A Melbourne designer who started hand-sewing dresses during Covid-19 lockdowns has won Australia’s National Designer award, the most established prize in Australian fashion. “I’m not exaggerating when I say I really was not expecting this tonight,” Amy Lawrence said of her win.
Lawrence started creating highly detailed, labour-intensive dresses from home after completing her bachelor of fashion design at RMIT in 2020. In 2022 she began selling her creations. At the time she told Fashion Journal: “I’m not too sure if I consider what I’m doing as a commercially viable label at this point.” A year later she officially founded her label. “But really, I’ve been making non-stop for the last 10 years,” she said. “This feels like the culmination of a lot of hard work.”
