Three Melbourne creatives teamed up for a spontaneous shoot for ya'll. Photograper Stuart Chen, designer Mina Song and model Claudia Twisk collaborated on this brief lookbook-esque shoot to feature some of Song's threads.

Song, who is a third year RMIT student says her design philosophy is usually very focused on practicality, minimalism, construction details, with a large focus on silhouettes.

"The big oversized ‘Sleeve’ collection is all about my personal version of raglan sleeves, body movement, and practicality within the elements of sport deluxe. For this collection I was mainly inspired by the flexibility of wetsuits and sportswear, functionality and how much access of movement was given through bonded fabrics like neoprene. To push my creativity further, each of the neoprene fabric was cut out into one long strap in order for me to hand knit them with giant knitting needle sticks into different shapes to fit into made garments. The knitted pieces added bulkiness and a stiff appearance."

She continues "I’m interested in re-shaping a body figure rather then making it all about accentuating or revealing the shape of the body yet showing my personal aesthetic through my design and practices."

Song, and photographer Stuart Chen met through what Chen explains as a collaborative adventure. Having lived and worked in London–where he explains his place at London College of Fashion sparked his interest in conversing with other creatives and scouting for collaborative opportunities–Chen implies he has developed a second nature for collaborative endeavours, and that Melbourne has helped to continue feeding his appetite.

"Melbourne’s a place where meeting creatives felt more of an exclusive and private affair. It’s a great sense of feeling as it is almost like an adventure as I progress onto meeting and collaborating with the new, brilliant individuals."

So why the title Claudia X Mina then, and not Chen?

"It was a spontaneous decision as both the model, Claudia Twisk, and are good friends and Twisk herself is a designer that appreciates Mina’s work. Thus, the title that I came up with was a celebration between the two designers, working in-sync together despite the change of roles," Chen explains.

Indeed it seems these three creatives were meant to come together in creative harmony to shoot this lovely imagery.

Photography / Stuart Chen
Design & Fashion / Mina Song
Model / Claudia Twisk

Words/ Jamie-Maree Shipton