11 First Nations Designers Shaping Australian Fashion Now

The last few years have been transformative for First Nations fashion. In 2023, Melbourne label Ngali made history with the first-ever standalone runway by an Indigenous designer at Australian Fashion Week. Solo shows followed in 2025 from labels such as Joseph and James and Liandra. It was also the year that saw Meriam Mir designer Grace Lillian Lee become the first Indigenous Australian to present at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week.

From the Northern Territory to the riverbanks of New South Wales, a new wave of First Nations designers is reinterpreting Country, culture and craft. Across hand-carved jewellery, sculptural couture, bold prints and socially conscious streetwear, they transform traditional practices, motifs and symbolism into pieces that tell stories. These are the First Nations designers to have on your radar.

Grace Lillian Lee

Grace Lillian Lee is one of Australia’s most celebrated First Nations designers. Just last year, she became the first Australian to hold an independent show at Paris’s Haute Couture Fashion Week – with Jean Paul Gaultier in attendance. The award-winning, Cairns-born, Torres Strait Islander artist has become known for her intricately woven sculptural garments. Her wearable art pieces are one of a kind, catapulting First Nations design onto the world stage.

gracelillianlee.com

House of Darwin 

Larrakia man Shaun Edwards used to play for Greater Western Sydney Giants and Essendon AFL clubs before founding fashion label and social enterprise House of Darwin. Its collection of streetwear essentials is a love letter to the Northern Territory, designed with the label’s signature vintage-nostalgia-meets-tongue-in-cheek-Australiana iconology aesthetic. Much like its apparel, its new flagship in Darwin’s CBD captures House of Darwin’s vibrant and quirky spirit. In its latest 2026 drop, graphic tees are updated in new colours and fits along with a line of bottles, tote bags and caps. Profits from its apparel and accessories are reinvested back into remote Indigenous communities. 

houseofdarwin.com

Corin Corcoran

Corin Corcoran’s upcycled designs stood out at Melbourne Fashion Week 2025. The Weilwan slow fashion designer has built a distinct practice around garments made entirely from recycled and found materials – emu feathers, sun-bleached fabric remnants and other discarded objects gathered on walks in nature. The results are far removed from their origins: contemporary, sharply considered pieces that balance structured corsetry and soft drape with unexpected materiality. Corcoran takes custom orders via Instagram DM.

@corcorancorin

Joseph and James

Juanita Page launched Joseph and James in 2021, drawn to menswear for its “blank canvas” potential, compared with womenswear in Australia. Since then, the Gooreng Gooreng and South Sea Islander designer has been nominated for Indigenous Designer of the Year at the 2023 Australian Fashion Laureate, before staging her first solo show at AFW 2025. Relaxed tailoring, slouchy knits and considered construction define the label’s aesthetic, resulting in a collection with a quietly confident and laid-back sensibility.

josephandjames.com.au

EB Studio

Kamilaroi and Dunghutti woman Ebony Birks welds made-to-order jewellery pieces inspired by nature. They’re pieces that “tell a story, celebrate culture and connect the past to the present”. Under her label EB Studio, Birks’ gentle and deep understanding of the natural world around her shines through minimalist jewellery and art. Her Aboriginal symbols collection features motifs of a man, a woman, the sun and water, translated into pendants and rings. Other standout pieces include her Rapid drop earrings (inspired by the tracks formed from running rivers) and her Droplet Effect earrings (informed by the ripples formed when droplets hit the surface of water).

ebstudio.au

Liandra 

Founded by Liandra Gaykamangu, a Yolngu creative from East Arnhem Land, Liandra offers swimwear and breezy resortwear in sizes 6 to 20. Hand-drawn prints inspired by culture adorn spunky reversible cuts. We especially love the Clam one-shoulder top and Billie-Jean bikini bottoms in a pink reef print. And the Fan top makes for the perfect beach cover-up.    

liandraswim.com

Ngali 

Since founding Ngali in 2018, Wiradjuri designer Denni Francisco has been a two-time winner of the National Indigenous Fashion Awards’ Fashion Designer prize. In May 2023, the Melbourne-based fashion label marked the first-ever standalone presentation by an Indigenous designer on the official schedule at Afterpay Australian Fashion Week with a solo runway. Each collection tells stories of the Australian landscape, turning artworks by First Nations creatives into breezy silhouettes like the Shadow Bark kaftan and the Stoney Bark silk shirt. 

ngali.com.au

Lillardia Briggs-Houston

Wiradjuri, Gangulu and Yorta Yorta fashion designer Lillardia Briggs-Houston draws on traditional practices like carving, bush dying and weaving to create garments deeply connected to Country. Creating all of her textiles and prints by hand, her designs have appeared on the front cover of Vogue Australia. Living on the banks of the Marrambidya (Murrumbidgee) River, Briggs-Houston often looks to the surrounding landscape for inspiration, incorporating motifs like freshwater mussels. The Bindugaany necklace is handmade using freshwater shell beads gathered along the river itself.

lillardia.com

Clothing the Gaps 

Aboriginal-led clothing label and social enterprise Clothing the Gaps quickly took Melbourne by storm when it launched online in 2020. Known for its unisex line of T-shirts, singlets, caps, track pants and hoodies, it’s streetwear with a purpose. Graphics such as “Not a date to celebrate” and “Always was” form part of its mainstay collection that encourages people to wear their values. The B-Corp-certified and Ethical Clothing Australia-accredited fashion label focuses on activism as much as it does its apparel, leading various campaigns pertaining to First Nations people. 

clothingthegaps.com.au

Maara Collective

Yuwaalaraay designer Julie Shaw’s luxury resortwear label Maara Collective echoes the earthy colours of Country through stylish cuts and softly tailored pieces. Some transform striking First Nations artwork into wearable silhouettes like the Kimberley maxi and Lowanna skirt while others take a more pared-back approach such as the Rea fringed dress.  

shop.maaracollective.com

Miimi and Jiinda

Miimi and Jiinda – meaning “mother and sister” – was founded in 2018 by Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Dunghutti woman Melissa Greenwood and her mother, Lauren Jarrett. The label’s ready-to-wear line tells stories through traditional painting and weaving, pairing breezy silhouettes with original, boldly patterned artworks. In 2025, Miimi and Jiinda won the Business Achievement Award at the National Indigenous Fashion Awards, and since its launch has become one of Australia’s most recognised First Nations-owned brands in fashion.

miimiandjiinda.com