Farm to Fibre To Fashion collection - Porsche Tasmanian Fashion Festival

Written by Lalita Lowe

Creative Director and Designer: Lalita Lowe

Wool: White Gum Wool - 4ply fingering yarn 70% Merino, 30% Silk

Seraphine Dress in Quarrystone: Marilyn Theisel – Handweavers, Spinners and Dyers Guild of Tasmania Inc. – Newnham, Tasmania

Elysia Dress in Natural: Felicity Dawson - Professional Handknitter – Kingston, Tasmania

My intention for this collection is to highlight the stories behind our clothes. It takes a village to create a collection. There are many hands, hearts and resources including time and energy that go into creating something of value. I am so grateful to each of the truly talented people who helped bring this collection to life. The farmer, artisans and craftspeople who understood what I was trying to achieve and collaborated to create this vision.

Everything in this Farm to Fibre to Fashion collection is made of superfine, angelically soft ethical traceable Tasmanian Merino wool. This wool comes from White Gum Wool run by the visionary Nan Bray on her farm in Oatlands Tasmania. The farm is maintained on the principles of regeneration, biodiversity and abundance. The sheep are happy, non mulesed and graze on a diverse range of native weeds and grasses.

It took 122, 794 stitches to create the dress featured in this image, which has been made in two colourways. Marilyn Theisel professional artist, hand knitter and textile artist of Newnham Tasmania, handknitted ‘Seraphine’ the dress in the Quarrystone colour way.

Felicity Dawson, of Kingston, Tasmania, professional textile artist and handknitter, handknitted ‘Elysia’ the dress in white/natural colourway in the image featured.

The petite ‘Eterna’ handbag has been made by Hobart textile artist Lucy Ward who exceeded my expectations of what we could create. We collaborated and I just love the two beautiful handbags which were handmade in the same colourways as the dresses. Hanging from the handle of the handbag are small crochet versions of a tiny threatened species of orchid called the Grassland Greenwood. This little orchid is endemic to Tasmania and is occasionally found on Nan Bray’s farm in Oatlands. The special thing about the crochet orchids is that they are made of the same wool where these orchids are spotted. They also represent biodiversity, a very important topic in the current state of fashion. These beautiful orchids were created by a woman called Anne a crochet artist in Battery Point Hobart. She quickly and skilfully turned the image of the orchids into 3D.

For further information: Lalita Lowe Creative Director, Sustainability Educator Author of It’s Time to Rethink Your Fashion www.lalitalowe.com