Brisbane fashion designer, Amelia Scott, knits her way to the top of the game

A Brisbane-born fashion designer is using her high-end knitwear to make a name for herself after a lockdown hobby turned into a business that has featured in Marie Claire and Vogue magazine.

From the leafy suburbs of Ashgrove to the concrete jungle of New York City, this young Brisbane-born fashion designer is making waves in the industry with her high-end handmade knitwear.

What started as a hobby she learned from her grandma during the pandemic, has turned into a lucrative business for 21-year-old Amelia Scott, who has already had her work appear in the likes of Vogue and Marie Claire.

“I only started knitting about a year ago now. I asked my grandmother to teach me how to knit just to learn a new skill during the pandemic,” she said.

“I just took to it really quickly, within a week I had eight garments finished.”

With nowhere to wear the knitted pieces in the middle of a Brisbane summer, Scott put them up on her Instagram account, with the first one selling in just under a minute.

“Since then, there was just this demand for them. I kept making them and a few months later Marie Claire emailed me and they wanted to feature a few of my pieces in their September issues.”

Brisbane fashion designer Amelia Scott who now lives in New York. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Next came Vogue appearances and a collaboration with a high-end New York brand.

But amid the whirlwind of success, the driven young woman behind Amelia Designs is determined to maintain an ethical brand.

“I think it’s really important to focus on locally made items with sustainably sourced materials,” she said.

“Especially in the climate where people go through so many trend cycles, it’s really important to have pieces that you can wear for years.”

Scott, who now studies in New York, intends to continue the knitwear trend in her brand because of the tie with her grandmother.

“I’ll definitely keep knitted garments as a part of Amelia Designs. The key feature about them is that they’re all one of a kind because they’re all hand made,” she said.

While the pandemic has been devastating for many, Scott says it gave her an opportunity that she might have never taken up otherwise.

“Before the pandemic, everyone was living these fast-paced lives and with something like knitting, you’re sitting down for hours on end,” she said.

“I never would’ve done that, especially in the middle of summer if I hadn’t had hours on end and there was nothing else to do.”