An extract from Angela Schaffer’s book Pearls - Wisdom from the women of NSW

The moment I entered Sally Jackson’s studio, I had to fight the urge to play dress-ups with child-like abandon. Vibrant and sparkling, Sally’s fanciful couture pieces are performances in themselves but, more importantly, serve a purpose at a time when more than 80 percent of fashion and textiles end up in landfill.

Having worked as a cutter for Collette Dinnigan, a costume designer, and with Grace Lillian Lee and the First Nations Fashion and Design team, ethical fashion and sustainability drive Sally’s practice. She reimagines pre-loved garments and reclaimed materials and gives them a new personality; her unique, wearable clothing patterned and hand-embellished to perfection. It is slow, dedicated work - almost like a puzzle - and the results often take Sally by surprise. And while she adores every aspect of the creative process, textiles are her true love. Indeed, her glittering fabric stash triggered memories of the embroidered tangerine-and-yellow bedspread in my childhood bedroom - an outlandish treasure I wish I’d repurposed into something magical.

Much of what Sally has created formed ‘The Bowerbirds’ collection, which has been exhibited at the Powerhouse Museum and at Sydney’s Botanic Garden. Each piece in the six-look range comes with a tale, and there’s joy in the way Sally talks about them:“ This was two different dresses with a lovely long story - a metallic brocade floral and a pink lace one that my friend bought in India 20 years ago and I wore to my baby shower. It’s a twirling, dancing dress. It feels like she’s going to a festival.”

I left Sally’s studio a little braver, aware that fashion can be bold, dazzling and unexpected. In a world besotted with the shiny and new, treasuring the old and giving clothing a second life can be a small act of rebellion. And Sally is joyfully leading the way.

When did you realise you had an interest in fashion?

When I was a kid I loved hanging out in Mum’s attic sewing room, not knowing what I was doing, but going through her fabrics and throwing them over my head and cutting arm holes and head-holes in them. She was always busy with four kids so when I’d come down to show her she was “Great, you’re keeping yourself entertained.”

Then in the 90s when I was a teenager, high fashion became popular. It was the time of the supermodels, Versace, Vivienne Westwood, Galliano, Alexander McQueen, and the collections these designers created became fashion moments in history, and the fabrics and styles just blew my mind. Then fast fashion followed in the next decade and there was no after thought - it was consumption, abundance, excess, extravaganza - and even though I didn’t know a lot about the industry at the time, it didn’t seem right.

Are people’s opinions towards sustainable fashion changing?

I think fashion is more fluid than ever before and people are more open-minded and confident about experimenting with preloved textiles and vintage garments. Consumers play an active part in making fashion more sustainable, and people are more conscious of their purchasing power - and expect brands to be transparent in their production process. People like knowing if the garment they’re buying is made from a polyester that won’t break down during their lifetime, or even their kids’ lifetime.

How did ‘The Bowerbirds’ collection come about?

I’ve always reinvented secondhand clothes. One of my first pieces was a pair of pants I wore everywhere but when I eventually wore holes in them, I cut them up and added some embroidered fabric pieces so they became a jacket. I loved wearing that. I guess the process of making preloved garments for others started when friends wanted me to make wedding dresses for them. They’d bring me a preloved dress and we’d reinvent it. Or they’d bring me a piece of personally-treasured fabric, like an amazing sari beaded with crystals that I turned into a bombshell hourglass couture gown for a Bollywood-themed wedding.

I’d worked in commercial fashion, commercial bridal and costume-making, and always had a strong belief in not wasting resources. But once I had kids I became even more committed, so was drawn back to studying fashion at the University of Technology, Sydney so I could dig a little deeper into research and find my place in a sustainable fashion practice. The over-abundance and waste in fashion was my rage and my passion, and what fuelled me to create a pre-collection made from 100 percent upcycled fabrics and waste materials. I based it on the peacock because it symbolises renewal, but when my tutors asked, “What’s another animal you can use in this process?” I decided on the bowerbird because it uses waste to create bright and colourful spaces - really the same way I collect old fabrics and make pretty things.

Mum’s wedding dress was probably the basis for The Bowerbirds collection. She made it when she was 21 from a Pierre Cardin pattern I’ve still got, and because she didn’t get any brides in her three daughters it was, “Give it to Sal because she’ll hang on to it.” And I did for a long time until I said, “It’s going into the collection,” and literally took it apart, printed on the fabric, and put it back together again.

Bowerbirds collect shiny things, so I wanted everything over-embellished and over-accessorised. I used op shop trinkets, donated beads and preloved crystals from broken jewellery. I also translated the scribble print of the bowerbird egg onto some fabrics. It’s always exciting experimenting with textile prints and manipulations.

Does your mind start ticking when you see certain fabrics?

It does. The other day I was at Reverse Garbage because they’d posted on Instagram that they had two pieces of this amazing vintage floral fabric, and because they had different colour ways - one’s quite blue and the other’s grey - they were both so unique and beautiful. But what was really fun was when the ladies asked what I was going to make, and I told them, “maybe a three-piece suit”, they said they really wanted to see it when it was finished. So I’ll show them, and it becomes this process of people seeing what’s possible, sharing their DIY projects with others and inspiring more people to have a go.

My fabric stashes are my favourite things. Leftover bits-and-pieces of vintage textiles are beautiful, and I imagine the hours of hand-making that might have gone into creating them. It’s about pairing these fabrics with something complimentary to create something new and spectacular, and I’ve got so many examples of that in my collection - like Mum’s vintage Liberty quilting fabric that became a shirt, and my mother-in-law’s bedspread that I turned into an amazing robe using leftover fabric pieces and thousands of vintage Swarovski additions. There’s vintage handprinted cottons that I just happened upon at the Wagga Wagga Swap, and even some crazy floral Lycra which pushed my design aesthetic to a whole different level because I would have never bought it from a regular fabric shop. But because it was an op shop remnant, I enjoyed making it work.

Do you see yourself as a fashion designer or an artist?

I’ve never enjoyed the term ‘fashion designer’, or wanted to be called that, because I’ve always associated them with big businesses that are waste creators - churning out new looks each season. Growing up I never saw anyone in mainstream fashion creating slow, positive, treasured garments from fabric. Creating with love. I just saw lots of mass production and fashion waste being ‘thrown away’. I’d probably say I’m more of a fashion artist/sustainable designer now though because I think it’s socially acceptable to make bespoke garments from secondhand fabrics.

When I create a garment it takes on a new form and there’s some trickery to that. It’s not just fashion - it’s a piece that is unique, that tells a treasured story and goes further than just being worn then thrown away. I often wonder if I’m making something for people to wear, or something that they’ll just love and want to keep. I struggle with rules at the best of times.

You were involved in the 2022 Transformation Exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Can you tell me about this?

Finishing my course was my main goal and achieving anything after that feels like a celebration, like, Wow, people want to see my clothes or put them on. I’d never imagined an afterwards. But exhibiting is great because its also about sharing the process of repurposing waste materials, and I’m grateful I’m recognised with all these other artists who are up-cycling with found objects too.

The Powerhouse is an amazing platform and has been showcasing students’ work for nearly three decades. It’s such an honour that my work’s being seen as the future of sustainability and I’m like, Wow - as a kid I used to be in awe of all these cool objects on show at the museum and now I’m there myself.

Is there a particular piece you love?

I often don’t know what I’m designing because I literally patch things together till they become something new. I’ll spend the hours on it until it’s right. All the pieces become like children and I’m really attached to them, but don’t know which one I love the most. I love playing with them though, and the ultimate thing for me is creating a versatile garment you can wear multiple ways - to dinner or lunch or even the supermarket.

Do you feel that the awards and recognition make you a success?

I think everything came about because it was the right time, right place, right people. Success is a strange concept. Someone creates this idea that you’re successful if you’ve done this or done that, but I find it successful if my daughter at age nine can go into a secondhand shop and know what looks good on her. That’s a whole different level of success because she’s understanding the value of things and she’s the future.

AND ON A SIDE NOTE

Who would you love to sit and have a cup of tea with?

I’d probably say relatives I haven’t met. I’d love to sit down and hear more about our history and hear their stories. It’s not fair that we can’t; that we don’t get to know those insights. My grandma used to say some really amazing things when I was a little girl and it always baffled me that she was this cool lady just doing the ironing, but rattling off great insightful pearls of wisdom. I always wondered, Who is this person?

Where is your peaceful place?

Nothing beats floating over rolling waves on a perfect summer’s day. I don’t want mad surf, I just want to float out the back and be a starfish looking at the sky.

Do you have a love story?

I would definitely say my partner and our cherubs. We met in 2004 through the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme that the Prime Minister, Johnny Howard, brought in for dole bludgers to make money. It was really romantic because we wrote our business plans together. My idea was to have a business making costumes for artists and performers called 200%, no rules, just passion.

What would you tell your younger self?

I think I’d say, “You’ll be proud one day,” because there were multiple years of doubt where I felt I was a fucking whack job in comparison to everyone else because you’re always comparing yourself. But I finally feel I’ve invested my energy into something that I love and feel positive about and that the love and positivity is reciprocated by others.

What would your younger self think of what you’re doing now?

I think she’d want me to go out dancing a bit more often - like in the early days.

If you’re in Australia, you can order Pearls here - for more musings from Oz, check out our Australia magazine.