Smith’s style on sartorial stage

FASHION designer, Jordyn Smith got her mum on the runway at Melbourne Fashion Week, but not in the way you’d expect.

The Ballarat creative, completing her Bachelor of Fashion Design Honours year at RMIT, recently developed a collection that is 80 per cent woollen, and sustainable called Fashion’s Prometheus.

As one of 20 students selected to show work in this year’s MFW, and a finalist in the Specsavers Student Designer Award, Smith was given the opportunity to share her collection on a nationally recognised catwalk.

An image of her mother as a high school student in the 1980s is the hero of a jumper Smith created for the collection, with help from Ballarat’s Interknit.

A scholarship from the Australian Wool Education Trust pushed her to explore industrial knitting.

“My grandma used to work at Interknit and I’m all about utilising community to create my projects,” Smith said.  “I spent a day with Interknit’s Andrew and Jamie, working out patterns and imagery, and two days with them in the factory, which was really awesome because I’ve never really been around knitting machines all that much.

“It’s been really fun. I definitely want to work with them more, and I’ve even had a second one produced, and sold it.”

Fashion’s Prometheus is inspired by 80s glam rock, and objects and imagery Smith found at op-shops and antique stores.

“With my own interest in sustainable fashion, I wanted to produce fashion goods that have stories embedded, that make people want to be connected to the garment and not just throw it out.”

Presenting the finished textiles at Melbourne Town Hall’s Student Runway, Smith was proud, but nervous.

“It was so wild. A couple of days later, it really sunk in,” she said. “I got to show my work to industry, fashion journalists from different magazines, and it’s that first step towards a future career.

“I also worked with a local jeweller and Greenhalgh Tannery. It was so exciting getting to showcase Ballarat makers on the runway in Melbourne, and to have more people looking at their work.”