Melbourne fashion label Búl has collaborated with landscape photographer Kate Ballis to create six-pieces of wearable art originating from Iceland to Dades Gorge in Morocco.
The capsule collection includes a top, a dress, a skirt, a jacket, a scarf and a cushion, each borrowing from the work of Kate Ballis, taking fine art photography from print to pattern.
búl designer, Virginia Martin’s, interest in the otherworldly beauty of Kate’s travel-inspired photography first led to a creative partnership, which has carried over the past five búl seasonal campaigns. We caught up with Martin to find out about her design process with the latest collection.
For AW17, Virginia has used three of Kate’s striking travel images to inspire a collection that thoughtfully balances clean, minimal lines, pared back silhouettes, careful waist ties and considered lengths.
TGW: What was the main colour palette for the collection?
VM: Inspired by Kate’s striking travel images I played with light and dark shades that would translate well onto the garments – lush green valleys, deep ocean blues and dusk pink skies.
TGW: How did you settle on the photographs to draw inspiration from?
VM: It was a challenge to choose, as all her imagery is incredibly beautiful, but the ones selected were both powerful yet complex, and could double as works of art on their own.
TGW: What’s your favourite aspect of designing with abstract, large-scale photographic prints? How does it affect the shape of the clothes?
VM: It was a fun and exciting opportunity to explore a different medium and see it come to life on the finished garments.
‘Across the homeware and fashion pieces, the design focus is on image complexity, pattern and texture, capturing the splendor of the natural world while combining scale, colour and context to create garments that double as arts of work on their own.’
To enhance the collection in stores, Kate Ballis’ official prints will be on display throughout búl’s stores nationwide.
The Garb Wire 