INTERVIEW with Freddy Fashions || 2026 Finalist for The Australian Wearable Art Festival
SD: Hi, Freddy. Can you introduce yourself to my readers who don’t know you yet?
F: Hey there! My name is Freddy (she/they) and I am a multi-disciplinary queer artist located in Ipswich, Queensland. Art and fashion has always been a love of mine, and I completed my Diploma of Fashion in 2010. During that time I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Although MS is a life long disease, I often say that it has awarded me the opportunity to live my artistic life, something that not many people are able to do. At some stage, I fell into the cosplay scene. I started doing commissions for the community and it was my love and passion for many years.I built experience with unusual materials and had to problem solve with creating elaborate cosplay outfits. This would come in handy once I started dabbling more into the art side of things.When covid hit and the conventions halted, I lost my motivation for dress making.
SD: How and when did you get into wearable art?
F: Although I have been creating art in various forms for many years, wearable art has been a relatively new venture. I feel like it was just a natural progression from dressmaking and specialising in cosplay in particular. I made the hard decision post 2020 to take a step back from cosplay and work on creating for myself. The magic of wearable art is that you are only limited by your imagination which is why I love it so much.
SD: What advice would you give to a younger version of yourself when you were starting out in wearable art?
F: The advice I would give to my younger self is to be bold, be confident and allow yourself to take up space. I would tell myself to lean into my own story as you would be surprised how many people it will resonate with. Don’t be afraid to experiment and fail. Lastly, just make art for the sake of making art. Not everything needs to be for profit or content.
SD: What keeps you inspired?
F: My family, my friends and the world around me. Inspiration can hit while doing the most mundane tasks like taking a shower or walking my dog. It's fun to just let the mind wander. Stories and experiences are very important to me, I love to just listen and be consumed. I also look inwards for inspiration and find that I do a lot of introspection around my disability and sexuality, both of which are important to me and my story. I wish to inspire those who see my artwork and prove that art can be accessible to everyone, this is what keeps me going.
SD: Explain your understanding of sustainable fashion practices and how you incorporate them into your design process.
F: To me, sustainability has a few meanings. Use natural materials that will leave no trace, use re-claimed materials that would otherwise become landfill and don’t buy new. All of my wearable art uses at least one of these. For example, the wearable art piece I am making for the Australian Wearable Art Festival 2026 will use entirely re-claimed materials such as yarn, fabric and more rigid items as structural elements. I have also relied on community practices to source the tools and equipment to further reduce the environmental impact of this piece. My 2025 piece used 100% unusual natural materials and I even went to the extent of forgoing electrical means of production to make it. I try to be so mindful of every step of the process to help reduce the mark on our planet.
SD: You’re a 2026 finalist in The Australian Wearable Art Festival. What excites you most about this?
F: I am so excited to see the artists I met last year and make even more new connections. The AWAF family is the most supportive and welcoming community I have ever had the privilege of being a part of. I am looking forward to sharing my art and passions with the public both on and off the runway and simply seeing the whole performance come together.
Tickets are going fast. Go and buy tickets to see Freddy Fashions in The Australian Wearable Art Festival here
The Australian Wearable Art Festival Website: https://australianwearableart.com.au/
The Australian Wearable Art Festival Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/australianwearableart/
The Australian Wearable Art Festival Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/australianwearableart/
Freddy Fashions:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freddy_fash013/
Photo Credits:
First and Second Photo: Lilly Jade modelling in Freddy Fashions and taken by Barry Alsop