“Clothing made for the gods to wear”: Catholic Guilt is the Melbourne label reinventing chainmail

WORDS BY IZZY WIGHT

“Mysterious, ethereal and beautiful.”

In a little over two years, Melbourne-born label Catholic Guilt has evolved from a “lockdown project” to a feature on the Paris Fashion Week runway. Born during the COVID lockdowns, Ella Jackson describes the label’s dizzying ascent as “a bit of an emotional roller coaster”.

With a background in music, Ella originally started creating her intricate chainmail designs to accompany songs she’d written. “It’s funny because I still haven’t even had the chance to record the music or make the videos… because the label has snowballed so much,” she says.

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Worn by the likes of mother Julia Fox (see below), Catholic Guilt explores the complex beauty of religious iconography, merging darkness and light with materials like deadstock leather, stainless steel and rosary charms. Below, Ella tells the story of the label so far.

Tell us about you. What’s your fashion background?

I have actually never studied fashion formally, so I guess I come from quite a different background than a lot of other designers. I first started learning some of the skills when I was quite young though – when I was a child, my mum was quite thrifty and would make a lot of her own clothes as well as clothes for myself and my brother.

Whenever she was putting together pieces for me, she would show me what she was doing and let me help out. She also took me along to a few jewellery-making lessons at a local bead shop when I was a kid, where I guess I first learnt how to work with metals and beads.

I still use what I learnt in those lessons to this day in my chainmail pieces and am really thankful that I had access to those skills from such a young age. The rest of it has been largely self-taught through trial and error over the years. I feel like I’m perpetually learning in a way – constantly trying to upskill and learn new processes that will help my art.

How did the label get started? Talk us through the process and the challenges.

The label started as a bit of an accident over the Melbourne COVID lockdowns. I had no intention of beginning a label to start with, but everything fell into place quite organically. I was working as a recording/mixing engineer at Birdland Studios and over the lockdowns wasn’t able to go into work.

I’m quite an introvert by nature and found that I thrived creatively during this time, pouring all of my energy into writing music. I like to create worlds and narratives around my creative work, so the music I was working on led to concepts for music videos, and… styling for the videos. I jumped ahead to what I was capable of doing from home and started making outfits that were inspired by the songs.

I was posting photos of the outfits on my personal Instagram as a bit of a lockdown project and started getting attention for them. Pretty quickly, I started getting contacted by stylists and having photos of my work published before I had even started a label. At some point, I decided to bite the bullet and start a proper business Instagram. It’s funny because I still haven’t even had the chance to record the music or make the videos that inspired the pieces because the label has snowballed so much!

What were you trying to achieve from the project at the time? How has this evolved and what are you trying to communicate through the brand now?

… There was definitely very specific meaning in the clothing, related to the content of the accompanying songs. The rosary pieces I make are special to me because those concepts arose from a song I wrote for my dear friend Rory, who passed away at 22.

His background and obsession with Catholic imagery inspired me to write a song for him using those references. The first rosary chainmail piece I made was supposed to be worn in the accompanying video. It’s special because I feel like I wouldn’t have this label if it wasn’t for him, and every time I make one I have a reminder of him, which is cathartic in a way.

… I’m really excited about the next collection I’ll be working on. I don’t want to give too much away, but the creative direction is inspired by humankind’s drive to control and exorcise ourselves from nature. I’ll be using both natural and man-made elements fused together to illustrate these tensions.

How would you describe your label to someone who’s never seen it before?

Joan d’Arc meets Mad Max, or like a dystopian sci-fi/fantasy film where some sort of post-religion cyber-cult gets sent back in time to the crucifixion to cause some sort of sexy chaos… I don’t know. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek and camp I guess but also mysterious, ethereal and beautiful. Clothing made for the gods to wear.

What are you most proud of in your work on your label?

My Paris Fashion Week show was definitely a highlight! It was, of course, an honour to even be there, but I am proud mostly because of the amount and quality of work I managed to get done in such a short period of time, and that I managed to keep a cool head through the whole process.

I only found out I had the show maybe a month beforehand, and had an insanely minuscule amount of time to put together the pieces and conceptualise the whole thing, all while madly fundraising the cash… I think I must have gone about two weeks without any real sleep up until the show and was clinging on to reality by a thread the whole time I was there.

… I was worried the whole thing would be laughed at, given my comparatively non-existent experience to the other designers, but it actually turned out really well. I’m so thankful for the whole experience and for my friends, family and followers who helped to get me there!

What do you wish you knew when you started?

How to make clothes! And how to run a business! I wish that were a joke. Because the label came together so quickly and unexpectedly, I really feel that when I started I was nowhere near the level of skill or expertise that I would have liked to have been at that time. It was definitely punk and DIY and still is a bit. I’ve had to upskill extremely quickly and learn so many new skills and processes in an incredibly short amount of time, because of the speed of growth of the label.

It’s a good position to be in and has been a great learning curve, but sometimes I wish that I was a little more prepared in the beginning. I think it adds an endearing element to the label though, when people who have been following you from the beginning can markedly see your improvement with time and are kind of along with you for the ride. That’s what I hope anyway.

Who do you think is most exciting in Australian fashion right now?

That is a tough question! I think that there are so many exciting emerging independent designers here at the moment, particularly in Melbourne. I really love Chantelle Lucyl’s pieces – her commitment to making ethical modular pieces for all body types and sizes is really special.

I also love Caroline Reznik’s pieces which I find akin to my designs in some ways (except a lot better!). It’s also inspiring to see how well R&M Leathers has done internationally, and I love the flirtiness of their pieces. In terms of stylists, Kurt Johnson absolutely never misses and neither does Vy Nguyen!

What about the Australian fashion industry needs to change?

Honestly, I think just how difficult of an industry it is to get into without having a little bit of dumb luck and/or money and industry connections on your side. There really isn’t much support from the Australian government or any other bodies for fledgling fashion designers, or grants or services catered specifically to this industry.

It’s incredibly hard to get started with low to no financial support and [it] can be very disheartening for a young designer just starting out, when you’re pouring so much time and resources into your designs and only making a few sales here and there to begin with.

Who is in your wardrobe right now?

I always try to support other small businesses whenever I have some spare cash! I’m obsessed with my Flesh Corset from LemÀine and my Jesus and Mary corset from Eve Corsets, and I also have many prized pieces from local designers such as Anna Walsh, Kick in the Eye, Twin Flame Jewellery, Clair Von Myrce, Lilith Viper and more! Needless to say, I think I also have the most prolific Catholic Guilt collection in the world.

How can we buy one of your pieces?

I have select pieces available on my website and will soon be stocking with Bizarre Bazaar in Wellington and The Piercing Haus in Melbourne, as well as hosting a chainmail workshop in Paris very soon. My emails and DMs are also always open for custom enquiries.

Browse the Catholic Guilt collection here.