Titanic design nod for Fashion’s Prometheus

FASHION design honours graduate, Jordyn Smith has been selected as an iD Dunedin Fashion International Emerging Designer Award finalist.

One of 33 makers chosen, the Ballarat designer who studied at RMIT University will have five garments from her “fun” collection, Fashion’s Prometheus, feature in a virtual awards show.

The first of its kind, the show will be hosted online, and a panel of judges from varying corners of the fashion world will assess Smith’s sustainable approach to clothing design, which was inspired by the stories of other people, old images and pieces from second-hand shops.

Smith said she admired work of previous RMIT students who had been nominated, or had placed in the New Zealand-based award process before. She wasn’t expecting to be selected.

“It’s very cool. I find it really weird that I’m amongst those designers. I really like that the show is online, because it’s more sustainable, and I wanted to be a part of that,” she said.

“They’ve also made a film with all the emerging designers to show at the Otago Museum. We had to make our own part of it two days before we went into lockdown.”

Having her collection up on an international pedestal, Smith said the nomination is already opening professional doors.

“I’ve had more eyes on my work than I normally would. I’ve got an exciting opportunity coming up with Clare Press who just left her position as the sustainability editor at Vogue.

“I’ve had an online curator called Not Just A Label reach out to me. I’m on the front page of their website,” she said.

“I’m focussing on what I can do here at the moment, because there’s not a lot I can do on an international scale with travel.”

Smith was nominated for an Australian Fashion Foundation Scholarship in 2019, and a finalist in Melbourne Fashion Week’s student designer awards.

As a Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival Film Award nominee in 2020, she was also chosen to be part of this year’s VAMFF National Graduate Showcase, which was cancelled an hour before Smith’s work was due to hit the runway, due to COVID-19.

Committed to championing wool in her final fashion collection produced at university, Smith received a scholarship from the Australian Wool Education Trust. She also has an associate degree in Fashion and Textile Merchandising.

iD Dunedin Fashion is based in Dunedin, New Zealand, sharing and supporting high profile and up-and-coming designers who are innovating around the world.