INTERVIEW with Analia The Label || Brisbane Fashion Festival 2024 Designer (Hancock Prospecting Next Gen Group Show)

Designer: Analia The Label // Photo: Carmen Rose Photographer // Stylist: Phoebe Kelly Stylist // HMUA: Josie Hanuska // Model: Liana Lottie from Priscillas Models //Assistant + Digi Op: Luke Chang // Stylist Assistant: Georgina Pendrell

SD: Hi Analia The Label, for my readers who don’t know you yet, can you please introduce yourself?

ES: Hello and thank you so much. Hi, my name is Emma Stewart, I am the creator, designer, website developer and dreamer behind Analia the label. I am from Melbourne, dedicated 15+ years to the Australian fashion industry. I started out in costume design by the time I was 20, my designs had been featured in Channel 9 Carols by Candlelight, Arthouse museum. I eventually made the move into the denim industry, working for Nobody Denim, a B-Corp certified brand with their own manufacturing and denim laundry on Brunswick st, Fitzroy. I absorbed this world of a small family run business, the passion of a small team working together, in an office surrounded by design, production, manufacturing, the denim wash house, it was an incredible experience that is quite rare in an industry where everything is outsourced, I feel incredibly lucky & proud to be a part of the Nobody story. In 2018, I had just returned home from London, showing Australian fashion collections to the best department stores in the world, I was at the height of my career, and boom I was diagnosed with late-stage aggressive Bowel Cancer, I was not expected to survive treatment. In an instant, my entire world disappeared, I left my career, my home, my friends, my life and moved to my mums on the Sunshine Coast QLD to start Cancer treatment. The fight was exhausting on my body, I beat Cancer but my body weak, I developed chronic illnesses, a fragile immune system led to Long Covid, FND, Fibromyalgia, and I eventually became fulltime disabled, mostly bedridden. I never got to return to my life, so I made a new life and from my bed over the last 4 years I have been creating Analia, who embodies the spirit of living life to the fullest, boldest, version of yourself.

SD: What was the biggest inspiration behind your latest collection?

ES: It was the fabrics; I had a box overflowing with all of my favourite fabrics, I spent every day in bed (except for medical appointments) for a good 6 months obsessed with these red & pink prints and I went down the rabbit hole of exploring what that reminded me of and why I loved those fabrics. It led me to another passion, English literature, and Alice in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll in 1865. Yes, that was my biggest inspiration, but its constantly moving, flowing, evolving and never ends up looking like my first design plan.

SD: What helps you get in the zone when you’re designing?

ES: It gives me so much joy, I have lost so much because of my health, it’s been 6 ½ years since I left my life in Melbourne. I didn’t realise when I threw my fabulous ‘farewell, I have Cancer’ party, and it was drinks, dancing, fun, hugs, it was a good time, but I didn’t know my health would stop my returning to Melbourne and my life, this was not in my 10 year plan! Don’t worry I laughed as I wrote that because It’s so crazy, you have to laugh sometimes! But its close to 3 years now being stuck in my bedroom fulltime with a chronic illness, that kind of isolation really tests your mental strength. My world is small, but my imagination is my universe, I have always had a notepad on me for instant ideas, I have so many ideas for Analia, most days I am excited with a million ideas, it is sadly my health that limits me. OK but what gets me in THE ZONE is by making my bedroom as beautiful & colourful & comfortable as possible, sun shining through the window, trees, sky, and my essential oils burning, just feeling happy and relaxed in my space, happiness gets me in the zone. Did I mention I also have ADHD and I am obsessed with fashion

SD: How do you want people to feel when wearing your pieces?
ES: I want women to feel beautiful, cool, confident, and comfortable. When I came out the other side of Cancer treatment, I was no longer the cool size 8 Melbourne girl, my body had changed, medically induced Menopause and living in the hot & humid QLD, the old me wearing red velvet pants and gold metallic boots did not work in this new life. Obsessed with fashion, bored with Netflix, I spent my days absorbed in the world of fashion, via my phone and my forever partner in crime my Notepad. I quickly realised I couldn’t wear everything I loved anymore, I loved fashion but now crop styles, cutouts, figure hugging, gave me the dreaded muffin top, bra-friendly became a must because those puppies didn’t sit up there anymore, I had lost my free the nipple confidence and the worst part, I am not that big, short/average at 164cm, I had rounded out to a comfortable 62-64kg but the largest size many fashion stores went up to is a size 12 and it was too small in the waistband and I am not that big, I am average and this is the largest size you stock, that’s crazy! What is every other normal healthy average size Australian woman doing to get their fashion fix! My months, years of being bedridden, now had purpose, I started designing fashion for real women, living their real-life. The Analia objectives were simple, flexible waistbands, relaxed fits, fashion crop tops that covered the muffin top, bra friendly, lining for confidence, pockets, natural fibre fabrics that breathe and feel incredible on the skin, good quality fabrics that don’t require specialist drycleaners because who has the time and the money, just a simple handwash or delicate machine wash. It is about making your life as easy as possible, while being comfortable enough to wear at home and fabulous enough to go live your life in, for many seasons and years to come. I am not a big trend person, there may be aspects I love of a new trend and inherit, but mostly I think Analia is quite timeless, and a little unique but full of the things that make me feel joy, colour, flowers. A big bonus is multiple ways to style Analia into your wardrobe (On the Analia website you can book a styling session with me free of charge and with a 30% discount if you purchase 3 or more styles, I can help you select pieces that can be styled in with your wardrobe, for refreshing new looks and multiple wears) with a change of shoes and adding accessories Analia’s vision is to take you from comfortable home to confident outing that is a reflection of your personal style, fluid in our masculine and feminine energies because as women we wear many hats, our individual style cannot be defined by a category and when you feel comfortable and love what you are wearing, you glow.

SD: What is your favourite part of being a designer?

ES: Creativity makes me so incredibly happy, creating has given me a way to live like this, with chronic illness, shut off from the world. I happily spend my days absorbed in Analia’s world, my happy place. I struggled with my mental health, so my favourite part of being a designer is simply joy and a reason to live.

SD: Without giving too much details away, what should we expect from your collection for Brisbane Fashion Festival 2024 event?
ES: Always colour, you might see some red & pink and every outfit is perfect for a Tea Party :)

See Analia The Label on the runway. Buy your tickets here

Brisbane Fashion Festival Website: https://brisbanefashionfestival.com/
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Analia The Label’s Social Media Presence:

Website: https://www.analiathelabel.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/analiathelabel/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/analiathelabel

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