2010 Graduate Collection by Natalie Rae

Natalie Rae’s exciting debut collection fuses bold embroidery and a natural colour palette with casual American 1980s silhouettes. Inspired by the anthropomorphic artwork of artist Ryan Berkeley, each of the 6 looks invokes the spirit of well-shod wildlife from Berekely’s animal portraiture. Using a different animal from 6 of Berkeley’s illustrations, Natalie has brought together elements of nature photography, detail from Victorian period animal illustrations as well as experimental painting techniques.

The collection balances organic, ethically sourced fabrics and material with a fashion-forward sensibility. Fabrics for this collection come from organics suppliers in India and the UK. The majority of this collection’s fabrics have been hand-dyed to match the warm palette of Berkeley’s illustrations. The one-of-a-kind embroidery work was designed by Natalie and crafted by Hand and Lock of London, at their new fair trade facilities in India. The wooden clutches and totes that compliment the collection where hand crafted by Teal and Gold in Canada using American Walnut wood from a sustainable forest in the United States.

Born and raised in San Diego, California and now living in London, Natalie Rae has been pushing the boundaries of ethical fashion for years. Without shouting about it, Natalie’s design approach uses as much organic materials and people-friendly fair-trade sourcing as possible. Natalie has a passion for creating clothing that to the consumer is almost ethicalby-chance – clothing that inspires aesthetically and also happens to be principled.

 Photographs: Sean Michael | Model: Holly (Models’1)

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