Five fashion students on the designers they’re most influenced by

Legacies to look up to.

For aspiring designers, having a hero whose work you admire can be an important driving force early in your career. During those formative years, you need inspiration by the bucketload – not only to design, but to imagine your future life as an established creative, an example of how it can be done.

For the fashion students involved in this year’s Student Collections Runway at Melbourne Fashion Week (M/FW), creativity was led by purpose and shaped through bold experimentation. Offering a glimpse inside their vision, five students share the legendary designers (as well as the unexpected sources) that have inspired them throughout the process.

Discover more up-and-coming local designers in our Fashion section. 

Caroline Caroline, LCI Melbourne

“From the beginning of my fashion journey, I’ve been inspired by designers like Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel. Schiaparelli’s bold creativity and surrealism taught me to push the boundaries while Chanel influenced me with her timeless elegance and revolutionary approach to women’s clothing. Today, a designer I’m admiring is Marina Eerrie because of her beautiful aesthetic and unique approach to draping, her work reminds me that fashion can be somehow poetic.

“A big inspiration for my graduate collection was Schiaparelli’s Icarus Spring/Summer 2025 runway, [especially] the combination of delicate and hard materials. I was also inspired by my wooden dollhouse that I had as a kid, and my family’s wooden home in Borneo, Indonesia.

“The name of my collection, She Lives in a Dollhouse, tells a story about growing up with a family that people often see as ‘less’, especially my dad’s family who used to build furnitures and repair everything out of wooden pieces, simply because they can’t afford proper furniture, I find that as a symbol of resilience and strength. [I think] craftsmanship should be more appreciated and I want to bring this conversation into fashion.”

@c___caroline

Tilly Rice, RMIT University 

“I grew up idolising Alexander McQueen’s practice, specifically the spine and bone motifs (Spring/Summer 1998) throughout his work. I think it’s a very common gateway into fashion design for young people, through a fantastical, futuristic, under-the-skin lens. In 2024, I made a collection inspired by dug-up lamb bones, using real carcasses as reference for my timber rib replicas.

“[Austrian designer] Carol Christian Poell’s practice has also been a major influence, including visuals of leather decomposition and the use of real human teeth and hair – expressing post-human forms inspired a deeper level of nuance in the experimental design space for me. My Honours graduate collection, Cordelette was a culmination of exploring movement, free and restricted, inspired by physical artistic expressions of ballet dance and rock-climbing.

“Recently, I’ve extended my creative practice into footwear and that has opened up so many new inspirational forces. There are countless heel-specific designers I’ve obsessed over: Noritaka Tatehana’s iconic ‘heel-less’ shoe silhouette was a major inspiration for my recent collection, pushing the wearer to concentrate pressure onto the toes, adjacent to ballet pointe shoes. I have a lot of respect for the artistry of Kei Kagami’s footwear in the brutal forms and raw materiality, and recently I have been inspired by Carolin Holzuber’s footwear design; in illusion and sculptural form.”

@tilly__rice

Ella Atkins, LCI Melbourne

“Early in my practice, I was deeply inspired by Vivienne Westwood. Her fearless embrace of punk culture, rebellion, and tartan ignited my own passion for challenging convention. Westwood’s ability to merge historical references with subversive energy directly influenced my menswear look, where I explored structure, attitude, and individuality through bold prints and unconventional detailing.

“Alongside her, designers like Alexander McQueen and Jean Paul Gaultier shaped my understanding of fashion as a form of storytelling. Alexander McQueen’s Plato’s Atlantis Spring/Summer 2010 collection left a profound mark on me. Every aspect of the show felt visionary, from the way the digitally engineered prints flowed seamlessly across each garment, creating the illusion of a single piece of fabric, to the otherworldly construction of the towering, futuristic shoes. It was a perfect fusion of technology, artistry, and imagination.”

@ellaatkins_design

Dedo Sarik, Box Hill Institute

“My early fashion design sensibility was inspired and influenced by the work of Alexander McQueen and Thierry Mugler… I was particularly impressed by their mastery of intricate tailoring and forward-thinking design concepts that initially captured my imagination.

“Learning about Australian fashion designers led me to be particularly inspired by the craftsmanship of Zimmermann. I was fascinated by the exceptional level of detail evident in each garment, noting how every pattern and print aligned with precision. This particular characteristic resonated with me, given my personal inclination toward perfectionism and attention to detail.

“My collection is titled Starry Night, drawing inspiration from the celestial glow of stars scattered across the night sky. An unexpected source of inspiration emerged from everyday objects such as recycled bubble tea cups. I never anticipated on finding a way to transform something I see and consume daily into a fashion element.”

@dedo_srk

Leah Wilkinson, LCI Melbourne

“An iconic fashion designer who I’ve always admired is Vivienne Westwood. Her bravery to always take risks and be unapologetic has paved the way for fashion designers today, and inspired me to be adventurous when developing my designs.

For more on Australia’s emerging fashion talent, head here.