From tradwife culture to equestrian tradition, fashion designers reveal their inspiration ahead of Pulse debut

“I never thought I was good at anything,” Olivia Grace admits. Months later, she’s standing at the centre of WA’s biggest emerging fashion showcase with a multi-award-winning graduate collection. It’s exactly the kind of story The West Australian Pulse exhibition was created to platform — putting the State’s freshest creative talent front and centre. The Art Gallery of Western Australia will host its renowned Pulse Runway for the fourth consecutive year, showcasing the designs of 30 fashion graduates from Perth’s three fashion school institutions: North Metropolitan TAFE, South Metropolitan TAFE and Curtin University. The designers fronting AGWA’s Pulsefest campaign sat down with STM to share the inspiration behind their creations, set to strut the runway on May 23, and reflect on life as an emerging designer in the world’s most isolated city. Olivia Grace, 27, North Metropolitan TAFE Graduate Saddlery meets strobe lights in Grace’s graduate collection — a colourful collision between equestrian tradition and underground rave culture. It’s a combination that shouldn’t work but somehow does. Aptly named Disc Jockey, Grace took the unlikely thematic pairing and created garments with bright contrasting colours, original prints inspired by jockey silks, and layered textures. Alongside being selected for Pulse, the entirely original collection earned her an impressive five industry awards upon graduating. “I wanted to combine something structured and historical with something spontaneous and freeing,” she says. “I just wanted to do something fun and weird and something that I could really play with.” The designer sourced many of the fabrics second-hand before screen-printing and quilting them by hand, while intricate knitted elements took days to complete. “One sleeve took about nine or 10 hours because I was knitting tiny bubbles into it,” she says. “There’s more than 100 on each sleeve.” Yet fashion wasn’t always the obvious path for the Grace. After graduating high school, she briefly studied architecture and graphic design at university before enrolling in fashion design at TAFE — in a move Grace describes as life-changing. “I’d never really thought of TAFE as an option because there was such a stigma around it,” she says. “But it was the best decision I ever made.” Having since interned with Fremantle’s Basket Studio while balancing retail and creative work, Grace is now focused on building her place within WA’s ever-changing fashion industry. “It’s been incredibly healing to be recognised for something,” she says, of being selected. “I never really thought I was good at anything growing up.” Going forward, she hopes to create pieces that feel expressive, and are adjustable and inclusive. “I want to make clothes that people feel confident in and can actually make work for their body,” she says. Sasha McDonnell, 22, Curtin University Sasha McDonnell isn’t interested in creating fashion that simply looks beautiful. While it does, there’s much more than meets the eye when it comes to her designs. McDonnell’s graduate collection, titled Due Process, dissects the rise of the tradwife trend, online misinformation and modern femininity. Inspired by the growing influence of “red pill” culture and the online manosphere, the Curtin University alumni focused on the subtle ways gender expectations and conservative ideals are repackaged for young women online. “Misinformation and purity culture are two of the biggest battles that women face today,” McDonnell says. Rather than criticising those who choose domesticity or traditional relationships, McDonnell says she aims to spark conversation about the ideologies surrounding those choices. The tradwife trope is increasingly dominating popular culture, from viral influencers to Louis Theroux’s documentary Inside The Manosphere and Caro Claire Burke’s novel Yesteryear, both of which have generated significant buzz. One ensemble features brown fabric spiralling and consuming the body, to symbolise a slow encroachment and loss of autonomy. But perhaps one of the most striking looks is a wedding dress with sleeves sewn into the garment itself. “The wearer can’t actually move their arms at all. It’s almost like a straitjacket feeling,” McDonnell says. When researching the nuanced topic, the designer looked to Mary Wollstonecraft — one of the most prolific feminist authors who argued that knowledge is what uplifts women and blind obedience is what sets them back, in her 1792 masterpiece A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman. Importantly, McDonnell believes Due Process is not anti-feminist or anti-motherhood but instead a reflection on the complexities of womanhood and the importance of maintaining rights and independence. “Feminism is about supporting all women and creating equal rights for all women,” she says. McDonnell’s collection also challenges the stereotype of what a tradwife looks like in 2026, with many of the garments intentionally designed as everyday pieces rather than exaggerated costume. “The modern tradwife doesn’t fit one mould anymore,” she says. “I would like people to have a greater look at what they are supporting online. Things aren’t necessarily what they seem.” Edelcita Milan, 53, South Metropolitan TAFE Long before sustainability became fashion’s biggest buzzword, Edelcita Milan was learning how to reuse fabric scraps in a garment factory in the Philippines. As a child growing up in Taytay, Rizal, the emerging designer spent time helping relatives trim threads and recycle leftover textiles into wearable pieces. “Back then people laughed at us for using leftover fabrics,” she says. “Now it’s the in thing to recycle.” Years later, those early experiences have shaped State of Opulence, the South Metropolitan TAFE graduate’s richly detailed collection selected for this year’s AGWA Pulse runway. Blending Filipino craftsmanship with new-age technologies, the collection combines hand embroidery, laser cutting and 3D-printed elements with silhouettes inspired by traditional Filipiniana dress. “My intention is to make luxury garments but bring in my Filipino cultural heritage to it,” she says. Central to the collection is a commitment to slow fashion and preserving traditional handwork techniques. “Hand embroidery is kind of a dying skill, so I wanted to bring it back,” she says. “My aim is slow fashion, not mass produced.” The collection features four looks, including tailored suiting, dramatic sleeves and embellished separates inspired by the ornate detailing associated with 18th-century French Rococo fashion. While the garments reference historical opulence, Milan says her motivation is firmly contemporary, pushing back against fashion waste and over-consumption. “A lot of people buy cheap clothes and throw them away after one wear,” she says. “I wanted to contribute to lessening this mess.” Now based in Perth, Milan balances creating made-to-measure garments by hand with raising her son. And despite the challenges of building an independent label, she is hopeful her full-circle moment of participating in Pulse will help introduce new audiences to her work. “I helped backstage at previous Pulse events, and I’d look at all the garments,” she reflects. “Now my work is going to be on the runway too.” AGWA’s Pulse Fashion Show is taking place on May 23 from 6.30pm to 9.30pm. Tickets are $50 (plus booking fee) and can be purchased via artgallery.wa.gov.au.