About the Collection

“Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts + Aly de Groot have come together to collaborate and celebrate fibre works and their place in traditional and contemporary functionality and adornment”

Pictured-Designer Aly de Groot, Model Jennifer Ogookonkwo and Designer Leonie Gayula with their collaborative work at Country to Courture, 2024

How it Started

Myself , the women artists and Trevor from Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts had been in talks about creating a second collaborative fashion collection following on from their NIFA ( National Indigenous Fashion Award ) winning debut at Country to Couture in 2022. We have all come together with a shared belief in the power of creativity to promote and strengthen First Nations fashion and knowledge both within our respective local communities and on a national scale.

Traditional fibre works are reinterpreted, sculptural silhouettes are created in pandanus, bush dyed and upcycled garments and most of all a joyful celebration of resourcefulness, tradition, and creativity.

Bush Trip

The project started with a bush trip. Two car loads of women drove an hour or more from Gapuwiyak along the Arnhem Highway to gather pandanus and bush dyes to be used in the days ahead to work together to create Gapuwiyak’s second fashion collection together.

The following day we all met at the women’s activity place known as the ‘Bush Miyalk’( Bush Women’s) centre. We looked at some of the photos from Donald Thompson and discussed ideas for the new collection.

Dorothy Sparked up the dye pots first thing in the morning and everyone finished preparing the pandanas and making beautiful colours – the reds, blacks, golden yellows and even some purple from wet season berries. Aly showed new ways to use the colours on fabrics to refashion silk and cotton clothing.

Lucy dyed a refashioned and recycled dress with the yellow colour.

Aly spent the mid morning demonstrating bush dye on recycled and refashioned garments with Leonie, Cassie,Crystal and Rhianna.

Everyone’s work came out looking amazing and we discussed ideas of what they could make them into.

In the afternoon Leonie and Aly worked together on refashioning a wedding dress .They decided to make a bush dye dress from it, for Nicki Minaj to wear to the Met Gala, AKA as the Met Galah.Inspiration was drawn from Nicki Minaj’s 2019 look at the Met Gala.

Leonie’s cousin Chantal had a go at modeling her design.

The next day started with a talk about about the fashion show. Everyone discussed different ways they would like to weave with the gunga they collected and dyed last week. Dorothy said she wanted to collect bark to make a bark string skirt.

Kathy taught Laura how to weave for the first time.

Rose worked with Aly to cut up a men’s shirt and stitch and shape into a dress.

Fashion show on Country

On the last day everyone decided they wanted to celebrate all their hard work with a fashion show on Country.

It was decided by the elders that this collection would be called Old Ways, New Ways, Baman ga Yuta.

The collection made it’s debut on the catwalk at the 2024 Country to Courture fashion show in Darwin im August.

“We have all come together with a shared belief in the power of creativity to promote and strengthen Indigenous fashion and knowledge both within our respective local communities and on a national scale.” Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts