Nell Varney

“As you walk around the corner through the primeval wooden gate you catch the first glimpse of colour pooling throughout the garden. It only takes a few more steps for your eyes to be captivated in the wildness of this controlled space. You just need to get a little further in until there is a sea of flowers surrounding you. The temptation to pick some for yourself is overwhelming. Each colour flows to the next like a smooth flowing river. Not long after you’re fully immersed in the garden walking alone on the stone cobbles with no care in the world. Only beauty surrounding you.

A colour so sweet deserves to be treated with tender love and care, just like my grandmother takes care of her ever-expanding flower gardens. My ensemble aspires to capture the beauty of this garden along with the feeling you get while exploring it. The major colour repeating throughout the garden is a violet pink, being the perfect inspiration for the colour Resene Temptation. When I was younger I used to find myself getting lost of purpose just to sit amongst the beautiful chaos. With the stems rising higher than me it was not hard to lose myself in what felt like a jungle oasis I had to myself.

I want to embody both playfulness and elegance in this look and pay homage to my younger self. You see, when I was younger, each time we would visit my grandparents I would spend my days in the garden playing around and as soon as the sun went down you would find little me sitting on my granny’s vintage motorless treadle singer, pretending to sew the gowns that were hanging in her spare room closet. Later walking down the stairs with my sister and cousin dressed up ready to perform a fashion show for the parents. Almost 15 years later I have blossomed from the little pretend seamstress from the upstairs room, to the almost graduated fashion student.

This ensemble celebrates my family and the memories I cherish from childhood, and it also celebrates the progress I have made within my own personal journey, with finally pursuing something I had been interested in for so long.

The corset I am making is to represent the strength of the stem of the flower, being what keeps the petals together and strong. The skirt is to represent the petals spilling out of the stem, each individual piece making up the skirt, as petals make up the flower.

My garment is inspired from the petals on the flowers that I used to pick playing love me not, petal by petal placed so elegantly and flowing from stem to tip. The elegance and beauty is transcendent.”

Resene Whitecliffe Colour of Fashion clothing - 2023

Photography by Jonathan Kraettli

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