Ready Steady Dress

Words: Peny Lane
Images: Rachel Burke

Rachel Burke

Fashion with heart? Do you buy it? Do you believe it? When designers and labels aim to give back to the community, however big or small, one can only hope that their intentions are genuine, although the term ‘clever marketing ploy’ can’t help but spring to mind (thanks for making my cynical Gruen Transfer). While there is apprehension there, when a label’s intentions are indeed genuine one can only applaud and support a cause the marries the bold with the beautiful.

Rachel Burke is one such creative soul with only the purest intentions at heart. The Brissy girl has created ‘I make it/you wear it’ a project that involves putting her sewing skills to the test in hope of raising $25,000 for Napcan, a charity that aids in preventing child abuse in Australia. The aim of the game is to make a different dress for her friends to wear out every Saturday night, and with a sort of ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’ formula in mind (minus the annoying Peter Everett) is allowing herself only two to three hours to make each garment.

Through the power of the interwebs, the wise-cracking Rachel (pretty sure she’s a gay man trapped in a woman’s body) filled me in on the 411 of what the whole project is all about.

Where did them concept for ‘I make it/you wear it’ come from?
The idea literally dropped into my head one day while on a walk. I was a bit lost after fleeing Musical Theatre School and wanted to
find a way to express myself creatively without someone handing me the opportunity on a silver spoon. I had been brainstorming ideas for a while, but my other ideas sucked. This idea did not seem to suck, so I went with it.

Why choose NAPCAN?
Prior to starting this project I only knew about a few charities – many of which already receive a mass of support by the media and public alike. So when it came to looking for a group to help I was conscious of finding one that didn’t seem to have a hugely popular profile, yet was nonetheless striving to achieve great work in the community.

NAPCAN focuses on the prevention of child abuse and neglect in Australia. Whilst I didn’t know about them before I started ‘i make. you wear it,’ a small amount of research revealed how many lives they positively affect through their hard work and vigorous prevention campaigns. By getting them involved with this project I felt that it would provide them, not only with some extra financial support, but also with an opportunity to reach a wider audience.

What is your background in?
My background is in Acting and Musical Theatre. Whilst I have no professional training in sewing or design, somewhere along the way I became fairly adept with a needle and thread. This seemed to coincide with an interest (a little embarrassingly) with BBC costume dramas.

There was a time in my life when I took a liking to corsets and bonnets – they don’t make that shit in the shops so I was driven to learn to make my own. Whilst I have since moved on from renaissance-ising my wardrobe and shrouding my face in lace, those crucial years moulded my skills – and perhaps led me to what I’m doing today. How
concerning.

What style of dresses will you be making? Will the style change from week to week?
The dresses will be fairly eccentric, and approached more as wearable art than the sort of thing you’d wear to your first day at work or bikram yoga session. Each dress will be designed to fit the various likes/dislikes and personality traits of the model I am working with.

I want each dress to be something of a celebration of the wearer - the style of the garment will therefore alter according to the
persona of the model. For example, if I were to make a dress for Queen Elizabeth it’d have a bitching ruff and a mad drop waist.

What do you think will be the biggest challenge?
TRYING TO RAISE $25,000. It’s not that I’m expecting someone to just hand me a giant, novelty sized cheque with $25,000 stamped on it... but, I mean it would be totes nice...

What are you plans for after the project?
To be honest, I haven’t really thought too far ahead of this project. But, I am often haunted by visions of me running away to a field entirely comprised of gumball machines... maybe once this project has finished, I’ll spend some time making this fantasy a reality.

‘I make it/you wear it’ takes place on August 7th until January 1st. Show your support for the cause by heading over to http://www.imakeyouwearit.com/