Shanelle Letele

“I came up with two keywords that I thought related to either the name of the colour or the colour itself. The two words I came up with are: growth, elegance. With the word growth, I was inspired by the name of my colour focusing on the word ‘berry’ which led me to think about the process of how a berry grows which starts off as a seed that grows into a plant, a plant that grows into a flower, and finally a flower that grows into the fruit itself (in my case, a berry) which I related back to the brief of getting inspiration from nature.

From this I thought if I could show that in my final garment through layers or frills to resemble the leaves that come from the berry. I thought that I could also show that through puffed sleeves, which would resemble the shape of a berry. With the word ‘elegance’ when I first saw the colour on paper, I thought it looked a bit dull but as soon as I saw the swatch with the paint and the fabric itself, I liked it better. Then I thought of the word ‘elegance’ when I kept looking at the colour of the fabric. I wanted to keep my finished garment simple with that word in mind.”

Resene Whitecliffe Colour of Fashion clothing - 2022

Photography by Jonathan Kraettli

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