Homegrown Labels We Can’t Wait to See on the Country to Couture Runway

Words by Emma Mulholland

27 June 2024

Fashion

Call us biased but we reckon the Country to Couture runway shows are one of the best bits of Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair. Not only do you get all the big names in Indigenous fashion, you also get 21 collections packed into two incredible shows. It’s a vibrant, exciting and unpretentious design showcase fuelled by stories of the world’s oldest living culture and creative techniques that have been honed over tens of thousands of years.

Darwin might not be one of the world’s fashion capitals, but the Top End has riches you won’t find in Milan. It’s all part of the annual art fair best known as DAAF, which brings thousands of gallerists and design lovers to Darwin Convention Centre on Larrakia Country. This year’s fair runs from 6 to 11 August and includes workshops for emerging designers, as well as panel discussions and artist talks.

Peppermint is not only a very enthusiastic sponsor of the event (ahem, a Premium Media Partner), we also happen to be a founding member of Indigenous Fashion Projects, the organisation that runs Country to Couture and helps emerging designers get a start in the industry.

And that’s about the only excuse we need to introduce you to the First Nations labels whose collections we’ll be eagerly awaiting from our front-row Country to Couture seats…

above NAGULA JARNDU below DATLARWA DESIGNS (BOTH PHOTOGRAPHED BY DYLAN BUCKEE)

GAMMIN THREADS

Founder Tahnee Edwards, a Yorta Yorta and Taungurung woman, knows how to have fun with fashion. You might know her label for its playful hoodies and tees, but Tahnee also releases more elaborate creations (see her Deadly Matriarchs bodycon dress, above). As Tahnee puts it: “Gammin Threads is a love letter to my culture and to blackfellas everywhere.” For Country to Couture, she’s collaborating with artist Jarra Karalinar Steel on a collection inspired by iilk (eels).

DATLARWA DESIGNS x MOYDRA DUWUN x AKIRA ISOGAWA

Specialising in resortwear, Datlarwa Designs x Moydra Duwun is a collaboration between Larrakia woman Chantelle Amos and her mother, Yvonne Odegaard, a Senior Larrakia Elder. Their work is set to get even more collaborative for Country to Couture, as the designers will be working with none other than fashion luminary Akira Isogawa. Called “Dungalaba”, the collection is inspired by the saltwater crocodile, Yvonne’s clan group totem. Expect story-filled prints and contemporary shapes with a Japanese influence.

MAGPIE GOOSE

We’re big fans of Magpie Goose and we can’t wait to see what founders Amanda Hayman (Wakka Wakka/Kalkadoon) and Troy Casey (Kamilaroi) have planned for their Country to Couture show. They’ll be featuring a collection designed with Ewyenper Atwatye Artists, a textile design group based in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) – expect natural fibres and designs that celebrate the quirks of bush life.

DELVENE COCKATOO-COLLINS

Creator of lovely hand-printed linen, artist and designer Delvene Cockatoo-Collins draws inspiration from her home on North Stradbroke Island in Quandamooka Country. She’ll be showing her much-lauded collection, “Dilly Bag and Mat Making”, an ode to the traditional crafts practised by her grandmother, Bethel.

NAGULA JARNDU

If you fancy your threads printed with stingrays and goannas, you’re going to like what you see from Nagula Jarndu, an art centre based on Yawuru Country (Broome). The group is heading to Darwin with a collection called “gujarra yangarrjin” (“two coming together”), which pays homage to the land we stand on when we commit to each other. Another thing to love? Nagula Jarndu produces its range in small, low-waste batches and turns off-cuts into neckpieces and earrings.