The Social Outfit has called on members from its community, including refugee and new migrant women, to model in its new campaign.
Launching its 2020 Collaborative Fashion Print Project, the Social Outfit's campaign showcases designs from young emerging artists with refugee or new migrant backgrounds.
And, for the first time, members of The Social Outfit community, including sewers and retail trainees from refugee and new migrant backgrounds, model the campaign.
The Social Outfit CEO Camilla Schippa said that like many things, this year's project adapted to the COVID conditions.
"This is our fourth annual Collaborative Fashion Print Project, designed to celebrate multicultural Australia and engage young people from refugee and new migrant communities.
"This year, the project has taken a slightly different form given COVID restrictions.
"As a result, we used The Social Outfit’s own workroom in Newtown as a studio for the emerging artists - with the results being nothing short of amazing," she said.
Inspired by the theme of heirlooms and family traditions, a group of five young artists – Dorcas, Raneen, Shainuca, Shaqaeq and Sylvia – experimented with textiles, paint and collage to express their stories and memories through art.
The Heirloom Community Print is a collage of these five woven and painted essences of identity.
Leading fashion stylist and creative director Peter Simon Phillips, a long-term supporter of The Social Outfit added that it was an honour to celebrate the women who made the clothes.
"It’s been an incredible privilege this year, for the first time, to be able to give a face to the women who made the clothes, photographing them in garments they produced and documenting part of their life’s journey.
"The opportunity to also capture the young trainees and help build their confidence was such a joy, reinforcing to me the incredible purpose and tangible community impact of The Social Outfit," he said.
The models photographed in the shoot include Social Outfit sewing technicians and retail trainees, with ages and ethnicities spanning from 19 to over 56 and eight countries of origin from Somalia to Afghanistan and Iraq to the Philippines.
The Heirloom Community Print is available online and in-store at The Social Outfit and retails from $39 for a large silk scrunchie, $129 for a rectangular scarf to $429 for a bomber jacket.