“If you want to do something artistic or want to change your career, then do it,” says says Angela Lowe-Liddell. “Just do it, don’t hesitate.”
Angela made the switch from a sales job that she “absolutely hated” to fashion design. It’s a switch that she loves, and other people do too. There’s a good chance you’ve seen Angela’s designs as EWOL before, especially if you’ve been to a gig or two recently.
Bold, bright and texturally playful, her pieces have become amazing suits of armour for many of Australia’s leading Indie-pop musicians when they perform, including Ngaiire, Willow Beats and Vera Blue. Remember Vera’s iconic jellyfish-frilled outfit from her massive set at Splendour In The Grass? Yeah, that’s an EWOL.
For Angela, this is exactly why she got into design: to make the people stand out.
“I tend to look and be inspired by anything sparkly, I’m a bit of a magpie,” says Angela. “If you see someone wearing a lot of colours, the compliments they get and the way they hold themselves and feel about themselves, that’s what I love.”
Not shy of breaking conventions, Angela’s designs mix mesh with hi-vis, holographs with hand-sewn sequins, beads and stitched butterfly frills. Here are some serious looks from Cellularity 2.0, EWOL’s most recent collection:
Just slipped a little something on for the shops. (Images: supplied)
Angela leans towards the fantastical side of things – for her, fashion is something with few boundaries. Part of that involves creating gender-neutral clothing, making skirts for male bodies and challenging what we think of when we imagine men’s or women’s clothing.
“I try and not constrain myself to what’s typically masculine or feminine. I just try to design things that I think someone will have fun in,” says Angela. “I’m so lucky that I get to play with sparkly things all day.”
EWOL is a world in which she can run wild – one we were lucky enough to get a glimpse into when we visited her home-turned-studio, which you can check out in the video at the bottom of this article.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZTGgg0AFFo/?taken-by=ewol_lowe
It’s a long (read: happier) way from her earlier life in sales.
She made the switch work for her by studying fashion at the TAFE NSW Fashion Design Studio, where she gained the confidence to go big with her designs.
“A friend actually did the course before me. I wanted to make sure if I was making the change, I wanted to go to the best possible school around me,” she says. “It’s had incredible people come out of there, like Romance Was Born and Akira Isogawa. It’s an incredible course.”
Since graduating, Angela’s been super busy. The portfolio of work she built up at TAFE NSW landed her a spot at Mercedes Benz Sydney Fashion Week, and since then she keeps getting contacted by musicians and artists for commissions. And she’s looking ahead – the next step is creating something more accessible to the public, a line she can sell to the masses. Get ready.
10s, 10s, 10s across the board. (Image credit: supplied)
Even though she hand-sews everything – meaning her garments take hours upon hours to make – Angela is beaming with excitement about the day-to-days of her job. She hopes everyone else can feel the same way.
We’re all about bettering ourselves and moving forward in our careers and lives in 2K18. Feeling the momentum? With more than 1,200 TAFE NSW courses on offer – from degrees to certificates, from short-term to online courses – it’s never too late to switch things up. Go for it!
