Hashtag Print is my second textile design collaboration with Melbourne independent fashion label CHORUS.

What I love the most about our collaborations is that the end result is always surprising, outside of my graphical repertoire and conceptually very strong.

Hashtag Briefing

The concept behind the Hashtag Print is the ‘selfie’ culture and the trend for ‘outfit of the day’ shots on fashion blogs, analysing the difference between those shots that are always showing their faces, and those that cut their heads out of the picture due to shyness/insecurity/less interest in self promotion.

The print can look very retro and formal/grown up out of a subject matter that is very contemporary.

Hashtag design process

My friend the talented designer, Lauren Vilitati, has always been an inspiration for me. When this project came up she was the first person I thought of. I jumped on her social media accounts and decided to download a few images of her and started to experiment with simple line work capturing the main details.

The print combines faces with headless bodies forming a bold repeat. I remembered a folder with original sketches from my life drawings classes in Brisbane back in 2008. I scanned my drawings and re-worked them using the same simple lines as the portraits.

The third element I decided to introduce was organic forms from the Canna Indica plant.

Lastly, a small detail to tie the whole idea together was the introduction of hashtags inside the textile print.

See below the final Hashtag Print textile design. Photos by Sarah Pannell

Check out my first and third fashion collections with CHORUS.