Country to Couture – A Fashion Legacy
Marian Patterson wears pieces by Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts in collaboration with Aly De Groot Art, Country to Couture, 2022, Photo by Michael Jalaru Torres
Country to Couture – A Fashion Legacy
Marian Patterson wears pieces by Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts in collaboration with Aly De Groot Art, Country to Couture, 2022, Photo by Michael Jalaru Torres
City of Darwin Lightbox Exhibition, March – August 2026
Curated by Tiana Russell – Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation (DAAF Foundation)
In 2025 Country to Couture celebrated 10 vibrant years of First Nations fashion design! Country to Couture – A Fashion Legacy, showcases the vibrancy of First Nations designers, fashion labels and models from Darwin and across the Northern Territory that have featured in Country to Couture’s runway program, across its decade long lifespan as part of the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation (DAAF Foundation).
Curated by DAAF Foundations Tiana Russell, as a highly valued member of our team, a young emerging creative and model who has graced Country to Couture’s runway on several occasions, we are pleased to support Tiana in this opportunity that expands her creative experience.
Since 2016, Country to Couture has evolved from an intimate showcase of textile artists and designers into the nation’s premier platform for First Nations fashion innovation whilst remaining deeply community-led at its core. As a leading Indigenous fashion runway, it is one of the most important sector-building platforms for First Nations fashion innovation nationally.
Founded within the DAAF Foundation ecosystem, the program emerged from the aspirations of remote Aboriginal-owned Art Centres seeking pathways into fashion. Since its inception, Country to Couture bridges the gap between traditional artistic practices and contemporary fashion expression, celebrating a brilliant meeting of art and design led by First Nations textile creatives.
This Lightbox Exhibition is an inaugural opportunity for DAAF Foundation and Country to Couture to share a selection of exceptional fashion works, artists, designers and models from across the Territory in Darwin’s public spaces.
We are excited to light up Darwin city with some of the spectacular images and incredible talent from across the years of the Country to Couture legacy.
13 lightboxes are located at four sites across Darwin and every 6 months feature new exhibitions by local creatives. You can view the exhibition until 31 August across the four sites in Darwin – Nightcliff Pool – Smith St Mall – Entrance Dragonfly Carpark (Chinatown) – Casuarina Library.
City of Darwin Lightbox Exhibitions aim to showcase and illuminate local arts in the public realm, elevating Darwin’s creative community and contributing to the pedestrian experience.
For more information go to the website, call, or send an email.
Website: www.darwin.nt.gov.au
Email: arts@darwin.nt.gov.au
Phone: 8930 0300
About the Images
Click below to learn more.
Meet the Curator:
Tiana Russell is an emerging Public Program Coordinator, supporting the Artistic Director and assisting with administration across the DAAF Foundation team.
Alongside her role at DAAF Foundation, she operates her own creative business, T Designs and Attire, showcasing contemporary Aboriginal art through unique commissions, custom designs, and exhibitions.
Tiana is passionate about celebrating culture, supporting community, and contributing to the continued growth of First Nations art and fashion across the Northern Territory and has modeled for Country to Couture for several years.
Learn more: www.tdesignsattire.com.au | @tianarussell_
Country to Couture 2024
Roman Munungurr wearing Iltja Ntjarra Collection
Image by Dylan Buckee
Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) was one of the first art centres to explore fashion development, presenting iconic circle skirts that honored the history of Albert Namitjira on the first Country to Couture Runway in 2016. Making an exciting return to the runway in 2023 and 2024, Iltja Ntjarra presented fresh contemporary streetwear collections that featured playful animals and plant life from Country, made with bold puffy paint and fluorescent colour ways.
In collaboration with APM employment and Disability services, Iltja Ntjarra worked to provide mentorship and employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people expressing an interest in textile design. Senior artist and Artistic director Dellina Inkamala and Vanessa Inkamala, along with emerging artists, Dianne Inkamala, Delray Inkamala, Mandy Malbunka, worked in collaboration with APM Employment and Disability services participants, Rhonda Jones, Teresa Wilson, Lucinda Forrest, Amanda Long, David Foster Tyron Sena, Leah Johnson, Donald Kelly to create this innovative collection.
Iltja Ntjarra is a not-for-profit Art Centre, proudly Aboriginal owned and directed. It is home of the Namatjira watercolour artists who continue to paint in the tradition of their grandfather and relative, Albert Namatjira, arguably one of Australia’s most famous artists of the 20th century. Albert Namatjira taught his children to follow in his unique style, who have since passed this knowledge on to their children, which has resonated in a legacy of watercolour artists in the Central Desert region. By continuing his legacy, these artists sustain an important piece of living history.
Worn here by model Roman Munungurr, a young leader from Gapuwiyak community in Arnhem land. Roman first walked the Country to Couture runway in 2022, he has not looked back, returning every year to Country to Couture, and leading modelling events in his home community.
To learn more about the designers visit www.manyhandsart.com.au
Country to Couture 2022
Marian Patterson wears Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts in collaboration with Aly De Groot Art
Image by Michael Jalaru Torres
Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts and artist Aly de Groot came together to collaborate and celebrate fibre works and their place in traditional and contemporary functionality and adornment. This collaboration was the winner of the National Indigenous Fashion Award for collaboration in 2022.
“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.”
The collection reinterprets traditional fibre work, creating sculptural silhouettes created in pandanus, accessories that blend raffia and pandanus together, and bush dyed and upcycled garments. It was most of all a joyful celebration of resourcefulness, tradition, and creativity.
Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts is a remote art centre in East Arnhemland, Northern Territory. There are eighteen clans in the region, each with their own interconnected clan estates, songs, patterns and designs. Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts supports hundreds of artists in the region and assists them to collect and prepare materials, make high-quality art. explore ideas, develop knowledge and skills, exhibit, market and sell their work.
Country to Couture is honoured to have the participation by local model and Tiwi Elder, Marian Patterson, featured here wearing a Gapuwiyak x Aly De Groot look from 2022. Always a highlight of our shows, Marian brings her experience, knowledge and grace, generously sharing and guiding all involved in the runway experience.
To learn more about the designers visit www.gapuwiyak.com.au | @gapuwiyakcultureandarts | www.alydegroot.com.au | @alydegrootart
Country to Couture 2025
Cindy Rostron wears Bula’bula Arts collection created in collaboration with Black Cat Couture NT
Image by Marley Morgan
Inspired by the breathtaking beauty of the Arafura Wetlands at dawn, in 2025 Bula’bula Arts x Black Cat Couture NT presented Daybreak, a collection that embodies the harmony of land, water, and sky. As the mist clings to the reeds and birds take flight in golden morning light, this collection captures nature’s awakening.
Paying homage to the flora and fauna, each garment is adorned with hand-painted and screen-printed elements by Yolŋu artists, celebrating the rich artistic traditions of Arnhem Land. Flowing silhouettes and delicate embellishments mimic the grace of birds in motion, bringing the spirit of the wetlands to the runway. Like lilies blooming with the first light of day, Daybreak is a tribute to the interconnected beauty of Country, culture, and couture.
Proudly Yolngu, Bula’Bula Arts is situated in Ramingining within Gurrwiliny (Arafura wetlands) in Northeast Arnhem Land. Their mission is to foster Yolngu culture. Bula’bula represents strong professional artists producing high quality artworks telling stories of cultural lore learned through song and dance.
Bula’Bula Arts have now created two collections in collaboration with Black Cat Couture NT, a Darwin based clothing designer Marcia Russell. Marcia combines her love of vintage sewing patterns with First Nations fabrics. Since 2017 Marcia has been working in remote NT communities teaching women and young people how to sew, working with Art Centres to create vibrant fashion collections to showcase their wonderful art and textiles.
Featured here, Bununggu and Warraingu model Cindy Rostron, from a small community Koolorbidahdah in West Arnhem Land, first modelled at the Burunga festival. She was quickly sought after and has featured on the cover of Vogue, in major fashion campaigns and leading industry runway events. She was awarded the NIFA Young Achiever Award in 2025 for her impressive leadership and commitment to her community and is an inspiring role model across the First Nations fashion community.
To learn more about the designers visit www.bulabula.com.au | @bulabulaarts | @blackcatcouturent | @cindyrostron1
Country to Couture 2025
Cassie Puruntatameri wearing Tjarlirli x Kaltukatjara Art, ‘Pirriya’ Collection
Image by Dylan Buckee
The artists of Tjarlirli & Kaltukatjara Art are Ngaanyatjarra and Pitjantjatjara artists living and working in the Western desert across two studios on either side of the Western Australian and Northern Territory border. A multi-generational group of artists; collectively their artmaking practices are informed by deep connection to Country and Tjukurpa. As individuals they are expressive, charismatic and innovative, with an ever-present sense of humor and vibrant personalities.
Since 2022, the artists of Tjarlirli & Kaltukatjara Art have been exploring silk painting after a community-led decision to approach this new medium, driven by a hunger to diversify their practices.
Building upon well established skills and experience with acrylic painting on canvas, this exploration of silk painting has unlocked new possibilities in the expression of stories and culture while retaining recognisable elements of the Western Desert art movement, in particular the striking, playful use of vibrant colours.
The expansion of the textile works by the artists of Tjarlirli & Kaltukatjara Art into wearable forms carries their ‘aliveness’ into a new dimension. This collection is formed around the yurrira (movement) evoked by pirriya (breeze/wind) in colour pulkana (big colour). New artistic forms which dynamically respond to the environment; rippling, swaying, dancing; showcasing Ngaanyatjarra & Pitjantjatjara culture in a new form.
This look from the Pirriya collection is worn by renowned Tiwi Islands model and mentor Cassie Puruntatameri, professionally known as Cassie Black. With over a decade now of modeling experience, Cassie is an important role model and leader in the First Nations fashion sector, a culturally grounded powerhouse and inspiration to watch.
To learn more about the designers visit www.tjarlirliart.com | @tjarlirliart | @cassie.black_ | @mana.creative_
Country to Couture 2016
Magnolia Maymuru wearing Gary Lang x Sarina Cowcher
Image by Shane Eecen
Gary is a Larrakia man and the Artistic Director of NT Dance Company. He is a renowned choreographer, dancer, artist and textile designer. His collection in partnership with Northern Territory award winning designer Sarina Cowcher was a breathtaking introduction to textile dying, featuring vibrant colour as part of the first Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) Runway.
The images in this collection remain iconic and helped to launch the event and the modeling careers of local artists such as renowned Yolŋu actress and model Magnolia Maymuru, from the Gove Peninsula, who went on to grace Vogue covers into the spotlight of the Australian fashion industry.
To learn more about the designers visit www.ntdance.org | @garylang_ntdancecompany | @sarinacowcherdesigns | @_mewuraa_
Country to Couture 2017
Shania Rego & Aleisha Scanlon wearing Bábbarra Designs x Publisher Textiles Collection
Image by Murray Hilton
One of Australia’s most remote textile-producing art centres, Bábbarra Women’s Centre in Maningrida, Arnhem Land, teamed up with Publisher Textiles to produce one of the first ready-to-wear retail collections in the early days of the Country to Couture runway.
Originally established as a women’s refuge, Bábbarra Women’s Centre is governed by women for women, and advocates for better learning and economic opportunities to create higher outcomes for Indigenous women and their families. The artists at the centre design and hand-print textiles that are sold in Australia and internationally. Each length of fabric is unique and tells the ancestral stories of Arnhem Land country and cultures.
Babbarra Women’s centre has supported the elevation of the careers of Indigenous models Magnolia Maymuru and Cindy Rostron, while bringing Indigenous textile designers into high-end fashion. The brand has evolved through different leadership and artistic priorities of artists, always remaining grounded in its core to share powerful ancestral stories through fabric and its various uses.
In 2017, local models Shania Rego, who has walked the Country to Couture runway on several occasions, and Aleisha Scanlon, graced the runway in the iconic Babbarra Womens Centre designs.
To learn more about the designers visit www.babbarra.com | @babbarradesigns | @aleishascanlon
Country to Couture 2018
Jaime-Lee Cavicchioli wearing Anindilywakwa Arts Bush Dye Collection created in collaboration with Aly De Groot and Anna Reynolds
Image by Murray Hilton
Anindilyakwa Arts’ 2018 Collection was created in collaboration with Darwin Designers Anna Reynolds and Aly De Groote, together with the fearlessly creative women artists from Groote Eylandt. Their cross-cultural relationship weaves artistic practice together with textile and fashion design. Known as some of the most recognisable couture collections where art, culture and fashion collide, their use of upcycled garments, dyed fabric, and traditional weaving have created some of the most spectacular collections to walk the Country to Couture Runway over its 10 year history.
This featured look, worn by local model and freelance event professional Jaime-Lee Cavicchioli, presents a look created with artist Maicie Lalara, using plant dye and recycled sari silks. The Anindilyakwa collections always encompass a strong spirit of innovation, using sustainable and gathered materials as common ground from which to create. Anindilyakwa Arts embraced many sustainable practices, including repurposing old clothing, including work shirts from the miners working on the Magnesium mine on the Island, to make social and environmental commentary. The shirts are ripped up to make baskets and earrings, or cut up to be remade into a dress or top. Dead stock , such as bush dyed scarves that are old or damaged are also re-stitched and repurposed to make fashion and accessories.
Anindilyakwa women are renowned for their contemporary bush dyed textiles, weavings, fashion and jewellery pieces. A day at Anindilyakwa Arts on Groote Eylandt often sees these women sitting together by the sea to design each garment, carefully placing leaves to make patterns and markings on the fabric before placing them into dyepots full of gathered plant materials.
To learn more about the designers visit www.anindilyakwaarts.com.au | @anindilyakwa_arts
Country to Couture 2019
Chyna Mayo, Ploy Deenan and Perry Mooney wearing Yarrrenyty Arltere
Image by Kate Noble Photography
The award-winning artists of Yarrenyty Arltere Learning Centre are among the most dynamic forces in contemporary Indigenous Australian art and couture. In a striking 2019 photoshoot, their designs were worn by local models Chyna Mayo and Ploy Deenan, alongside visiting model Perry Mooney, curated by Creative Director Grace Lillian Lee.
Yarrenyty Arltere Artists are famous for their award-winning soft sculptures, made from recycled woollen blankets hand-dyed with local plants and rusted metal, and embroidered with bright coloured thread and feathers. They have successfully adapted, incorporated and used their sculpture and painting works as inspiration for couture fashion developments featured on Country to Couture runways. Yarrenyty Arltere artists have grown in recognition for their wearable art pieces, always a highlight on the runway with each piece hand painted, hand printed and sewn at their art studio in Alice Springs.
The work by Yarrenyty Arltere is innovative and compelling both visually and for the strength in storytelling and social documentation. Located on The Yarrenyty Arltere Town Camp in Mparntwe Alice Springs as part of Tangentyere Council, the art room is a safe and strong place for people to come together, make beautiful art, celebrate each other’s achievements and build culturally strong pathways for the next generations.
To learn more about the designers visit www.yarrenytyarltereartists.com.au | @yarrenyty_arltere
Country to Couture 2020
Samara Puruntatameri wearing Bima Wear x Nobody Denim
Image by Mel Brautigam, Savvy Social
The talented Tiwi women at Bima Wear are known for their unique fabric prints and sewn garments in brilliantly bold, timeless designs. Bima Wear fabrics feature traditional symbols, family structures and environmental representations central to Tiwi culture.
In 2020, after months of working collaboratively from opposite ends of Australia, Bima Wear and clothing brand Nobody Denim co-produced a capsule collection that paired a striking Tunga print by artist Tara Munkanome with Nobody Denim’s classic denim designs. The collection featured 7 beautiful pieces, brought together by Munkanome’s dynamic art practice spanning more than 30 years.
This look was beautifully represented by Samara Puruntatameri, based and grown up in Wurrimiyanga,Tiwi Islands.
To learn more about the designers visit www.bimawear.com | @bimawear | www.nobodydenim.com
Country to Couture 2021
Joshua Morris wears piece from the Yir (dilly bags) collection by Numbulwar Numburindi Arts
Image by James Giles, styled by Rhys Ripper & Nina Fitzgerald
Nunggayinbala people have used yir (dilly bags) for thousands of years for practical and ceremonial purposes, but not until recently were they made from reclaimed ghost nets and shade cloths. Yir were traditionally made from pandanus or bark and painted using different shades of ochre.
Numbulwar Numburindi Arts (NNA) weavers have taken tradition to the next level by using found, contemporary materials that speak to the environmental deterioration of their homelands. Brightly coloured acrylics replace ochre stripes for clan identification and individual expression. Harnessing traditional weaving techniques, NNA artists have experimented with form, proportion, scale and colour to create a range of yir that is compelling and original.
Featuring in a NNA piece, local model Joshua Morris, a Koongurrukun man, was the face of the 2021 runway campaign and has gone onto walk in major national runways and fashion campaigns.
To learn more about the designers visit www.numbulwar.com | @numbulwar
Country to Couture 2022
Savannah Kruger wears Injalak Arts collection created in collaboration with Lily Durland, Ally Beahan and Sister Buffalo
Image by Michael Jalaru Torres
This collection was created by Injalak Arts, an Aboriginal-owned art centre in Gunbalanya, West Arnhem Land. Injalak has long supported Kunwinjku artists to sustain and share cultural knowledge through painting, weaving and printmaking on Country.
The collection drew inspiration from the significant sites of Kunwarddebim (rock art galleries) that surround Gunbalanya. Injalak co-founder Gabriel Maralngurra spoke of drawing ideas from the rock art for his designs, wanting audiences to feel the spirits of the Elders who created those styles and to see the past continuing in the present.
Developed in collaboration with studio coordinator Lily Durland, the garments were deliberately simple in form, allowing the hand screen-printed textiles, produced on natural fibres in Gunbalanya, to take focus. Sewing took place in community, with artists and Daluk (women) encouraged to participate, and royalties paid to textile artists.
Sustainability was integral to the project. In partnership with Sister Buffalo, selected vintage garments were reworked with Injalak fabrics, promoting reuse and upcycling, reflecting the enduring nature of Kunwarddebim, where ancient stories continue to live and guide contemporary life.
Worn here by model Savannah Kruger from Daly River, NT, who has become a frequent face of high end fashion runways, publications and campaigns, including gracing the pages of Vogue and representing Australian First Nations fashion in Japan in 2025.
To learn more about the designers visit www.injalak.com | @injalakarts | @savannah_kruger | www.pridemodels.com.au | @sisterbuffalo
Country to Couture 2023
CJ Rankin wears lkuntji Collection by Ikuntji Artists
Image by Marley Morgan
Ikuntji Artists share their stories from their home through their designs and fabrics drawing on personal ngurra (Country) and Tjukurrpa (Dreaming), interpreting their ancestral stories in bold textile designs that elevate traditional practices into accessible, contemporary fashion.
Located in the remote community of Haasts Bluff, Central Australia, Ikuntji is the first not-for-profit Art Centre established for women of the Western Desert art movement. Well known for their vibrant and diverse textile works, artists also work across printmaking, painting, jewellery and photography.
Trailblazers in the sector, Ikuntji held the first independent Aboriginal Art Centre led runway at Australian Fashion Week in 2023. Guided by the principle “Witira kanyila work as one, keep it strong,” their work bridges traditional art and contemporary fashion, connecting the Western Desert to national and international audiences.
This collection was a stand out on the Country to Couture runway in 2023, showcasing couture design and tailoring, embedded with stories of ceremony, Country and culture. The collection bridges traditional art and contemporary fashion, while interpreting and communicating place from the Western Desert to the national and international fashion world.
“Our collection blends traditional art and contemporary fashion, fostering a deeper appreciation for Indigenous art and empowering individuals to incorporate it into their everyday lives… The artists draw their inspiration from their personal ngurra (Country) and Tjukurrpa (Dreaming). They interpret the ancestral stories by using traditional symbols, icons and motifs. The bold fabric designs embody these narratives and continue to explore connection to place.”
Local model CJ Rankin is captured here wearing the iconic pink Ikuntji suit featuring artist Roseranna Larry’s Wirliyajarrayi textile design. CJ is a rising star, not only on the runway but as a young leader who is training with Qantas’s prestigious accelerated-pilot academy and on track to become Qantas’s first female Aboriginal pilot.
To learn more about the designers visit www.ikuntjil.com.au | @ikuntjiartists
Country to Couture 2025
Tiesha Munnich-Hewitt wearing Sunset Healing Collection by Mimmim x TATIA
Image by Dylan Buckee
“Our collection beautifully weaves together my emotive artistry with Tatiana’s innovative designs, honouring my Larrakia roots. Each design tells stories of connection, healing and family. This collection symbolises cultural pride and artistic harmony, with adornments skilfully created by my talented Larrakia family and a milliner.”
Mim Cole, artistically known as Mimmim, is a proud Larrakia, Wardaman, and Karajarri woman whose practice blends traditional and abstract styles across painting, printmaking and design. Her Larrakia family’s involvement in adornments for this collection reflects Mim’s grounding in her Larrakia heritage. Inspired by Country, heritage, family and community, she promotes healing, unity and cultural pride through meaningful artistic expression.
Mimmim aims to uniquely share her art, reflecting identity, family, nature, and community while promoting vibrant and meaningful artistic expressions.
The Sunset Healing collection shown in 2025 was a collaboration with designer Tatiana Hoffmann. Originally from Ukraine, Tatiana has called Darwin home for 15 years. She has dressed celebrities and stylish women across NT, as well as clients in Los Angeles, the UK, and beyond. Specialising in custom racewear, casual fashion, and wedding gowns, Tatiana is known for her impeccable attention to detail and signature flair.
Model Tiesha Munnich-Hewitt, a Darwin-based Yawuru, Karajarri, Bardi Jawi and Wadjihan woman, is a regular on the Country to Couture runway and takes a leading role in supporting and amplifying Indigenous models in the Northern Territory.
To learn more about the designers visit www.mimmim.shop | @mimmimdesign | @tatia.brand
