Stepping Out

Belinda Smart talks to a current and former fashion student from the Northern Territory's Charles Darwin University about getting an industry foothold in one of Australia's more remote cities.

Armed with the credo that people living in the Northern Territory have just as much right to a decent fashion education as the rest of us, Darwin's Charles Darwin University (CDU) has undergone a transformation over the past 12 months, implementing a raft of sweeping changes to its fashion education offering and updating its facilities to the benefit of the NT's aspiring fashion designers.

Shaan Wu is one of them. "Before CDU changed the course it was pretty hard to think of fashion as something that you could really go into as a career. But now the course has been updated I can see a lot more exciting opportunities," says Wu, who is currently studying Certificate Four in Fashion Design and Technology.

"The changes that have been made have made a big difference. Previously the techniques were a little dated, as was the whole approach. It seems like what we are now learning is far more relevant. For example we're doing pattern-making and sewing as a combined approach, whereas before the two weren't connected. Also, importantly, everything we make now comes from our own designs, whereas under the old system we were basically just going through exercises."

Wu, who has successfully completed units in millinery and screen printing, is also looking forward to trying her hand at CDU's newly introduced shoe design course. "They've got all the new equipment in and it seems really interesting. It's not something I've ever tried before but I'm really looking forward to the challenge."

Next year the fashion hopeful hopes to make it to Melbourne. "I'm really hoping to learn enough this year to work in industry there. I think I'd like to work for a large company for a while to perfect my skills and experience."

But the loyal Darwinian is by no means eyeing Melbourne in terms of a long term defection; particularly as she hopes CDU's new improved fashion courses might have a beneficial knock-on effect for local industry. "I'd really like to come back to Darwin eventually. I think it would be a really good place to start a label, as people up here are really open to anything new."

CDU alumni Jo Dunne is not your typical fashion entrepreneur. She doesn't have a website and has no stockists aside from her own store in Darwin. Which makes it all the more impressive that her label Raw Cloth - specialising in dresses made from a wide assortment of fabrics including Japanese kimonos, Indonesian cottons, Thai silks and Scandinavian textiles - now boasts a sizeable profit and customer base to match. The latter runs into the hundreds, at least 50 per cent of whom are from Melbourne with a strong complement from Perth.

"I really don't know how this happened," Dunne concedes, attributing her success to wildfire word of mouth. As a mother of five, her business - run jointly with her mother Rhonda Dunne - was only ever meant to be "a serious hobby," she adds.

"That's not quite how it turned out, I must admit. I have responsibilities to my children so I don't work full time, but Mum does a 40 hour week and we're usually pretty flat out." Raw Cloth's unique brand proposition lies in its passion for textiles.

"Raw is all about gorgeous natural fibres like cotton and silk, which we then transform into garments suitable for the NT climate." Having started out in 2000 with a strongly Asian aesthetic, the mother and daughter duo discovered iconic Finnish textile brand Marimekko in 2005 and have since not looked back.

"Marimekko is to Finnish textiles what Vegemite is to Australian food," she says. "It's absolutely beautiful and we now use it in about 70 per cent of our product. Marimekko uses prints of trees and natural forms, for example you might have a dress with a branch design across it, so a lot of what we do is about placing the print on the garment to create a unique effect."

Retailing for around $200, Raw Cloth dresses include a classic 60's shift dress, a full skirted frock with gathered neckline and obi belt, a cross-over tunic and a 1940s style dress with ruffled sleeves. The brand also makes skirts ranging in price from $160 to $200, as well as pants, tops, bags and accessories, often put together using off cuts from larger garments.

Dunne swears by the grounding she received at CDU. "CDU gave me pattern making skills as well as small business skills which have really stood me in good stead."

The same could be said of her ethos. The company is happy to thrive without getting too big, not least because it can continue to support the community by working with local indigenous screen printers, she says. "We never wanted this to become a really big thing. We do it for love."

By Belinda Smart