Chinese and Japanese silks

Chinese silk embroidered shawls and Chinese surcoats brought into Australia by Chinese Australians in the late 1800s through to the 1930s have influenced the choice of cloth, cut and colour of modern Australian fashion.

Women in the 1920s and 1930s wore silk and embroidered evening coats and overblouses, made of chiffon, georgette or velvet which borrowed heavily from the prevailing Chinese and Japanese influences in cut and colour as well as using locally sourced materials.

These items were worn over decades and have a place in place in the living memory of women's wardrobes, such as a black & white chiffon silk velvet evening coat with pikle floral patterning made around 1920. This garment has its sleeve and neck edges trimmed with broad bands of black swans' down - an exquisite light sensual combination showing definitive Chinese, Egyptian and native Australian influence (H6024).

Patons Wool, magazine clipping, 1969. Image courtesy of the Powerhouse Museum. Japanese silks have also been influential - evident in Akiro Isogawa's collections of the 1990s based on his mother's kimonos. In 2002 Isogawa reinterpreted a turn-of-the-century hand-ruched silk taffeta frock to create a shawl from silk velvet. Isogawa's work is distinguished by his use of transparent fabrics, layering of garments, unusual combinations of textures and fabrics and his re-use of antique kimono fabrics and traditional Asian textiles.

Silk organza and other light weight silks are a favourite cloth for Nicola Finetti and Collette Dinnigan. Finetti and Dinnigan dresses are renowned for the way they drape and sculpt bodies in a wearable, albeit subtle cut, often to sensual dramatic effect. In 1995, Collette Dinnigan was the first Australian to mount a full scale ready to wear parade in Paris as invited by the 'Chambre Syndicale du pret-a-porter des courtiers ets createurs de mode'.