Fashion - Bachelors

Transcendent Expressions

This collection will invite you into a queer idealistic future: a place without gender roles and without conformity. A place that is camp, insane, extravagant, and that celebrates the weird wonderfulness that is found in the liminal space between the genders.

Ella McCauley

My collection is exploring queer expressions of gender and celebrating the playfulness and empowerment of clothes as costume. I want my work to touch people and make them think differently about their bodies and their experience of gender and how they express themselves.

I take a lot of influence from fashion movements such as punk and anti-fashion, as queerness has always been an inherently huge part of these movements both in art and fashion. Politics have always been flagged through fashion throughout history and particularly in these movements and with my collection being about queerness and freedom of expression, politics do come into play. Using print I incorporate some of the key concepts from these movements that align with me and have inspired my design process.

Aswell as from other artists, I find inspiration in my friends, in the way they express themselves, the way they do their make-up and accessorise, and the way they make me feel about my own identity. I have particularly taken inspiration from one friend’s poetry (shown below) which explores their complex relationship with being non-binary and navigating their own sense of self.

I particularly am excited by the idea of clothes being a form of play. I am making clothes that can make you feel different and move differently and my concept embraces the fact that these kinds of clothes make people see you differently too.

Silhouette #1

Photographer: Emily Lecole
Model: Yelena Stear

Silhouette #2

Photographer: Emily Lecole
Model: Yelena Stear

SILHOUETTE #3

Photographer: Emily Lecole
Model: Yelena Stear

SILHOUETTE #4 W.I.P.

Photographer: Emily Lecole
Model: Yelena Stear

Poem in journal: Keegan Bell

SILHOUETTE #5 W.I.P.

Model: Louis Beatty

SILHOUETTE #6 W.I.P.

Model: Pinta Kearns

Collection overview

Due to some external personal circumstances, getting this collection complete on time has been a great challenge. This is why there are progress pictures and no finished photoshoot. Though the end is in sight! The completed collection will be debuted on the 11th November at the Graduate Runway show, but here it is so far…

Ella McCauley

Ella McCauley is a fashion designer in Meanjin. Her work celebrates clothing as a performance, empowering individuals to rethink self-expression and identity. Passionate about ethical, slow fashion, Ella values craftsmanship and artistry in every piece she creates. They are highly involved in the local creative scene, working in alterations, designing for a fashion magazine, running a brand, and studying.