'Anthozoa' story: Xanthe St Clair's major project nominated for next TEXStyle exhibition

A major project for her Textiles and Design subject, the Year 12 boarding student originally from Trangie, has had her named pulled out of the TEXStyle nominees ballot.

Titling her piece "Anthozoa", which is a class of corals and sea anemones, her creation has left her feeling pretty accomplished with her recent efforts.

"I'm extremely happy with how it turned out and what I was able to achieve," Miss St Clair said.

"I never thought I'd be able to do something like that, so I'm definitely feeling proud of myself."

Initially blended by her "fascination" with the ocean, the project's concept was also inspired by another one of her subjects, Earth and Environment Science.

From there, design ideas were officially sparked; which would result not only in a stunning creation, but have the outcome of generating talk about bigger issues.

"We were learning about global warming, which encouraged me to look at how that impacts Australia's oceans and reefs," Miss St. Clair said.

"That then lead me to coral bleaching and finding out more about different factors in that process, like how coral survival is so reliant on water temperature, for example."

A royal blue bodice represents the ocean with ruffled sleeves, while an over skirt with a long train visually portrays the ongoing devastation to the earth's underwater ecosystems.

Incorporated into the design, Miss St Clair's decorative techniques were to also show the debasement of coral reefs due to human behaviours.

"It was really hard to come up with a design that I felt incorporated the whole process, but I wanted to tell the full story from head to toe," she said.

"[The dress is] highly embellished, even though it may not seem like it from a distance, but on closer look, there's a lot of little details that went into it.

Hand embroidery, beading, and yo-yo puffs of fabric all make the design, along with hand-painting on silk and block printing techniques.

While fairly labourous, Miss St Clair said going the extra mile was "worth it", leaving her with a sense of storytelling satisfaction for both her final design and to bring awareness to the issue.

"It was very time consuming, but I knew it would all add value to the piece," she said, "and I do feel like it tells the story well, so, it was definitely worth it in the end."

With a "big dream" to launch her own design label in the future, for the interim, Miss St Clair plans to take a gap year in 2023 after sitting her HSC exams

She wants to follow in her 19-year-old sister's footsteps for her year off, where she'll "take the leap" and apply for work on pearling boats as a deckhand in Broome.

Following this, she'll then dive into further fashion studies at either Sydney or Melbourne universities, chasing that goal; which her teacher, Penny Chandler, feels she'd have a successful career in.

"She has been incredibly independent and dedicated in the research, experimentation and production of her major project, [and] I am so delighted that her hard work and creativity has been recognised," Ms Chandler said.

"Xanthe's open-minded nature and willingness to experiment with new techniques, will certainly translate well to a future in Textiles and Design."

With another round of selections to go, Miss St Clair hopes to see Anthozoa secure one of just 20 spots at the 2023 TEXStyle exhibition, with those pieces to be showcased in The Muse, Ultimo.

"I love Textiles and Design because it allows me to be creative, without limitations," she said.

"Nothing's set in stone in that sense, and you work hard for what you envision; so I love being able to watch that all come together."

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