5 min' read
For a design to make it into a Wild Fibres collection, it has to speak to me first.
It needs to excite me. It needs to feel different, unique or like something I have never created before. There has to be an X-factor — a shape, a detail, a print placement or a feeling that makes me want to bring it to life.
But personal excitement is only the beginning.
Fashion design is always a balance between creating something that fulfils my own artistic vision and creating something other people will want to wear, enjoy and feel amazing in. The real work is finding the point where those two things meet.
A garment has to feel special to me, while still making someone else look at it and think:
I like that. I can see myself wearing that. I would feel good in my body in that.
A Spark Can Come From Anywhere
Inspiration can arrive in any moment.
Sometimes it begins when a customer walks into our stall wearing a beautiful piece of bohemian or festival clothing. They may have found it while travelling, brought it from another part of the world, or styled it in a way we have never seen before.
A flowing silhouette, an unusual fabric, a colour combination or a small detail can spark a new idea.
These moments open our minds to new possibilities and inspire us to create something original in the Wild Fibres spirit—expressive, comfortable, colorful and made for movement.
Designing for the Body
When I begin a new piece, I think about what it will celebrate.
Do I want to draw attention to the shoulders, the back, the waist, the hips, the bust, the arms, or the movement of the whole body? Do I want the garment to feel soft and flowing, dramatic and expressive, or simple and easy to wear?
A cut can completely change how someone feels.
A high waist can create length through the legs. An open back can feel sensual and free. A flowing sleeve can create movement when someone dances. A well-placed seam can give shape without making a garment feel tight or restrictive.
The aim is never to tell someone which part of themselves they should show. It is to create options—pieces that help different people feel confident, comfortable and expressive in their own bodies.
Clothing Should Work With You, Not Against You
For me, one of the most important things about clothing is how it feels when you actually live in it.
A garment can look incredible, but if you can't move comfortably, sit down, dance, travel or wear it for hours without thinking about it, something is missing.
The body doesn't stand still.
We walk, dance, sit, stretch, bend, travel, reach and move through the world. Festival clothing especially needs to cope with all of that.
That's why movement is such an important part of the way I think about design.
I want our clothing to move with the body rather than restrict it. A flowing sleeve can come alive when someone dances. A wide leg can create movement as someone walks. A soft waistband can make the difference between wanting to wear something all day and taking it off after an hour.
The ideal piece is one that gives you freedom rather than making you constantly think about what you're wearing.
Designing to Celebrate the Body
When I begin thinking about a piece, I think about what it will celebrate.
Do I want to draw attention to the shoulders, the back, the waist, the hips, the bust, the arms, or the movement of the whole body?
Do I want the garment to feel soft and flowing, dramatic and expressive, or simple and easy to wear?
A cut can completely change how someone feels.
A high waist can create length through the legs. An open back can feel sensual and free. A flowing sleeve can create movement when someone dances. A well-placed seam can give shape without making a garment feel tight or restrictive.
When One Piece Can Work in Many Ways
As a designer, I am always looking for ways that one piece can work beautifully for many different people.
That is why flexible, free-size or one-size-fits-most designs have become an important part of Wild Fibres.
This doesn't mean that one garment will suit everybody. Everybody is different.
It means we work carefully with shape, drape, adjustable details, elastic waists and flowing silhouettes to create pieces that can fit comfortably across a wider range of shapes and sizes.
For me, there's something exciting about creating a garment that can be worn differently by different people.
One person might wear it to a festival. Another might wear it travelling. Someone else might throw it on with boots and a jacket and wear it into the city.
The garment becomes part of their style rather than dictating what that style should be.
A Collection Needs Balance
When I design, I am not only thinking about one top, one pair of pants or one dress.
I am thinking about the collection as a whole.
Do we already have too many similar pieces?
Are we creating enough variety?
Do we have something comfortable and simple for everyday life, alongside something bold and special for a festival, a night out or a moment when someone wants to feel completely different?
A good collection needs balance.
There might be an easy everyday boho outfit, a special festival outfit for dancing and self-expression, a flowing boho dress for warm days, or a skirt that can be styled in several different ways.
Each piece has its own role while still belonging to the wider Wild Fibres story.
And there needs to be room for the special X-factor piece — the one that makes someone stop when they see it.
But there also needs to be room for pieces that people can return to again and again.
Trendy Doesn't Have to Mean Temporary
Trends can be fun.
They can bring a burst of energy, a new shape or an exciting idea.
But I don't want Wild Fibres pieces to feel disposable because a particular trend has passed.
I am always asking myself:
Will this still feel beautiful in a few years?
Will someone still want to wear it when the trend has moved on?
Could it become one of those reliable pieces that someone reaches for because it always feels good?
For me, timeless doesn't have to mean boring or minimal.
It can still be colourful, expressive, bohemian clothing full of personality.
It simply means designing with enough comfort, character and versatility that a piece can outlast a season.
Our Design Life Isn't Exactly Conventional
A lot of our design life has happened on the move.
There have been plenty of times when we've jumped on scooters with lengths of fabric strapped across our backs, a child — or sometimes two — squeezed along with us, weaving through the chaos of busy streets to get something urgently delivered to our tailor, check on a sample, or chase down a beautiful fabric we've just discovered and already started imagining as something else.
It's probably not the most conventional way to run a fashion business.
But for us, this is part of it.
Design doesn't always happen in a studio.
Sometimes it happens somewhere between a busy street, a fabric shop and a tailor's workshop, with the whole family along for the ride.
And perhaps that has shaped the way I think about clothing more than I realise.
Clothing isn't separate from life.
It is part of life.
Fashion as a Service
At the end of the day, fashion design is personal — but it is also a service.
The inspiration may begin inside me, but the garment is made for someone else to live in.
To dance in.
To travel in.
To sit in at a festival.
To wear to yoga, a market, a bush walk, dinner or a night out.
The best feeling is when that bridge works: when a design feels exciting and new to create, but also becomes something that many different people can wear in their own way and feel amazing in.
That's the intention behind every Wild Fibres piece.
Not just to make clothing, but to create something that helps people move more freely, express themselves more boldly and feel at home in their own body.
Because ultimately, good festival fashion shouldn't wear you. You should be able to wear it - and still be completely yourself.