Long rolls of dyed cotton seamlessly move from one hand to the other as Grace Lillian Lee delicately weaves fashionable, one-off pieces using a traditional Torres Strait Island grasshopper technique.<\/p>\n
The weave, traditionally using coconut palm fronds, was taught to Lee by Torres Strait artist and mentor Uncle Ken Thaiday Senior almost 15 years ago.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Grace Lillian Lee wearing one of her sought-after woven necklaces. (Supplied: Wendell Teodoro)<\/p>\n
Her woven, wearable art creations have catapulted Lee from the relaxed lifestyle of Cairns and the Torres Strait in Queensland’s far north to Paris, France, a bustling textile mecca more than 15,000 kilometres away.<\/p>\n
“I had been studying fashion design at RMIT but Uncle Ken was the cultural beacon of light that helped shape and influence my practice,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It took a while for me to develop my own technique using the weave because I wanted to celebrate who I am and where I come from.”<\/p>\n
Grace Lillian Lee uses a traditional Torres Strait Island grasshopper weave. (Supplied: Grace Lillian Lee)<\/p>\n
The Meriam Mir Samsep artist initially created sought-after woven necklaces after a trip to the Torres Strait Islands back in 2010 before progressing to large-scale wearable art and sculptural couture on a global scale.<\/p>\n
“I think people are eager to explore who they are through what they wear and have fun with that,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It feels like we’re in an era of change with people wanting a bit of an escape from reality.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Intricately woven sculptural costumes by Grace Lillian Lee. (Supplied: Wendell Teodoro)<\/p>\n
From Queensland to France<\/p>\n
The 37-year-old credits a chance encounter with French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier with launching her international career.<\/p>\n
In 2024 Lee caught Gaultier’s attention after a recommendation from Brisbane Festival artistic director Louise Bezzina.<\/p>\n
So impressed with Lee’s work, Gaultier hand-picked her to contribute to his Fashion Freak Show at the Brisbane Festival in 2024.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier is a fan of Grace Lillian Lee’s work. (Supplied: Wendell Teodoro)<\/p>\n
Lee believes this helped secure a three-month residency at Cit\u00e9 Internationale des Arts in Paris this year, a prestigious artistic exchange and development program.<\/p>\n
She also showcased some of her designs at Paris Couture Week in July this year, which Gaultier attended.<\/p>\n
“It was definitely a pinch-me moment,” she said.<\/p>\n
“And a chance for me to tell my stories and celebrate my Torres Strait culture with the world through couture.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Grace Lillian Lee surrounded by models wearing her couture in Paris. (Supplied: Wendell Teodoro)<\/p>\n
“We created eight looks, four sculptures and a mask.”<\/p>\n
Lee was chosen this year as the inaugural artist to exhibit her work at the Cassandra Bird Gallery, a new gallery space on the ground floor of Zimmerman’s Paris headquarters in the heart of the Le Marais.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Grace Lillian Lee standing behind a model wearing one of her designs. (Supplied: Wendell Teodoro)<\/p>\n
A huge fan of Grace Lillian Lee’s work is Kellie Hush, chief executive officer of Australian Fashion Week.<\/p>\n
“It’s people like Grace who are going to pave the way for other Indigenous designers,” she said.<\/p>\n
“She is a representation of what First Nations designers do better than anyone else \u2014 creating pieces that are so individual and unique that they become statement pieces.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kellie Hush is excited to see First Nations fashion designers reach bigger audiences. (Supplied: Kellie Hush)<\/p>\n
Hush said First Nations designers harnessed a unique and innovative creativity not seen around the world and was excited at the inclusion of more Indigenous designers at Australian Fashion Week.<\/p>\n
Leading the way for others<\/p>\n
Thrilled to be one of those, Lee is back in the tropical far north preparing for another showcase at the annual fashion event in May 2026.<\/p>\n
She is also finalising costume designs for the Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Company’s upcoming production, Flora 2026.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Grace Lillian Lee and Elverina Johnson are paving the way for other First Nations fashion designers. (Supplied: Elverina Johnson)<\/p>\n
In spite of her busy schedule, Lee is eager to continue inspiring and creating opportunities for Indigenous creatives through First Nations Fashion and Design (FNFD) which she founded in 2017.<\/p>\n
Elverina Johnson praised FNFD as “one of the first incubator programs for Indigenous fashion in Cairns” and for the doors it had opened.<\/p>\n
Johnson, a painter, fashion designer and musician, has collaborated with multiple fashion brands, producing three collections with national Australian fashion brand Taking Shape and designing original silk scarves for Aboriginal-owned ethical fashion brand Mainie Australia.<\/p>\n
She has also showcased her work at Australian Fashion Week, the Brisbane Festival, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) and the University of Technology in Sydney.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Elverina Johnson with some of her designs. (Supplied: Taking Shape)<\/p>\n
It is a long way from her small Indigenous community of Yarrabah, about 52 kilometres south-east of Cairns with a population of about 4,500 people.<\/p>\n
A respected Gungganji-Yidinji woman, Johnson sees fashion as another avenue for sharing her culture.<\/p>\n
“My learnings have become part of my story and are translated onto canvas, and then into my fashion,” she said.<\/p>\n
“All my designs tell a story and help educate people about Indigenous people and their traditions.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Elverina Johnson’s artwork is full of colour. (Supplied: Taking Shape)<\/p>\n
Johnson said her artwork was inspired by a childhood surrounded by rainforest, ocean, rich Australian landscapes of paperbark trees, bush foods, native plants, mangroves and fishing.<\/p>\n
As an independent fashion designer, Johnson said keeping up with demand was her biggest challenge.<\/p>\n
“There’s either fast fashion or slow fashion, which are one-off pieces that tell a story,” Johnson said.<\/p>\n
“To produce fashion nationally or internationally you need people around you to help make it happen.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Elverina Johnson’s designs are inspired by her stories and surroundings. (Supplied: Taking Shape)<\/p>\n
Australian Fashion Week CEO Kellie Hush said there needed to be more support for First Nations designers and a cultural shift to view them as mainstream rather than niche designers.<\/p>\n
“We should be referring to First Nations designers as Australian fashion designers, as they are Australian fashion brands,” she said.<\/p>\n
Australian Fashion Week is starting to attract more First Nations designers. (Supplied: Kellie Hush)<\/p>\n
Johnson agreed, adding while she is a proud First Nations fashion designer the label can be limiting.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t mind being recognised as an Australian fashion designer,” Johnson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long rolls of dyed cotton seamlessly move from one hand to the other as Grace Lillian Lee delicately…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96206,64,63,196201,106677,196205,134,41203,196200,196204,196202,196203,41196],"class_list":["post-359303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-aboriginal-art","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-fashion-week","tag-couture","tag-elverina-johnson","tag-entertainment","tag-fashion-design","tag-first-nations-designers","tag-grace-lillian-lee","tag-grasshopper-weave","tag-gungganji-yidinji","tag-indigenous-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}