INDIGENOUS DESIGNER COLLECTION: BULUUY MIRRII
2020 ATC & FOMA Grand Pavilion runway
For the first time ever, Australian Turf Club collaborated with Fabrics of Multicultural to support the creative sector and successfully launched four exclusive Capsule Collections from leading regional and Greater Western Sydney designers. Audiences, witnessed an exciting runway show on Saturday 31st October as part of Greater Western Sydney’s pinnacle spring race, The Golden Eagle Day. Guests were treated to a luxurious three course lunch with a spectacular views of the racecourse and a stunning array of diverse designs on the FOMA runway. Imagery and footage here.
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Fabrics of Multicultural Australia would like to thank ATC for their support and are pleased to share that this Showcase will be the first ever of many of collaborative events designed to provide additional and extended opportunities to emerging artists.
These collaborations will serve to further showcase Australia’s diverse creative sector and highlight the capacity of this to act as a powerful cultural diplomacy tool. FOMA will continue to work in conjunction with organisations across Australia to deliver exciting new pop-up events, informative panel sessions and discussions, digital showcases, and cultural exhibits that further FOMA’s mission statement whilst providing added value to our annual program and participating artists, models, and stakeholders. 2020 featured talent:
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Collen Tighe Johnson
Buluuy Mirrii
Colleen Tighe Johnson, Founder, Owner and Designer of Buluuy Mirrii, is a Gomeroi woman who resides in Tamworth. Buluuy Mirrii means Black Star in indigenous Gomeroi language.
Colleen is a storyteller, weaving some of the greatest stories ever told about her culture, her people, her lands, into her ethereal collections made with silk and silk cotton blends. Colleen uses her design talents to harness the spirit of her Gomeroi ancestors and revive Gomeroi Dreaming Stories through each collection.
Aboriginal First Nations
In collaboration with Wendy Scully
Cynthia Hawkins
Shih Atelier / Australian Wearable Art
Jasmine Jeong was born into hanbok. Her mother made traditional hanbok devotionally and caringly brought down from her own mother the art of sewing and embroidering. In her previous life as a dancer and encounters with traditional outfits, it was no coincidence when she fell in love and became a designer of the hanbok. Her experiences as well as theoretical background in making traditional hanbok for 10 years is her biggest asset. Based on a high understanding of hanbok, she can skillfully use composition methods, patterns, materials, and details to develop various designs ranging from women’s wear to men’s wear
Lida Mangal was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. She arrived with her family to Peshawar, Pakistan fleeing the civil war in 1994. Her parents strongly supported her to pursue her secondary and higher education. She is graduated from high school in 1997, and started learning English as a second language in private college. Meanwhile, she enrolled to obtain computer software skills from private courses. Her thirst for knowledge and her dream for higher education never stopped despite many the challenges facing Afghan women.
Representing
The Embassy of Islamic Republic (Afghanistan)
Mayen Benson
Johjos
Mayen Benson is a Nigerian-born, British-Australian fashion designer, based in Sydney.
Her fashion label, Johjos, is a wearable celebration of multiculturalism that weaves striking colour, vibrant motifs and sophisticated Forties inspiration into elegant and feminine silhouettes.
Her unique use of wax cotton, traditionally born in Indonesia as Batik cotton cloth and transported by the Dutch to Africa where it found a welcoming home, aligns with Mayen’s personal, multicultural journey.
Representing
Nigera
Zohar Edelshtein Budde
Zohar
Zohar Edelshtein Budde’s collection is a reflection of her life’s journey and her strong belief in peaceful existence for all. Through her creative undertakings, in the process of rewiring of consciousness, she expresses the gifts she has gathered along the way and offers it to you as moments of insight into her soul. Zohar creates one off, memorable wired hand-scultped jewellery, where every jewel is embedded with light. She offers you this gift, and by that, you are loved!
Supported by
Embassy of Israel
Displaying the designs from the Himalayas representing myriads of cultures of Nepal
Representing
Nepal
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Wisharawish Akarasantisook
Wisharawish
Hailing from the Northeastern province of Buriram, Wisharawish Akarasantisook is one of Thailand’s most promising young designers in early 2010s. Championing technical mastery, immaculate handicrafts and intricate details on pattern, Wisharawish plays with repetition of forms and geometric shapes. His expressive design oeuvre that engages the viewers’ reaction is an aftermath of his background in dramatic arts.
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Supported by
Royal Thai Consulate General in Sydney
Gina Barjeel
Gina Barjeel
Gina Barjeel is a fashion designer and founder of the Gina Barjeel brand. Her love for fashion design and garment making started at a very young age. Gina moved to Australia in March and launched her brand in December 2018 by successfully initiating and developing a project that provides for vulnerable women of refugee background and gives them the opportunity to up - skill their sewing and fashion techniques. Gina Barjeel is an Ethical fashion brand that creates handmade pi eces made in Australia by women. In every collection, Gina is inspired by different cultures and places adding her signature touch of traditional Jordanian and Palestinian embroidery, to her modern and innovative designs. 10% from every purchase will be do nated to NGOs to run programs that empower women in Australia to enter the fashion industry and find employmen t
Supported By
Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
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Justin Shoulder
Phasmahammer
PHASMAHAMMER is the pseudonym of shape - shifting artist Justin Talplacido Shoulder. Working primarily in performance, sculpture, video and collective events Phasmahammer is an eco - cosmology of alter personas based on queered ancestral myth. Creatures birthed are embodied through hand crafted costumes and prosthesis and animated by their own gestural languages. The artist uses their body and craft as an instrument of metaphysics towards a queer Filipinx futurism. P.H. believes in performance and shared ceremony as communal medicine for difficult times.
Representing
Biennale of Sydney
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Monica Tovar
Monica Tovar
Australian Wearable Art is delighted to provide a platform here in Australia for artists and designers to embrace their creative exploration into form, structure, texture and colour using an eclectic mix of often unusual materials. This exciting journey in the merging of materials in weird and wonderful collaborations with art, science, fashion and technology will result in creating wearable pieces of art to be proudly presented on the catwalk again in 2020.
Representing
Embassy of Colombia
Poornima Menon
Five Pleats
Five Pleats by Poornima Menon was born out of my love for the handlooms. It is a journey through the heartland of India, through the by lanes where artisans weave, print and embroider to create this mystical, magical garment. Sarees symbolise Indian ethnicity, telling stories that are intrinsically tied with the traditions and folklore of the individual states. Sarees can be improvised to transform the wearer from the demure to the daring, from traditional to modern. Five Pleats is the bridge between the weaver and the wearer.
Representing
India
Brendan runs his own internationally successful women’s wear fashion label ‘Lennon Courtney’ with his business partner Sonya Lennon. Sonya and Brendan met on the set of their hit TV series “Off the Rails” for RTE1 which they hosted and produced for 7 seasons. It was during this time that they identified a gap in the women’s wear market and thus started their own label.
Lennon Courtney’s motto is “We make beautiful clothes for smart women” - our core values are equality, confidence and empowerment. When a woman wears our clothes, she fells strong, smart and sexy.
Representing
The Consulate General of Ireland in Sydney
Prochile
or second year on row, Chilean designers will showcase at Fashions of Multicultural Australia.
The Trade Commission of Chile in Australia – ProChile, is pleased to present Designs from Chile, a collection of 100% handmade products inspired by Chilean first nations.
In this opportunity ProChile is proud to support the participation of design companies led by women.