Fashioning a fabulous future

Two former Busselton residents are forging the way in Aboriginal fashion with their new label Deadly Divas Clothing.

Tahn Donovan and Alisha Nelson, who both went to schools in Busselton, started the “proudly 100 per cent Aboriginal- owned and operated” clothing label in July last year.

Since then they have been invited to take part in this year’s Perth Fashion Festival indigenous showcase.

Their clothes will also be featured in a fashion parade as part of the Festival of Busselton’s Tribal Mix festivities tomorrow.

Ms Donovan said Deadly Divas Clothing aimed to capture the grace and beauty of their culture and community by producing Aboriginal-inspired designs on clothing and accessories.

“It’s about acknowledging the Aboriginal community’s sense of style and the depth of our culture,” she said.

The pair were passionate about turning their vision into a reality, working on the label around full-time paid employment to get it to this point.

“In developing Deadly Divas Clothing we have produced our artwork, designed our clothing, manufactured and sold our products direct to the public,” Ms Donovan said.

Deadly Divas fashion will be strutted down the runway tomorrow at 4.10pm and 7.40pm as part of Tribal Mix.

It has also been sold at the Busselton Railway markets.

“We’ve had a lot of support from Busselton (and) we’re pretty excited about the fashion show,” Ms Donovan said.

“Local girls from Busselton and Bunbury will be modelling the clothes.”

Ms Donovan said Aboriginal designers were under-represented in the fashion industry but she was optimistic about the future.

“Over the next three years I think we will see a marked difference (in industry participation) from fabric designs through to entire collections,” she said.