Continuing our support of the bright young things of fashion, this year we’ve teamed up with Frankie magazine to sponsor the LMFF Metamorphosis Student Showcase.  We caught up with the amazingly talented finalists as they get set to hit the catwalk.

Citing TS Eliot and insects as inspiration, Ellie Meyer’s label ‘Prufrock’ is anything but ordinary. With delicate, diaphanous fabrics and leather, the 20-year-old Curtin Uni grad creates stunning designs that you just want to slip into! With a host of awards and stockists already under her belt, it won’t be long before Ellie is hot property on the Oz design scene! Check out more of her designs at www.myspace.com/prufrock_

Tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’ve recently completed my third year of studies of Fashion and Textile Design at Curtin University of Technology. I was the winner of Perth’s Fashion Festival 2009 Student Runway Eveningwear division and runner-up in Contemporary Women’s wear. As a result I was invited to the WA Fashion Awards where I received a placement in Perth’s Student Headspace program and the opportunity to present a mini collection at Perth Fashion Festival 2010.

I’m working on a number of commissioned garments and have my own jewellery/accessory range which is being sold at several stores and the Unwrapped Markets.

And your collection for the LMFF Metamorphosis Student Showcase?

I designed the collection for my graduate show. My label is Prufrock, inspired from T.S Eliot's 'The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock' and the collection is ‘Pinned and Wriggling’. The collection is inspired by beetle anatomy, the complex layering and contrasting textures of the external shell and delicate fragile internal components. The garments explore the distortion of the ‘ideal’ form, dissecting, reorienting and layering the basic blocks in unconventional ways, ignoring the traditional placement of darts and seams to create new forms that move away from the body.

How does it feel to be showing at the LMFF?

Very exciting! It’s a great opportunity to show people my work.

What was the inspiration behind the collection?

My work is concerned with notions of western beauty, the interplay between the inherent anatomical qualities and the social constructs and ideals that inform our perceptions. Through the work I hope to explore the western infatuation with the exterior, and the construction and ornamentation of the self in order to fit this social ideal. The work aims to challenge the viewers own assumptions of beauty drawing on the insect specimen as a source of both fascination and apprehension, creating pieces that merge human and ‘insectoidal’ elements to both disturb and intrigue, attract and repulse. The work plays with notions of the abject, utilising recognised elements of beauty such as symmetry and proportion to present the undesirable in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

What or who is your biggest inspiration?

Inspiration tends to come from unexpected places and I'm constantly drawing on new found sources for creative stimulation...Gareth Pugh, Martin Margiela, Comme des Garcons, Victor and Rolf, Bless, Patricia Piccinini, Julia de Ville, Sam Taylor-Wood, Wes Anderson, Sophia Coppola, T.S Eliot, Bibio, Beach House, Broken Social Scene, Animal Collective, Ratatat, Apparat, David Bowie, Little Dragon, Flying Lotus, Radiohead… it goes on...

Where to from here?

I'd like to travel overseas for a while and either gain experience working for an established designer or further my studies in fashion design.

www.lmff.com.au