Unwrapped: Australian Fashion and Textile Design

Unwrapped Australian Fashion and Textile Design
The Australian fashion market is very small, which is why the goal for designers from Down Under is "not to become rich but be experimental."

So said Penelope Aitken in a lecture on "Unwrapped: Australian Fashion and Textile Design," a traveling exhibit at the Tall Galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila.

Aitken is a visual artist from Melbourne affiliated with Asialink, which is co-presenting the exhibit with Bendigo Art Gallery and the Met.

"Unwrapped" is a collective assembly of works by 22 textile and fashion designers - as varied and unique as each of the artists' backgrounds and design sensibilities. The featured designers are either native Australians or immigrants.

From the softest kangaroo pelt incarnated in contemporary pieces and rust-dyed fabrics, "Unwrapped" simultaneously awes and shocks with the unconventional techniques and materials employed by each designer.

There's Julie Ryder, who uses "dyes" on silk organza resulting from the fermentation of molt, fungus and bacteria. The arduous process takes up to six months to achieve the desired effect.

"These works reflect my continuing interest in recording the passage of time and representing aspects of life that are not visible to our human eyes," Ryder said in a statement.

Raised a Catholic, Rosemary O'Rourke's ethereal collection has al