Emily Ritchie with one of the garments from her final student collection.
Camera IconEmily Ritchie with one of the garments from her final student collection. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Student collections a true labour of love

Pia van StraalenMelville Gazette

The sight captured her imagination and inspired her final design collection in her Advanced Diploma in Fashion studies at Bentley Polytechnic West.

"My collection was inspired by lakes and streams," she said.

�I took a picture out of the plane window and I mirrored the images I found and developed the print.

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"It's land meeting the ocean."

The striking 10-piece collection is the fruit of six months labour and the 20-year-old will unveil it as part of Nucleo, the annual fashion event for final-year design students.

Ritchie said she wanted to make an "edgy" contribution to the WA fashion industry.

"I�d love to go international, but I want to be faithful to the west for a while," she said.

"I think it's important to support our WA economy, we have so much potential here."

Tonight, she will be among 23 final-year students to send their creations down the catwalk, in front of more than 500

"We get half a year to develop all looks " we have to pattern-make, print fabrics and fit them to models,� Ritchie said.

"I can't tell you how many hours I have spent creating the collection."

Ritchie is among a class of young designers set to lead Perth's fashion future.

Mandurah designer Kirra James is releasing a collection with sizes ranging from 8 to 18.

"I began making my own clothes in the early 2000s because there were no clothes for plus-sized people," she said.

"But now plus sizes are becoming more mainstream, although they still aren't youthful or sexy."

James takes pride in her collection being accessible to everyone.

Redcliffe student Ami Kadota stained silks with fruit teas and coffees to create a couture collection for women aged in their late 30s.