By Sasha Gattermayr
For Newport local Olive Gilbert, what started as a high school enterprise selling handmade clutches to her classmates has become, more than ten years later, an eponymous fashion brand stocked at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Her colourful ‘Sunshine Bags’, which were developed over a 6-week residency with Brimbank City Council in 2024 and inspired by the marketplaces and neighbourhood of Sunshine, are now pride of place at the NGV Design Store, in colourways inspired by the gallery’s current summer blockbuster exhibition ‘Westwood / Kawakubo’.
And just as these international design visionaries are embedded in the traditions of British and Japanese fashion history, Gilbert’s own pieces are dedicated to the inner western suburbs she was raised in and is constantly inspired by.
“When [painter] Evie [Cahir] and I undertook our residency, we would spend hours walking around the streets pointing out colourful details like shop front signs and their fonts, variety store knickknacks and everyday scenes like someone’s great outfit, veggie shop displays or a trolley full of produce. We would take this inspiration back to the space we were working out of and channel it into ideas.”
After these inspiration gathering trips, Gilbert would return to the residency space in a shopfront on Sunshine’s Main Street and prototype handbags made with the clothesline rope she had gathered from hardware stores. Using macrame knot techniques she taught herself from YouTube, the maker quickly developed the prototype design for the ‘Sunshine Bag’, each one made with 20 metres of everyday rope in a unique colour scheme.
“For me bold colours and textures have always been a big part of my designs so when it came to making these bags, I was attracted to the neon and bright colour combos. I think these colours reflect the amazing colours you see in fruit and veg at the market: lime green yellow of a pomelo, fuchsia pink dragon fruit or the hot pink plastic netting some of the fruits are wrapped in.”
For her collaboration with the NGV, Gilbert drew on hues from the exhibition like apple red, army green and peach pink.
“I only got the chance last month to visit the gallery in person and I was really happy with how the palette we chose fit the energy of the exhibition.”
As for the materials, the neon colours and durable, hardworking nature of clothesline rope reflect the industrial identity of Melbourne’s west. An element of chance plays a big part in what the final design becomes, as Gilbert relies on what she can find in stores rather than designing the colours of her materials herself. This hunter-gatherer approach to sourcing materials relies on Gilbert’s innate sense of colour and intuitive approach to her designs.
Perhaps it’s this bootstrapping, DIY artistic nature or the fact that Gilbert never went to design school or studied fashion, that drew the attention of the NGV and invited a connection between her work and the subversive punk aesthetics of Vivienne Westwood’s iconic designs or Ray Kawakubo’s lifelong emphasis on texture and craftsmanship.
But most likely it’s the statement colours, unique cultural design and distinct locality of Gilbert’s work that has landed her in the state’s revered arts institution.
The Westwood | Kawakubo exhibition at NGV International in Melbourne runs from December 7, 2025 – April 19, 2026. This exclusive exhibition features over 140 garments from British designer Vivienne Westwood and Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo, focusing on their radical, convention-defying fashion.
Sunshine Bags are available at the NGV Design stores at NGV International and The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia.
See more of Olive’s work at olivemade.studio
