The ABC series The way we wore it takes a have a look at stories about Australian fashion design and elegance.
First Nations people took part within the series and spoke about different eras and histories, addressing compulsory clothing policies through the Stolen Generation period, the contribution of Flinders Ranges/Adnyamathanha knowledge to the creation of RM Williams' iconic boot and the creation of the First Nations fashion design from the Nineteen Seventies and Paris fashion shows within the Eighties.
Yet the show unnoticed the wealthy backstory of our First Nations fashion design industry.
Before the Parisian fashion shows, indigenous people presented handmade clothes and accessories at international and national exhibitions within the Nineteenth century, often as unpaid labor.
Even earlier, original fashion designs included the creation and manufacture of animal and plant coats, skirts, belts, shoes and accessories.
Traditional clothing and jewellery
Climate, materials and stories guided traditional fashion design.
The items were created from natural materials that eventually returned to the environment.
Footwear was created from animal skins, furs and feathers, human hair and bark.
State Library of New South Wales
Cloaks were created from animal skins and Plantoften inscribed with motifs that reflect an individual's identity.
Elaborate jewelry and accessories included Headdress, Necklaces, Mourning hats, Belt And Bagsa few of them made highly traded pearl shells And rare mussels.
Today we see one Resurgence across the country of those jewelry and the role they play in healing, well-being and cultural practice.
Presenting at trade fairs and exhibitions
First Nations women and girls living on reserves, missions and schools were required to learn to stitch and produced many goods, including hats, bags, baskets, jewelry and carpets.
These items were made in accordance with cultural or Western methods, using each traditional and imported materials.
From the mid-Nineteenth century, her work was often produced for various tourism industries in addition to national and international exhibitions.
State Library of Queensland
A store in Melbourne's CBD stocked woven baskets and bags from Victoria's Coranderrk Reserve.
Sydney's La Perouse Mission sold shell baskets around town and later exhibited them on the Sydney Royal Easter Show and in London.
The Queensland section presented itself on the Melbourne Exhibition in 1888 Pearl jewelry from Thursday Island and the Torres Strait.
While a number of the women and girls from these facilities received payment for his or her work, many didn't.
Origin of fashion in crafts
Beginning within the Thirties, non-Indigenous textile artists and fashion designers began production First Nations inspired designs Use of motifs resembling boomerangs, shields and “hunting stick figures” without the permission or input of First Nations artists.
Partly in response to this popularity, craft centers on the missions and reserves established their very own industries, employing several First Nations people to design cultural textiles and fashion.
Some of those early works date from the Forties Bags with traditional weaving styles, practical bedding with cultural designs and unique Ernabella scarves.
As the newspaper The Sun reported from Mount Margaret Mission in 1941:
One of essentially the most interesting exhibits within the Aboriginal crafts and college children's work exhibition on the YWCA today is a bag woven from wool using a native stitch. It was adapted from ancient Aboriginal work often only seen in tribal grass weaving.
Children's work from these institutions has been widely exhibited in Australia and internationally. There was particular interest abroad in converting art from the Carrolup native settlement into textiles for fashionable clothing.
The First Nations textiles and fashion business
Beginning within the Fifties, economic and cultural autonomy became more attainable for First Nations people.
Bill Onus produced cultural furnishing materials with non-Indigenous artist Paula Kerry for his store Melbourne Aboriginal Enterprises.
First Nations women from the Coffs Harbor area began Mass production of fashion for tourism Use of non-indigenous designs within the mid-Sixties.
In the late Sixties, First Nations-designed textiles developed right into a full-fledged fashion industry.
In 1969, clothing and textile production began on Tiwi Island Bima Wear And Tiwi Designs.
A number of years later, other art centers began producing textiles for fashion designs.
© Commonwealth of Australia (National Archives of Australia) 2023., CC BY
Fashion shows took place within the Nineteen Seventies demonstrated these textiles and a few First Nations wore the designs at formal events.
Bronwyn Bancroft, the owner of Sydney store Designer Aboriginals, and Euphemia Bostock and Mini Heath presented their clothes on the Paris department store Au Printemps in 1987.
The twenty first Century and Beyond
At the beginning of the brand new millennium, Robyn Caughlan was in Collaboration with Benjamin Machwas that first indigenous designer to contribute to a fashion collection at Australian Fashion Week.
Two many years later at Australian Fashion Week 2023, Denni Francisco's brand Ngali was the first indigenous label to present an independent collection.
Today, many First Nations labels promote their designs internationally Paris, Milan, LondonAnd latest York. There at the moment are several First Nations fashion associations supporting them within the industry.
These committees network with national and international fashion weeks and art fairs and have insight into cultural appropriation and mental property rights.
For First Nations people, fashion and elegance are necessary channels through which culture, identity, healing and social change could be communicated and practiced.
Learning the basics of First Nations fashion design is significant to understanding Australian history and championing connection, wellbeing, expression and sustainability.
image credit : theconversation.com