My Melbourne Fashion Week story
When the invitation to Melbourne Fashion Week arrived, I was all in! The runway fell right in the middle of our family cruise around New Zealand, so I stepped off the ship in Auckland and flew to Melbourne, excited to be part of this incredible opportunity.
Seeing Saretta The Label on the runway at the National Gallery of Victoria was a pinch yourself moment. The artworks I had created on canvas now moved through the room on silk and flowing fabric, styled in ways that opened new possibilities.
As a proud Wonnarua woman from the Hunter Valley, I carried my connection to Country into that experience. I also carried the encouragement of the family and community who first helped me believe I could share my art. My Melbourne Fashion Week debut had been a long time in the making.
The people who encouraged me
My journey into a public art practice began quite close to home. I had always worked within Aboriginal community organisations and enjoyed creating cultural artworks connected to Country. I displayed a few pieces around our offices, and family, colleagues and community encouraged me to share them more widely.
While I was on the founding board of Yarnteen Limited, fellow board member Paul Gordon rang to ask whether I had artwork for a Bush Tucker cafés launch at Newcastle Foreshore. I only had my personal pieces, but I said yes. I went out, bought 10 canvases and got to work. To my surprise, more than half sold.
Putting my heart and cultural stories onto canvas for others to see felt daunting. Discovering that people connected with them was lovely. It reignited a childhood dream of becoming an artist and gave me the confidence to keep going.
I began exhibiting and entering competitions and was fortunate to receive awards. Winning the Ray-Ban Indigenous design competition was a turning point. The professional development support helped me build an art business, and I began to feel I could call myself an artist.
The people who encouraged me at the beginning remain an important part of this story. Looking back from Melbourne, I felt grateful for that first invitation to put my work out into the world.
Finding my way into fashion
Fashion had been part of my life long before I thought of creating a label.
I grew up as the eldest of six children. After Dad passed away, Mum raised us on her own. She taught me to knit and crochet, and several of my aunties sewed. I often adapted clothes from Christmas gifts, the Salvos and second-hand shops, finding ways to make them my own.
Later, John Hancock, a Wiradjuri man with wonderful IT skills, helped me build the art business online. Through Facebook, I connected with Australian artist Tracey Keller. I admired her cushions and asked whether she would mentor me to develop a range using my own artworks.
That became my first six cushion designs, the Wakool range, meaning 'first'. I loved discovering that we could capture the textures of my sand engravings on fabric.
That discovery opened the way into fashion. My practice draws inspiration from ancient sandstone engravings at Mount Yengo, and I wanted the fabrics to carry the texture and feeling of the original work. The connection to Country needed to remain visible as the artwork took on a different form.
My art business began as Ninkinpa before becoming Saretta. People already knew my art under my name, so it felt natural to bring the business together that way. Saretta The Label has grown from that same desire to share culture through something people can enjoy, wear and make their own.
Watching the artwork move
I had shown pieces at earlier runway events, but Melbourne Fashion Week was a first for me. Being part of the Ganbu Marra First Nations runway, alongside other Aboriginal designers and creatives, was such an exciting experience.
Lindyn Rowland did an amazing job styling my pieces. Scarves became dresses, sarongs took on new shapes, and the fabrics showed how much could happen through draping, wrapping and a little imagination. There is a lovely hometown connection too. Lindyn grew up in the same town, and his family knows mine. Seeing his creativity at work made the experience especially memorable and was a special collaboration for me.
Versatility has always mattered to me. I want the women and men who purchase a piece to have room to play, whether they are dressing for a relaxed day or an evening out. The runway took that idea further, showing the artwork across different bodies and silhouettes.
The photographs capture the rich colours, the textures and the movement that I love in these fabrics. Looking at them, I can see how the story on the canvas takes on another life when someone wears it. That was one of the real joys of the evening.
A special evening with my brother
My brother Damian accompanied me to the event, which made the evening even more special. Sharing this milestone with family meant a great deal to me.
Damian Smith is the Artistic Director of The National Ballet School in Melbourne and a former Principal Dancer with San Francisco Ballet. His creative life has taken him onto stages around the world, while mine has grown through visual art and design.
For this evening, we had the chance to share in my first Melbourne Fashion Week. I love having this photograph of us together at the media wall, a family memory to sit alongside the beautiful runway images.
Family runs through so much of my artwork. I return to stories of belonging, the strength of our relationships and the knowledge we pass between generations. Those connections also sit behind the label, in the people who encouraged me, taught me and helped me take each next step.
There was something lovely about celebrating this moment with my brother beside me. Amid all the excitement of the event, it was an opportunity to enjoy what had brought us there and to share the experience together.
The stories we carry forward
Every piece in my collection shares a story through contemporary artwork and traditional design, with the artwork's name and story on the label. I want the person wearing it to understand the meaning behind the design and feel confident sharing it when someone asks about the design.
Corroboree shares the gathering of family through song, dance and storytelling. Borii Parai, or 'Songlines Country', reflects journey trails and the relationships we form as we travel through life. These stories stay with the pieces wherever they go.
I hope people are drawn first to the beauty of the colour, texture and fabric, and then become curious about the story. That conversation can happen on a runway, but it can also happen when someone wears a scarf to work or styles a sarong for an evening with friends. I love that fashion can make space for those everyday connections with culture.
Melbourne has encouraged me to keep exploring. I'm developing new artworks and ideas for day and evening wear, with the hope of taking a new collection to Darwin and Australian Fashion Week in Sydney during 2027. There is more I want to try, and this experience has given me fresh excitement for that work.
To everyone who helped bring the collection to the runway, and to the family, community and customers who have supported me along the way, thank you. It has been a joy to share this part of my journey with you.
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