Media release – Design Tasmania, 24 October 2023
Silk Stockings at the Babel Island Store – A fashion story
15 October – 3 December
We are delighted to let you know our newest exhibition has opened here at Design Tasmania.
A partnership between Design Tasmania and Walantanalinany Palingina, the first of its kind, the project was designed to nurture and promote First Nations design and making in traditional and contemporary contexts.
In early 2023, artists and designers Michelle Maynard, Lillian Wheatley, and Takira Simon-Brown, began a design development under the mentorship and creative guidance of Gunditjmara and Torres Strait Islander artist Lisa Waup, Melbourne-based fashion designer Ingrid Verner of renowned collaboration Lisa Waup X Verner, and Michelle Boyde, Artistic Director of Design Tasmania.
As the trio of designers came together with mentors in the development workshops, stories and memories of family and lineages that intertwined were revealed. What naturally emerged was a deep reflection and exploration of shared Bass Strait Island roots.
Silk Stockings at the Babel Island Store is the culmination of the design development project. Through the creation of three micro fashion collections, a time not often spoken of is given voice and playfully and endearingly acknowledged.
The collections feature printed fabrics, accessories, upcycled, regenerated, or renewably sourced fabrics, and garment designs depicting story, place and memory.
The exhibition displays the intergenerational learning and relationships of First Nations people featuring direct family members as Maynard, Wheatley and Simon-Brown embraced their community in this celebration of identity and family and opportunities for empowerment.
Silk Stockings is the first time Tasmanian First Nations fashion and textile design has been showcased in a dedicated exhibition.
“It is an acknowledgement and honouring of our families, our Elders, our people, and the hardships they endured. It is a celebration of the deep love of our island country and kin and an assertion of pride and dignity. It celebrates the natural style of our people, the first designers.” – Michelle Maynard, designer and co-curator.
