In hindsight, beauty to me didn’t come from magazines or movie stars, at least, not in the ways that stayed with me. I found it instead in the bathroom before a night out, when my friends and I huddled shoulder to shoulder in front of a foggy mirror. We traded lipsticks like secrets, borrowed mascara wands and held our breath as someone carefully traced liquid eyeliner over a shaky lid. Those moments felt sacred, the solidarity of becoming together, the quiet understanding that what we were really doing was giving each other courage.
The excitement wasn’t about being perfect. It was about stepping into the unknown together and the thrill of not knowing where the night would take us, only that we were going there side by side. Beauty, I realised, was never the glossy image on a page. It was transcendent of the physical. It was the hand steadying yours as you tried a bold shade, the laughter at smudged lipstick, the wings we quietly pinned onto one another.
For so long, women have been confined by ideals dictated elsewhere, perfected by teams in boardrooms, confined to icons, sold back to us as something we could never quite reach. But through the cracks in those ideals, light shined.
Credit: Photography - Bowen Arico, Makeup - Carly Lim, Models - Ruby Pedder, Eve Pedder
I began to see real beauty as not set above us but shared between us. Reclaimed and revamped in connection and strength. The corsets I have created carry this idea. Hyper-feminine details of pink hues, lace, bows, florals and angel wings embellish the corset, speaking of softness, but never submission. The imagery is juxtaposed with words illustrated in a tattoo-like style, etched across the fabric as a reminder of permanence: May women rule the world. In it, delicacy and strength live together.
It is this spirit of solidarity that carries forward. From girlhood rituals to womanhood choices, and into a future where beauty is not a standard, but a language written and shared by us.
Credit: Photography - Bowen Arico, Makeup - Carly Lim, Models - Ruby Pedder, Eve Pedder
I began to see real beauty as not set above us but shared between us. Reclaimed and revamped in connection and strength. The corsets I have created carry this idea. Hyper-feminine details of pink hues, lace, bows, florals and angel wings embellish the corset, speaking of softness, but never submission. The imagery is juxtaposed with words illustrated in a tattoo-like style, etched across the fabric as a reminder of permanence: May women rule the world. In it, delicacy and strength live together.
It is this spirit of solidarity that carries forward. From girlhood rituals to womanhood choices, and into a future where beauty is not a standard, but a language written and shared by us.
Behind the Design
The Beauty of the Light is inspired by Leonard Cohen’s song Anthem, with the reminder that there is a crack in everything, and that is how the light gets in, a testament to finding beauty in the in-between.
The corset, drawn from a Victorian silhouette, once an object of restriction, is reimagined here as one of choice, strength and expression. It speaks of possibility, of shaping a narrative rather than being shaped by one.
This corset features hand-drawn illustrations, rendered in a tattoo-like style, alongside photographic film imagery marked by light leaks during development. These contrasting elements of permanence inked on skin and fleeting light captured on film, converge to embody the beauty of light itself: fragile yet powerful, imperfect yet transcendent.
Girlhood, seen through a nostalgic lens, underpins the collection. I chose to shoot this work with my sister, Eve, to honour this spirit in its truest form. My hope is that the intimacy and foundational experiences of girlhood in this story resonate universally and embody the enduring beauty that lives in the act of sharing itself.
Behind the Design
The Beauty of the Light is inspired by Leonard Cohen’s song Anthem, with the reminder that there is a crack in everything, and that is how the light gets in, a testament to finding beauty in the in-between.
The corset, drawn from a Victorian silhouette, once an object of restriction, is reimagined here as one of choice, strength and expression. It speaks of possibility, of shaping a narrative rather than being shaped by one.
This corset features hand-drawn illustrations, rendered in a tattoo-like style, alongside photographic film imagery marked by light leaks during development. These contrasting elements of permanence inked on skin and fleeting light captured on film, converge to embody the beauty of light itself: fragile yet powerful, imperfect yet transcendent.
Girlhood, seen through a nostalgic lens, underpins the collection. I chose to shoot this work with my sister, Eve, to honour this spirit in its truest form. My hope is that the intimacy and foundational experiences of girlhood in this story resonate universally and embody the enduring beauty that lives in the act of sharing itself.
Ruby Pedder is an Australian fashion designer, visual artist and founder of the couture label Rube Pedder. Pedder’s practice defined as ‘casual couture’ engages with the intersections of history, craft and contemporary culture. Guided by sustainability and artistry, Pedder hand-makes all garments from delicate silks and deadstock fabrics – with smocking as the foundational technique.
Ruby Pedder is an Australian fashion designer, visual artist and founder of the couture label Rube Pedder. Pedder’s practice defined as ‘casual couture’ engages with the intersections of history, craft and contemporary culture. Guided by sustainability and artistry, Pedder hand-makes all garments from delicate silks and deadstock fabrics – with smocking as the foundational technique.
