A remarkable legacy

UTS graduate Amelia Turner has been announced as the winner of the 2022 Carla Zampatti Foundation Design Award, one of Australia’s most high-profile university fashion design prizes. 

Established by the late Carla Zampatti AC, an Australian fashion icon, the award provides $25,000 to support a UTS Fashion and Textiles graduate to undertake postgraduate study overseas.

Ms Turner, who graduated from the Bachelor of Design in Fashion and Textiles (Honours) at the end of 2021, received the prize for her honours project, a unisex collection inspired by her connection to Sydney’s Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The work is embedded with themes of sustainability and precarity, informed by the threat of the 2019/2020 bushfires. 

The judges praised Ms Turner’s rich textile manipulation and commitment to using natural fibres. Despite many of the pieces being created from a single roll of ISKO denim, the collection features a diversity of textures and techniques. 

“Amelia’s development in texture across a multitude of fabrications, from knit to printing to draping denim, gave her designs a very unique proposition,” said Bianca Spender, Ms Zampatti’s daughter and a director of the Carla Zampatti Foundation.

“The combination of texture and form both on and off the body impressed me most.”

UTS places great value on our ongoing relationship with the Foundation. This award embodies Carla’s achievements and generosity and our shared commitment to identifying and nurturing new and transformational fashion design talent here in Australia.

Alyssa Choat
UTS School of Design

Ms Turner will use the prize money to enrol in the prestigious Graduate Diploma, Fashion Design Technology at the London College of Fashion. 

“I’m immensely grateful for this award as it enables me to further my study through this amazing opportunity. Thank you to the Carla Zampatti Foundation, as well as the UTS School of Design,” she said. 

“I look forward to representing sustainable Australian fashion overseas and eventually bring[ing] what I have learned back to Australia.”

Opening the door to international study at world-leading institutions is key to the ethos of the Foundation Design Award. Ms Zampatti, who passed away in 2021, was committed to supporting promising young designers to achieve their potential and to elevating the status of Australian fashion globally. 

Her legacy as an innovator and industry leader lives on through this award, her brand and the ongoing work of the Carla Zampatti Foundation. 

"Carla was a trailblazer in the Australian fashion industry and a strong advocate for emerging UTS fashion graduates. She understood the challenges they face in breaking onto the global fashion stage and was invested in supporting their creativity and innovation,” said Alyssa Choat, Course Director for the UTS Bachelor of Design in Fashion and Textiles.  
 
“UTS places great value on our ongoing relationship with her Foundation. This award embodies Carla’s achievements and generosity and our shared commitment to identifying and nurturing new and transformational fashion design talent here in Australia.” 

Ms Turner was nominated for the award alongside four other outstanding finalists from the UTS Fashion and Textiles program:

•    Akshaya Bhutkar created a vibrant and colourful collection that drew on both her Indian heritage and her background as a dancer.
•    Amie Long produced an extraordinary series of beaded pieces that called on her deep understanding of the body through her own experiences as a gymnast. 
•    Ruby Pedder, a 2021 Melbourne Fashion Festival National Graduate finalist who was sponsored by ISKO Denim, delivered a sculptural, punk-inspired couture collection. 
•    Hannah Riley, who was sponsored by Liberty London, produced a collection of printed textiles featuring handmade sequins made from recycled polyester.