Collective Closets × Mariimade

Shape Shifters brings two designers into conversation at a moment of change in their creative lives. Launching online on Thursday 29 October at 8pm AEST, the limited edition collection invites you into that conversation, with pieces to shape and make your own.

Created by Laurinda Ndenzako of Collective Closets and Mariam Farah of Mariimade Fashion Studio, the collection brings together two practices evolving in different ways. For Laurinda, it marks a return to design shaped by everything that has happened in between: a renewed appetite for experimentation, a deeper trust in her instincts and the freedom to let her creative practice evolve alongside her. For Mariam, it is an expansion of an existing creative world, bringing her garment design into sharper focus within a practice that spans fashion, storytelling, culture and creative direction.

Shape Shifters began with a conversation about becoming. About returning to something familiar and finding that your relationship with it has changed. About allowing an established practice to move in an unexpected direction, or giving a long-held vision more room to grow. These conversations became a starting point for the design: how might a garment hold that same freedom to change, adapt and take on another form?

Their collaboration gives these shifts a physical form. Generous volume, adjustable details and changing silhouettes allow the garments to be shaped by the wearer. Fabric can be gathered, loosened and rearranged, altering how a piece sits on the body and moves with it. There is room for drama, ease and individual interpretation.

This openness is central to Shape Shifters. The collection considers how clothing can accommodate the different ways a woman wants to dress and be seen. A silhouette can feel expansive one day and more contained the next; the same garment can take on a different character through styling, movement and the person wearing it.

Storytelling connects both designers’ approaches. Laurinda brings Collective Closets’ grounding in culture, community and connection. Mariam brings the interconnected thinking behind Mariiverse, where making, styling and cultural work inform one another. Shape Shifters emerges from this exchange, carrying the distinct sensibilities of both designers while opening new possibilities for each. That story continues in the life of the woman who wears it, gathering meaning through her experiences, the transitions she navigates and the versions of herself she has yet to meet.

Seeing Shape Shifters on the Melbourne Fashion Week runway brought another perspective to the collection. The looks pictured here were styled by Gideon D. Wilonja, whose eye and imagination gave the pieces a new expression. It was such a joy to see our work through his eyes — familiar garments taking on a different energy through the way he brought them together.

Our heartfelt thanks to Gideon for his creativity and care, and to Melbourne Fashion Week for giving Shape Shifters a place on the runway. Seeing the collection move through that space, worn with such presence, is a moment we’ll carry with us.

Now, the story continues with you. Shop Shape Shifters online from Thursday 29th October at 8pm AEST.