INTERVIEW with Pinkpineapple || Brisbane Fashion Month - Brisbane Designer Showcase 2025
SD: Hi Michelle, for my readers who don’t know you yet, can you please introduce yourself again?
M: I’m Michelle and I’m a slow fashion designer and maker, as well as a Ballet Costumier. I am the founder, designer, pattern maker and seamstress of Brisbane slow fashion brand, Pinkpineapple.
SD: When did you first become interested in fashion design?
M: When I was about 7 or 8 years old I loved to watch the RAQ Fashion Awards and dreamed one day of entering (I did in 2001), of having my designs on a runway (this will be my 4th year participating in a Brisbane Fashion Month Runway) and having a shop in Brisbane Arcade (I had a pop up in 2022).
SD: What kind of music do you like and how do you incorporate it into your fashion design?
M: I enjoy lots of different types of music, but I prefer rock and pop music, and I especially enjoy music from the 60s and 70s like The Beatles, The Mamas and The Papas, and the Rolling Stones. All of my designs are made using vintage textiles and trimmings from that era and I name each of my designs after women in music from that time - for example Dolly, Joan, Stevie & Patsy.
SD: What would be your dream fashion gig right now?
M: I would love to create a special custom piece for Brisbane’s Lady Mayoress, Nina Schrinner.
SD: How was the brand name Pinkpineapple created? What inspired it?
M: I have always loved alliteration like “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”, and I love the colour pink which symbolises sweetness and love. Pineapples are summery and tropical, and symbolise wealth and good fortune.
SD: Without giving too much details away, what should we expect from your collection for Brisbane Fashion Month this year?
M: I am always looking for ways to create something new out of something old. Textile production is so detrimental to our environment and is often made by underpaid workers in appalling conditions, so I never use new fabrics in my designs. This collection has two pieces made entirely from small fabric offcuts. Each piece has been cut and sewn together from approximately 400 small pieces and has taken about 40 hours to create.
Tickets are going fast and only for $45. If you want to see Pinkpineapple on the runway, get your Brisbane Fashion Month 2025 tickets here
Brisbane Fashion Month Website: http://www.brisbanefashionmonth.com.au/
Brisbane Fashion Month Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brisbanefashionmonth/
Brisbane Fashion Month Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/brisbanefashionmonth/
Pinkpineapple’s social media presence:
Website: http://pinkpineapplecustommade.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/michellepinkpineapple
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/pinkpineappleau/
Photo Credits:
First Photo: Michelle - taken by Leigh Hutchison
Second Photo: Taken by Jared Vethaak
