Jodie Whittaker on her unique avant-garde runway fashion | Photos

Jodie Whittaker takes macramé to new heights with her wall hangings and award-winning avant-garde fashions.

You get the distinct impression that Jodie Whittaker never sits still, not even for a moment. After wowing crowds with her debut fashion collection at Brisbane Fashion Runway and Brisbane Fashion Month last year, the fibre artist, wearable art designer and creator is planning an even busier 2020.

“Do you ever have so many ideas going on in your brain it’s difficult to make rational sense of them all?” she asks.

All her work has a macramé focus and right now the 53-year-old is working on wall hangings for clients, has plans to take one of her fashion design concepts from 2019 and build a new collection around it, and then there is the Australian Wearable Art Competition in May on the Sunshine Coast. She won it last year.

Jodie’s winning piece for the 2019 Australian Wearable Art Competition is named Amaterasu after The Japanese Goddess of the Sun. Photo: Chi Yeung, Momento Road Photography

“It’s a brilliant platform for artists of all kinds and honestly just so much fun. I have a few designs and ideas I’m playing around with for that, which will be created with a new form of fibre art I haven’t attempted before, so it will be fun to see what that brings,” she says.

“I’m also crazy excited about a submission I am putting forward that, fingers crossed, will give me the opportunity to make some truly super-scaled art installations. I’m talking huge installations. Go big or go home!”

The wife and mum-of-three is a relative latecomer to the world of fashion, having worked in the hair and beauty industry, then fashion retail, before becoming a photographer.

In 2010, with her children finished at high school, Jodie, joined husband Grant in the family’s car dealership, working in administration.

Jodie Whittaker with one of her designs. Picture: AAP/Richard Waugh

“It’s a good test of a marriage really, surviving the workplace relationship. With that said, the past two years I have been lucky enough to take a step back from the business, which has allowed me to really focus more energy, both physically and mentally, on my art and designing, and exercise my creative brain.”

Combining her fibre art and love of fashion has been a natural progression for Jodie, which has brought her “more joy than I can ever express”.

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“I love creating and designing both my fashion pieces and my art pieces (wall hangings). It’s such a pure form of self-expression, to create something from your own hands. I find so much satisfaction working with the cords and ropes of my macramé, and once I’m in the flow of knotting, it often becomes very meditative.

Jodie Lea Studio designs. Photo: Chi Yeung, Momento Road Photography

“I find, with my garments especially, that the materials I work with will often dictate to me where they want to go, and so you really need to communicate and work with the medium on some level, keeping an open mind and being flexible with the predicted outcome. It’s all these things that keep it interesting.”

Some of her wearable art takes more than 200 hours to complete, using 1.6km of cord.

The looks are rooted in the avant-garde with knots and fringing worked into the body of the garments.

“I work to shape the garment to the body in a fashion that is both beautiful and artful, in celebration of the female form,” Jodie says.

“Looking back, I was surrounded by fashion, craft and creativity on a daily basis. My mum did, and still does, have a wonderful sense of style, both in her fashion and her home styling and is often my go-to person to bounce around ideas with. I remember being a small child in the ’70s and loving my mum’s very cool bohemian fashion and decor style.

“My dad is a truly gifted craftsman and has worked with timber his entire life, and this continues today. Both are perfectionists and have a great eye for design, so I guess it follows through.”

Jodie Lea Studio designs. Photo: Chi Yeung, Momento Road Photography

Jodie finds inspiration anywhere and everywhere; her winning piece from the 2019 Australian Wearable Art Competition was conceived during a trip to Japan.

“I just fell in love with the country and the people. Everything they do is carried out with a sense of purpose and grace, and with a gentle, quiet humility. The Japanese have such respect for history and culture.

“I named my avant-garde entry Amaterasu, The Japanese Goddess of the Sun. The metallic gold cord and the golden sun rays on the headpiece gave a goddess-like quality and the giant dreamcatcher/mandala positioned on the model’s shoulders represented the rising sun.”

Jodie’s tranquil home inspires her too, the 4ha of Gold Coast hinterland she shares with Grant, along with four cows, two goats, two dogs and four chickens.

“It was a lifestyle decision, to raise our kids in the country, and although at times it feels a little far from the action, I absolutely love our home – the peace and the open space – and can’t imagine ever living in the ’burbs again.

Jodie Lea Studio designs. Photo: Chi Yeung, Momento Road Photography

“I love to fill our house with light, and looking outside to open space creates a beautiful energy. I am currently in the decidedly slow process of curating our home. It is something I don’t want to rush, so I wait until I find just the right piece for a particular space, that breathes life, represents who we are and will provide longevity.”