards, the project clinched the 2023 Sustainable Fashion Award and secured a permanent exhibit at the Australian Wool Museum. Zhao passionately harmonises art, history, culture, and sustainable design, drawing inspiration from ancient Chinese philosophy. Attuned to contemporary trends and societal needs, she seamlessly blends fashion, art, and commercial imperatives.
Carol Yang
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)
GRADUATE
Instagram @carol_yang
Body pieces, fashion objects
Gender-inclusive, Sustainable Fashion, Art Fashion
- Finalist – “We Are the Makers” Sustainable Fashion 2023 award
- 2022 MFF 2022 National Graduate Showcase
- Featured Artist – 2022 Future From Waste WASTEFEST
Carol is a sustainable fashion artist who graduated from RMIT University with a Master of Fashion degree. Her graduation project was reusing fashion waste from the making process and old garments. The collection maintains the function of being worn on the body while also being able to exist independently as an artwork or ‘activity sculpture.’ This project earned Carol one of the top 10 designers at the 2022 Melbourne Fashion Festival Graduate Showcase; she was one of four emerging designers selected for the Melbourne Fashion Week – Future From Waste (WASTEFEST) project in the same year. In 2023, she was a finalist for the ‘WE THE MAKERS’ sustainable fashion prize and displayed in the National Wool Museum.
Design Practice
The project named ‘Are you procrastinating’ features six series, ‘Hard to Move,’ ‘Stiff Body,’ ‘Results for Last Minutes,’ ‘Replaceable Arm,’ ‘Pomodoro Technique Assistant,’ and ‘Welcome to Procrastinators’ World.’ Procrastination is a complex psychological activity, and everyone’s procrastination is different and involves diverse reasons and feelings. This project, a fashion object with a treatment function, takes the procrastinator himself as the protagonist and clearly demonstrates this variety of mental activities in a visualized form. Based on the procrastination of fashion waste happening in the industry, it becomes a major material in the project, resulting in the use of unexpected objects in the work. The design maintains the function of being worn on the body while also being able to exist independently as an ‘activity sculpture’. While this work aims to express and amplify the feelings of procrastination humorously, at the same time, it brings the objects within this definition of auxiliary workability for wearers.
Chelsea Tran
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) GRADUATE
Brand: Snug Studios Instagram @_snugstudios
Casual and Luxurious Loungewear
Size-inclusive, gender-inclusive, and religion-inclusive.
- “Roots to Routes” Exhibition, Singapore at Lasalle College of Arts
Hi, I’m Chelsea. I’m an aspiring Melbourne designer, which seems strange to say because I feel like this has been a dream since forever.
My Year 11 Studio Arts teacher signed me up for Fashion Awards Australia, but I didn’t win anything until my final year of high school when I was awarded the “Year 11/12 Young Designer Award.” It really boosted my confidence and morale stepping into the first year of University, but 2020 was a tough year because of Covid-19 and like everyone else, I struggled with studying remotely. In 2022, I had the opportunity to do an exchange semester in Singapore at Lasalle College of the Arts. I was given the opportunity to exhibit my work in their “Roots to Routes” Exhibition.
Design Practice
I am passionate about design in all aspects, including but not limited to clothes, accessories, furniture, and interior design.
My graduate collection is a strong representation of my design practice. It combines fashion, home décor and furniture. Thus, the loungewear element of my designs. Since my craft is inspired by interior decoration, I find that accessories are a significant part of my practice. Casual and luxurious loungewear is how I would categorise my work. Casual because it is something people can wear on a daily basis, but the luxurious loungewear element comes from the unique textures that can be found on sofas and rugs.
Colour trends inspire me because I find that there’s an element of satisfaction when certain hues complement each other. I aspire to limit my environmental footprint by producing less fabric waste and finding alternatives to traditional garment finishes. This means limiting the use of zips, buttons, and hooks and instead using ties, knots, and drawstrings. I don’t endorse fast fashion because it’s not only damaging to the environment but also a problematic mindset because clothes should be durable and lasting. I think it makes it difficult for local artists, especially those who can’t compete with the big corporations.
Chi Weller
LCI Collingwood
Instagram@_chilali
Elevated streetwear
Garments could be worn by anybody, are seasonless, and are constructed using planet-friendly materials and practices
- Winner – 2023 Upcycled Runway at Melbourne Fashion Week
I am a Melbourne-based designer driven by my love for merging fashion design, visual art, graphic design, and photography. I aim to create new and innovative silhouettes, as well as giving my take on traditional outfits to create garments that could be worn by anybody.
I have done extensive research into and implemented the use of planet-friendly materials and practices such as hemp denim, hemp knit, cactus leather, biodegradable 3D print filament, deadstock fabric, recycled materials, and constructing upcycled garments. I love using my upcycled outcomes to inform future garment designs, which I would construct from scratch.
Winner of the 2023 Upcycled Runway at Melbourne Fashion Week, with garments purchased by National Trust for their permanent gallery collection.
Design Practice
I am very interested in the circular economy of materiality, through upcycling existing garments/materials from places like savers, Saint Vincent De Paul, recycle centres, etc., giving new life to garments and avoiding landfill. I believe upcycling is the most sustainable method of fashion construction.
Georgia Brookes
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) GRADUATE
Brand: Junk Serene Instagram @junkseren3
Upcycling, casualwear, streetwear
Gender inclusive, sustainable, artistic
- Collaborator – Rodger Skitz
Georgia Brookes is a fashion designer based in Naarm/Melbourne. She is drawn to exploring suburban life in Australia, poking for a release of Nostalgia. Found objects and forgotten media inspire her work, as this is what initiates the design process. By dismantling old objects, garments, publications, or films and recontextualising them back into the new age, she hopes to foster a meaningful connection for a discerning audience. The uncertainty of Australiana is a cultural perversion that she explores; we seem to be a product of a cocktail of influences from around the world with no real pillar of legitimacy to stand on. In saying this, she loves to deconstruct the byproduct of the symbols, objects, and subcultures that have erupted during society’s trajectory of cultural growth, making her work feel personal and familiar.
Design Practice
She passionate about finding life and inspiration from forgotten objects. Her imagination is always looking for ways to transfigure new life out ‘junk’. She is also heavily inspired by Australian Ozploitation film.
She loves the wild and playful persona as painted throughout these films alongside the cultural nuances explored. Up-cycling clothing also plays an important part in her design practice. She finds it allows her to reinterpret garment archetypes in new ways which help to inform her designs. Georgia likes the challenge of utilising what is around her. An important aspect to her design process is being playful, humorous and having fun. She doesn’t like to take fashion too seriously. She sees it as a personal vessel to challenge the way we view clothing and the act of dress.
Grace Kim
WHITEHOUSE INSTITUTE OF DESIGN
Brand: Baragk Instagram @ ___baragk
Sustainable fabrications, draping silhouettes, experimental casual/evening wear redefining everyday basics with new silhouettes and fabric textures. Hybrid of streetwear, casual wear and evening wear. Innovative textiles applied in garment design and production
Gender-inclusive and adaptive fashion
Based in Melbourne and handmade with love, baragk is an ever-changing, ever-evolving brand that explores the journey of harmonising our inner world with the outer world. As a designer I aim to create visual representations of emotions, concepts, memories and imagination through my perspective.
Design Practice
As the creative director of Baragk, my design practice consists of concept development, design iterations, sampling, and garment construction. My process is quite intuitive, as a new idea may start at any point in the whole process. Whether It’s based on my reality, such as my surrealism print created in 2021, a print reflecting back on the distorted reality of ours that was in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown. Or a new idea may form from sketching non-stop or from a failed sample.
I want my garments to hold meaning and evoke an emotional response from customers. I hold great value in the beginnings of a design in terms of the concept, originality and how sustainable I can be when creating it. In a world where the fashion industry is one of the top polluters, I believe as a designer I hold responsibility to ensure I do not become a part of the endless unethical cycle but to redirect consumers ideas of clothing where they value it just as much as we do. I am inspired by my daily life, the emotions I experience and the situations I am in sculptural artists, photographers such as Serge Lutens and nature. All things that fascinate my eye and mind has the potential to inspire a new collection. Translating the human experience into a physical product such as a garment is a process that I found liberating and fulfilling, it is like another form of communication from one to another.
Jeera Thar
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)
Brand: PKOPZ Instagram @pkopz.au
A mix of casual streetwear, elevated with my personal touch to it.
Co-Ed fashion and inclusivity
As a Burmese fashion designer based in Australia, I’m a passionate design student at RMIT with previous studies in TOKYO MODE GAKUEN in Japan.
My design philosophy revolves around expressing emotions through clothing, catering to individuals navigating a hectic lifestyle. I specialize in creating versatile garments suitable for work, dinner parties and clubbing. Targeting those who need seamless transitions throughout their day. Using dead stock materials, I prioritize responsible production, while crafting designs that blend quiet sophistication with bold statements, appealing to those who seek both subtlety and impact in fashion.
Fashion holds immense significance as it narrates our personal stories and reflects specific timelines within our lives. For instance, a glance back at the 1990’s instantly evokes the era based on the attire people wore.
Design Practice
My aspiration is to craft fashion that leaves a lasting impression on our lives, serving as a reminder of our origins and our path ahead. Hailing from a background where even a bowl of rice or a single garment holds profound value, my aim is to curate collections that possess multifaceted utility, uniqueness and innate beauty. These garments will serve as daily companions, embedding within them the essence of where we’ve been and guiding us towards where we’re headed.
Madi Cheney
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) GRADUATE
Brand: Tulle Addict Instagram @tulle addict
Evening wear
Gender-inclusive, size-inclusive, Red Carpet and Stage costumes
- Work published in Contributor magazine, Inspired Co, Flannele magazine, The Age, and Sydney Herald Sun
My name is Madi Cheney; I am a graduate of Bachelor of Fashion Design, Honours at RMIT in 2022 which is where I discovered my appreciation for the fabric Tulle. I have created my own practice since then called Tulle Addict, established in 2023.
Why I chose to base my brand around Tulle, is due to it being a fabric that immediately sparks a sense of joy and happiness to the wearer as soon as they put the garment on, which is what fashion means to me.
Design Practice
Size and gender inclusivity is a very important factor to Tulle Addict, everybody is welcome and everybody will be accounted for. There is no perfect “Tulle Addict” wearer, it is for all. My pieces are suitable for different body shapes and are versatile so they can be worn more than one way or however the wearer desires.
Maiko Mitsuoka
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) GRADUATE
Evening and ready to wear
Size inclusive, made to order
www.maikomitsuoka.com Instagram @maiko.mitsuoka
I grew up in the city of Tokyo, Japan. When I was about 13 years old, I realized that clothing has a strong impact on people’s behavior. Garments have the power to make people determined, pleased, delighted, and confident. I started imagining myself making clothes to encourage others in the future. Since I moved to Melbourne, I’ve been strongly impacted by cultural diversity, including different races, the concept of sustainability, LGBTQIA+ culture, and differences in silhouettes.
I studied fashion design at Royal Melbourne institute of technology to provide additional inspiration for my future adventures. For the past 3 years, I’ve worked for high-end couture wedding/event wear studios to deliver high-quality gowns to customers and to build my own skillset. Using couture skills I’ve learned, I have a distinct focus on timeless and long-lasting products that I believe are beautiful, ethical, and playful. My goal as a designer is to create a timeless look that you’ll want to hand down to your kids in the future.
Design Practice
I create timeless looks with beautiful exclusive fabrics and designs for people who need freedom and courage. I design with a creative mind, avoiding fashion trends, a keen eye for detail, and an affinity to all things fashion for clients who want to celebrate themselves, want to change themselves and their future.
My design approach explores tradition in a modern context, each collection evolving in a well-versed blend of Japanese sensitivities and cultures. I utilize the quality of fabrication, unique colours, and draping techniques in my design to explore my vision. Using couture skills I’ve learned throughout working in an array of high-end houses, I have a distinct pull to focus on timeless and long-lasting products that I feel are well-fitted, beautiful, ethical, and playful.
Nikki Edgar
LCI Collingwood
Instagram @nikki.edgar.designs
Costume/streetwear
Size-inclusive, stage costume
- Worn by – Caroline Ralphsmith CEO Melbourne Fashion Festival, NGV Gala 2023
- 3rd Place – Myer’s Emerging Designer 2023
- Collaborator – Cheeky Velvet and Kitty Rae
- Collection – India Fashion Week Australia 2023
- “Restyled” Design Challenge, Melbourne Fashion Festival
- LCI for Melbourne Fashion Week 2022 & 2023
Nikki Edgar is a Melbourne-based emerging designer creating ready-to-wear and custom pieces with a performative flare. Her style emphasises shape and structure, with a strong focus on femininity and empowerment. Committed to inclusivity, Nikki creates size-inclusive and comfortable designs, while adhering to upcycling practices and considerate design to minimise waste. Nikki loves to create custom pieces, tailored to an individual, emphasising that every body is different.
Her artistic journey has been enriched through collaborations with Melbourne performers, Cheeky Velvet and Kitty Rae, designing their costumes for their 2022 music video releases.
Nikki’s work has also been featured in MFW 2022 and 2023 as part of LCI’s exhibition and pop-up shops at Collins Place and has had her graduate collection walk the runway at India Fashion Week Australia 2023 hosted at Marvel Stadium.
Her upcycled wedding dress placed 3rd in the Emerging Designer Award for 2023 for the Melbourne Cup Carnival and was then worn by Melbourne Fashion Festival CEO, Caroline (Ralph) Ralphsmith for the NGV Gala 2023.
Design Practice
As a former musician, I find inspiration in music and performance, and entered in to fashion only 2 years ago to commence my degree in fashion design. I was inspired by the drag shows I would see weekly and enjoyed the social and joyful nature of the nightlife in Melbourne, however I found myself uncomfortable in the clothing I had, as it was ill fitting and heightened my insecurities around my weight and body. This lead to me wanting to pursue design; to create clothing that was empowering and designed to fit different bodies, not just the sample size. I also am inspired by conceptual art and music, as it was my life for quite a few years after high school; performing noise and sound music around Melbourne. I am inspired by the ways people perceive and understand the world, and conceptual art inspires me to question and challenge conventions.
Tara Sutherland
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) GRADUATE
Brand: Act One www.act-one.co Instagram @act_one_ @tarasuthelanddesigns – uni work
Women’s Fashion
Size and age-inclusive
- Student Runway Melbourne Fashion Week
- Work featured in videos by Yasmin Suteja and Ntombi Moyo
- Work featured at Coda Conduct at Listen Out Festival
Hi, I am Tara Sutherland, the creator and designer behind [ Act One ].
From a young age I have always been interested in fashion and how what we wear impacts our emotions and our identity. My desire to scribble designs into notebooks and cutting up old clothes at a young age soon turned into asking my parents for sewing lessons.
Completing a Bachelor of Fashion design (Honours) from RMIT University, I found my love for collaboration in design and inspired by the creative network of Melbourne. My graduate collection entitled FORMATION featured on the runways of Melbourne Fashion Week and Capsule Student Runway, images and videos by Yasmin Suteja and Ntombi Moyo, and on stage with Coda Conduct at Listen Out Festival.
[ Act One ] represents a new chapter in exploring the innovation of collaboration and the unique expressive qualities of fashion.
Design Practice
My design process explores the relationship between materiality and form within fashion. Through the combination of a variety of materials and hand craft techniques I investigate the various qualities and properties of materials and how they create form on the body. My work combines bold sculptural silhouettes with contrasting textural surfaces.
[ Act One ] represents a new chapter in exploring the innovation of collaboration and the unique expressive qualities of fashion.
Proudly designed and made in Naarm/Melbourne, [ Act one ] aims to tell narratives through unique sculptural silhouettes and contrasting textural and visual surfaces. Our designs embody the performance that is fashion and seek to be worn.
We strive to develop innovative practises, processes, and products through collaborating with creative locals in a variety of disciplines. We deeply value fostering our incredibly diverse local creatives and retailers and aim to restore slow fashion and more opportunity for local manufacturers.
Our slow fashion methodology ensures that our designs have a considered fit and finish while implementing a sustainable production model. At our heart we value collaboration, community, and fun.
Melbourne Fashion Hub 