EFWA 2024 Interview with Eco Designer Leah Kelly (Australia)

Please tell us a bit about you and your journey to embrace Fashion Design as a career.

What started out as a hobby with my grandmother, embroidering by hand and sewing on an old treadle sewing machine, eventually expanded and evolved into where I am & why I embrace Fashion Design.

Finding myself being a single mother in my late 20’s, after an upcoming career, I did not want to leave my child in others care for me to go and work for the man. I fell completely and comfortably back to my roots of learned skill and fulfillment. It has been an entire life time of commitment and patience. I was once told: “What ever your hands find to do, do it with all your might!”

How did you learn your skills?

They say, “It takes 10,000 hours to achieve mastership of your skill. Having achieved that mastership, you gain appreciation of that ability.” I have been sewing since I were a little girl. Being a slightly over active child (& adult!), I have always uesed it as my tool for meditation. My grandmother was certainly my first mentor, and many influencers have taught me various methods and techniques. However, it certainly is my own commitment and passion which is my greatest teacher of my skill.

Who are you as a Designer, aesthetic, customer, brand?

As a designer, I find myself in a unique position of all three categories being applicable. I design one-off original pieces for aesthetic purposes, for the individual client, and am behind my own organic ideology as a brand.

Why did you choose to focus on sustainable Fashion? What additional challenges does it create?

I have had the greatest opportunity to learn many skills and appreciate many aspects of life. From welding, fitting and turning, to hospitality/restaurant manager, to five years' study in Environmental Health, to water sampling, to collecting and polishing stones, to building and living completely off grid.

When I started to embark on my path of sewing from home, I incorporated every aspect of my learned life. Starting out with recycled fabric due to finances, then realizing the embroidery I was including deserved to be on reliable fabric. Natural fibers, hemp in particular, are Eco friendly and durable.

Sustainable fashion caught up with me…..(laugh). The biggest challenge I have is the price tag and sourcing of these natural fibers. Fashion consumers are still uneducated on the concept of value for money – i.e. durability and quality.

What comes easiest for you as a designer? What comes hardest?

I find the easiest thing as a designer is my art. Once my “ canvas” is made, I can sit and paint with thread, bead with crystals, and do whatever my creative heart desires. The hardest, is deciding on the canvas! I usually procrastinate for hours, sometimes days!

Where do you find inspiration for new collections? How important is colour to your design process?

I am constantly surrounded with inspiration in my own environment in the rainforest, with all its natural vibrant colours, lines, shapes and textures. From flora to fauna. My life style, living completely off grid, is exceptionally “old school,” so my designs tend to lean towards an era gone by, but an era I would like to see surface once more. The more I create, the further down that dapper “old school” line I seem to take.

A little about the collection I will show at EFWA 2024

My showcase at ECFWA 2024 will be a collection of my art work from past to present. I will be exhibiting my use of hand embroidery, hand beading, and simple designs, along with couture design, and the various uses of natural fibers in an elegant timeless fashionable form. Plus I will be this year introducing another natural fiber in couture to my collection – Banana! My latest piece is a very detailed intricate creation of pure 100% Banana peel! It will be hand embroidered with possibly the most exquisite finest silk thread I've ever used! And another of my pieces is boned and edged with 100% Banana bark!

Where can readers purchase your designs?

My designs are available via direct communication with myself via my website or social pages for custom orders, or via my Etsy store at www.etsy.com/au/shop/LeahKellybydesign

Anything you'd like to share in closing?

After having showcased at London Fashion Week SS22 andreceiving rave reviews in Europe, with one in particular design reaching Top 10 Europe's Best Design SS22 in Holhr Magazine, I am most excited to be part of Eco Fashion Week 2024. I look forward to once again bringing my work back to showcase here in Australia.

My aim was never to mass produce, but to inspire and educate others in the fashion world on design, content, and a sustainable way of life.