A chat about cassie byrnes x uniqlo

Who are you and what do you do? I’m a textile designer born and raised in sunny North Queensland. I worked as an interior designer before moving to Melbourne in 2012 to pursue textiles. At the time, I was really into vintage fashion, and I got very curious about prints and how repeat patterns worked – in particular, I had a weird obsession with ’80s dresses. After a quick google, I found out this was an actual career. How would you describe your approach to textile design? Well-planned spontaneity. I always start with a considered colour palette and story, allowing me to design freely and play with mark-making, texture and composition. The creative process is about capturing the essence and spirit of the theme I’m working to, rather than a literal interpretation. How did your collaboration with

UNIQLO come about? It started with a little email that dropped into my inbox at the start of 2020 – as a global release, this collection would become one of the biggest projects I’d ever worked on. Being the first Australian UT (UNIQLO t-shirt) collaborator has been an absolute honour and the highlight of my career. Can you talk us

through some of the items in the collection? It’s a bright and bold high-summer collection that’s available on dresses, printed tees and 3/4 pants. It includes some of my favourite prints, as well as some new ones created specifically for this collaboration. A special mention has to go to the two mum-and-daughter matching looks that I’m definitely going to be rocking this summer with my little bean. Who is your personal fashion inspiration? One of the big inspirations that started my journey into textile design was learning about the Women of the Bauhaus movement. I was in awe of how hard they had to fight as women to study back in the early 1900s, and how they ended up revolutionising woven art and tapestry weaving. And of course, the Australian queens of textiles, Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson.