Step inside Amy Lawrance’s studio for a closer look at her new collection

Pleats and Perforations.

When I first saw Amy Lawrance’s ethereal pieces float down the runway at Melbourne Fashion Festival earlier this year, I actually had to put my phone down. Her work is so delicate yet structured, so objectively beautiful, it makes you want to hit pause and take every detail in with your naked eyes. It’s pure escapism, constructed out of ivory silk.

That evening, Amy took home the prestigious National Designer Award. Almost immediately after, she began preparing for the next big event on the local fashion calendar, Australian Fashion Week. Today marks her second presentation at Eveleigh’s Carriageworks, following her debut last year at the New Generation show.

For more fashion news, shoots, articles and features, head to our Fashion section.

This year, Amy presented her collection, Pleats and Perforations, at The Frontier group runway, alongside cult-favourite designers including Courtney Zheng, Paris Georgia and Wynn Hamlyn. “I feel really privileged to be showing at AFW,” she tells me. “I see it as an amazing opportunity to have my work shown in a beautifully executed runway format and ultimately be seen by more people. To an emerging designer opportunities like this are incredibly valuable.”

A one-woman show, it took Amy three months to create her collection, doing all the designing, pattern-making, constructing and sewing from her home studio in Kingsbury. Curious for a look inside her creative process (and to see the amazing hand-sewn details up close) we asked her to share a photo diary of the lead up to fashion week.

Designing

A design for a dress always begins with a quick grey lead sketch, in which I outline all shapes and seams that will be required to translate it into a 3D form. I really like exploring how geometric shapes can be combined to form a dress that elegantly hangs from and moves with the body.

Pattern making and toiling

After drafting a paper pattern for a new style I always sew a calico toile and check the fit on my body. I pin and pencil in any amendments on the calico toile and these lines and measurements are transferred onto the final paper pattern. Sometimes a style might require two or three toiles before the pattern is perfected and I’m ready to cut out in silk.

My home studio

My home studio is where I do all the designing, pattern making and garment construction. I purchased my Juki sewing machine about seven years ago, my parents gave me the industrial press for my 30th birthday and my partner Josh built my pattern making table. I’m not a particularly materialistic person but these objects mean so much to me because they ultimately allow me to best express myself.

Construction

All of the rouleau button loops and ties featured through out the collection are made from bias-cut silk. I lost count of how many metres went into this collection but I think it was probably close to 100.

Once I have finished all of the machine sewing elements in a garment, the final stage is to slowly assemble the pieces together by hand using hand sewing techniques. It’s a slow, meditative process and it’s the part of the making process where I feel most calm and steady.

Here I am late at night stitching a corsage made of silk scraps. I keep all fabric offcuts so they can be used for small things like this, or for making accessories such as head-wear or bags.

Finishing touches

I sourced jazz dance shoes to style with the collection and spray painted them ivory to better match the natural greige colour palette of the collection. This very DIY spray painting was done in the garage with Dulux spray paint that I bought from Bunnings.

Here’s the collection all packed in the suitcase ready to take with me to Sydney. It’s always incredibly nerve-wracking showing a collection to the outside world for the first time because so much of it is made by me in relative solitude and I pour so much of myself into each piece.

For more on Amy Lawrance, head here.