EFWA 2024 Interview with Eco Designer Nina of Birdtribe Wearable Art (Australia)

Please share a bit about your journey to embrace fashion design as a career.

I've always made my own clothes since I was a teenager. My grandmother was a seamstress and my Nonna also taught me sewing and other textile skills as a child. I've gone through many phases and styles, but I love wearing clothes that I have made and that no one else has. I see clothing and body adornment as an art form and our bodies a canvas so I have always dressed in my own style.

I have created clothing using many fabric design techniques including natural dyes, synthetic dyes, screenpirnting, shobori, batik, eco-printing and lino-printing, My true love is natural dyes and eco-printing as it brings together all of my passions: my love of plants and ethnobotany (I have a science background - B Science), my love of textiles, and my intense love, awe and respect for the natural world.

How did you learn your skills?

I was taught by my Grandmother and Nonna as a child. I am not a professional dressmaker or seamstress, so I have the help of a seamstress to make te garments perfect. My natural dyeing knowledge started with early experimenting as teenager, but was seriously pursued around nine years ago after I quit my long term job running art and environment projects with Aboriginal people. I have been taught by natural dye masters in Mexico when I undertook a residency in Oaxaca a few years ago. I have also attended workshops with other natural dyers over the last few years.

Who are you as a designer - aesthetic, customer, brand?

My brand is about seeing ourselves as part of nature, and a call to us to think about how we consume and what we will leave behind when we are gone. The garments are inspired by natural landscapes in Australia and crafted with these places in mind. Because of my science background, I am intensely interested in nature and all of her forms. I take notice of the shapes and colours of the landscape and then set about creating something to fit in with the landscape for my photographic portraits. My work is about beauty and the power of nature.

Why did you choose to focus on sustainable fashion? What additional challenges does that create?

Choosing to focus on sustainable fashion was the only way for me. I am conscious of my impact on the environment and I try to minimize it every day in my normal life. I wanted to create wearable, one-of pieces that were made of only natural fibres and naturally dyed as I was very aware of the impace of fast fashion such as water and land pollution, microplastics and the slave labour/exploitation of workers. I could not participate in that. So I am strict with my creations. Only natural fibre and only natural dyes. I know that each of my garments will eventually biodegrade back into the environment and that is my final aim.

The biggest challenges are sourcing fabrics that are pure natural fibre, the amount of work and mental energy involved in making and naturally dyeing each garment (sometimes multiple times) and consumer habits. People have become accustomed to buying clothing at very cheap prices (thanks to fast fashion) so it is hard to educate the consumer on why the prices are much higher of a sustainable garment.

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

The hardest bit is surviving as a sustainable designer and the easiest bit is creating as I love it.

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

I am constantly looking at the natural environment in a very deep way, so I am always inspired by it. I have no shortage of inspiration. Season by season the landscape changes, bringing constant new inspiration for me. Finding the time to create them all is my main problem!

Readers would love to hear a little about the collection you will show on the runway at EFWA 2024.

This collection will showcase a number of garments which have challenged me in my textile practice. I aimed to create a diverse range of natural dye colours and use them with eco printing and other embellishment techniques. I am aiming to use as much recycled fabric as possible and the natural dyes I use are primarily from my local area.

The designs speak to the strong wild woman within us all. Regal robes, capes and dramatic gowns to honour our incredible strength, creativity, intelligence, diversity and beauty, and to show we have a right to take up space and realise our full potential in this male dominated world without fear or submission.