Photography Patricia Casten; Styling Simone Vinski; Hair Leah Briody; Make up Ellie Tseriotis and Effie Tzagarakis; Models Liv Moore and Kepsibel Kombi
This year Think Positive had the pleasure of working with bright young thing Lauren Acciarito on her graduate collection – the culmination of four years of a Bachelor of Design course at RMIT. With a passion for nature, nurtured by a close relationship with her Nanna (an avid gardener), Lauren chose to explore the structural folds and form of flowers. Inspired by great American female artists Imogen Cunningam and Georgia O’Keefe, the cross connection between the physical form of flowers and the female body was an important theme in her collection.
Working with TP art director Emilie Cacace to develop her prints, Lauren photographed flowers sourced from Sydney’s Grandiflora, digitally layering the photographs to experiment with colour and contrast. The collection was very dependant on the fabrication. Lauren worked with foam to recreate the petal shapes along the lines of the female form.
Emilie and Lauren tested different fabrics, deciding on the Silk Faille as the base cloth for the artwork to be printed on. Sourcing a foam bonding company, Lauren had the foam ‘laminated’ with the digital print creating an entirely new textile – an exciting moment after a long and difficult period of experimentation to achieve desired form.
Of her collection Lauren explains:
“A flower morphing into a powerful being, its majestic folds and unusual textures exemplify its rarity and beauty. Consider the flower growing into an abstract man-like silhouette, as a metamorphosis into the modern woman. A woman, who stands in abstract formation, swathed in supple volumes and layers. Consider this as the final evolution of the most delicate, primal beauty. Imagine her strength and clarity radiating outwards, taking on physical form in soft, complex layering as the garments knot and orbit the body in subtle, delicate beauty. Consider this as femininity; at it’s most powerful.”
Follow Lauren on Instagram here: instagram.com/laurenacciarito
