Photo + Video: Dylan Starczak
Styling: Raiya Ernst
Model: Sophie Barbour (The Models)
Hair: Atilio Dusa of Clip Joint Salons
Makeup: Carmela Malapira
Location: The Consume Studio
Music: m1ng.
Interview: Raiya Ernst by Lara Pacillo
Knit sleeves: tricote // Vest: JUTHO // Knit dress: autark // Bag: Yudu //
Socks and shoes: stylist’s own
Knit top: tricote // Pants: autark // Earrings: stylist’s own
Knit top: tricote // Skirt: autark // Bag: Yudu //
Necklace and shoes: stylist’s own
Dress: LIAN BY LIAN // Balaclava: tricote //
Necklace, socks and shoes: stylist’s own
Dress: autark // Corset top: LIAN BY LIAN // Bolero: JUTHO // Shoes: stylist’s own
Shirt: autark // Corset top: LIAN BY LIAN // Skirt, socks and shoes: stylist’s own
Sleeves and scarf: tricote // Skirt: JUTHO // Bag: Yudu //
Tank, socks and shoes: stylist’s own
Dress: JUTHO // Shoes: stylist’s own
So tell me a bit about the concept behind the style and shoot.
It started off with wanting to focus on small local brands. Everything’s Adelaide based, and then from that we looked at each of their designs aesthetically and matched them together. Overall, they’re summery looks, with lots of layers and texture.
It seems like there’s a lot of soft colours and fabrics, but then the textures give it more depth.
Exactly, some of the pieces on their own are pretty simple, obviously still beautiful. When you pair it with other things that you wouldn’t necessarily pair it with, it elevates the look.
Who are some of the different brands and labels that we have here?
So we have autark, which is the shirt, the blue dresses, the pants — they’re light summery pieces.
tricote is all the knit pieces.
JUTHO is the ones with the buckles and the transparent more layering pieces — they’re quite structured as well, which is what I like because it pairs well with the flowy pieces.
LIAN BY LIAN is the corset dress and these two corset tops. Those pieces are a glam kind of look with the halter neck, but when you pair it with buckles, that brings a different look and it works together.
A big thing is that each brand has their own texture which work well with the layering.
Why do you think it’s important to support small local designers?
I think it highlights emerging designers and what they have to bring to the fashion industry, as well as presenting pieces that are unique.
It doesn’t contribute to fast fashion either, and that recycling of the same designs. With small designers especially, if their piece gets any sort of visibility, a lot of the time it’s taken or highjacked from Shein and then it becomes mainstream.
I think people should be true to who the original designer is. It’s also often higher quality, and made with love and care.
It’s sort of knowing where the pieces started and thinking back to that.
Yes, I feel like it tells more of a story, and a lot of these are talking pieces too. If people see these out, they’ll be like “Wow, that’s a really cool. Where did she get that from? Or who made it?”.
When deciding on the styles, did you take any cues from what young people are wearing at the moment?
Definitely. Knit is very much in right now I’d say. I see a lot of people doing it themselves or buying from other people. I feel like they’re usually pretty minimal in what they are, but in the colour and the tassels, it offers a lot there.
I feel like I’ve seen more people layering as well. It kind of gives you an opportunity where if you’ve got simple pants or something like that and you want to dress it up, you don’t have to just wear a plain top with it.
You can wear a tank top and an overshirt, and then a jacket — things like that. So, it kind of lets people choose more from their wardrobe to build an outfit that has that overall image, but individually the pieces are quite simple.
So, I took inspiration from that as well. But overall, I think I just wanted to pair different fabrics together.
I feel like sometimes it can be hard to do a lot of layering in summer because of the heat, but by using lighter fabrics it looks like you’re showing there’s still a lot of potential.
Yes, I think this shoot is a good observation on different fabric styles because there’s a lot of variety here from knit to linen etc.
The shoot gives the impression of not taking looks too seriously and having a bit of fun with it — if you think it might be a bit weird, go for it.
For sure, and even with colours too. It’s kind of like a mishmash but they work well.
I would say as well, people tend to gravitate towards the same kind of thing that they think is their image, but when you add different pieces together, you’re like, ‘Oh, I would actually wear that with that,’ often about pieces they already have. It’s really just getting out of the box a bit.
