By Sharon Green
A green grass carpet welcomed guests into the Eco Luxe Fashion Exposé (ELFE), an official calendar event during the Melbourne Spring Fashion Festival in 2009.
For lovers of fashion and style, the event showcased designers that demonstrate a responsibility to the environment, and create garments with conscious consideration to fabric selection. Set in the busy Alumbra at Docklands, Melbourne, the evening offered market stalls, catwalk parades and live entertainment. Most importantly, it illustrated how designs can still look luxurious while being kind to nature.
Eva Q Design showcased at ELFE, and the designer claims that her collection suited the concept of eco-friendly fashion because she is resourceful with her materials. She is known to recycle old clothes, and buy second hand items from op shops that she can re-construct or cut up to fit the style of her collection. “I re-use fabric from off-cuts and old and vintage garments. Then I’ll often create circles or petals from this to use on my designs,” she said. This works well for Eva as all her pieces are purely handmade and working with delicate fabrics is her specialty. “Fabrics like silk are expensive… so I make sure I use at least 90% of all fabric scraps that I can find,” she said.
Eva Q with her collection
Eva Q Huynh is the girl behind this fashion label. Melbourne born and raised, she completed a degree in Textile Design from RMIT but struggled to find a job once graduated. Consequently, she decided to take her future into her own hands and created a fashion label that recently saw her win a category in the NRA Australian Fashion Design Awards. “I entered some competitions to try and gain some exposure, but never expected to win,” she explains.
She returned from France just a few weeks ago, where she undertook a scholarship as part of her prize from the NRA award. She spent one month at the Paris American Academy studying fashion and learnt formal couture techniques. Her experience there meant that she had the privilege to work with people from high end labels such as Dior, YSL and Ellie Saab.
But it wasn’t all easy. “They were really hard on you. If you didn’t stitch something exactly right, they’d send you back to unpick it,” she said. Perhaps this is why Eva pays so much attention to fine detailing and neat finishes in her own designs. Her collection consists of beautifully tailored, feminine dresses with intricate detailing like ruching, hand sewn embellishments and soft satin belts. After spending some time in the city of love, she admits that she has come away feeling inspired to design pieces that reflect the Parisian atmosphere and describes her designs as “really romantic”.
Her selection of paisley and dusty pinks along with soft creams in delicate, floaty fabrics suggests that these romantic influences have been expressed in her collection.“I use a lot of satin fabrics as well as soft jersey inners for a good fit and for comfort,” she said.
From here, Eva hopes that her label will continue to grow as she has big ambitions to get it stocked in more boutiques across the country over the coming months. She describes her collection as “feminine, fun and elegant.”
