We are absolutely obsessed with the work of Melbourne designer Helena Fleerackers. Her brand Karma Corbett is a glorious blend of Victorian ‘Ragamuffin’ and modern layering combined with conscious, circular design.
Although she identifies as a ‘maker’ in her other creative disciplines, Helena says when it comes to fashion “work always aligns with my understanding and admiration for self expression within garments and styling”.
“Within this specific stage of my career, my [creative] practice is heavily orientated around the concept of persona,” Helena explains. “Through the lens of ever-evolving artistic aesthetics, [the] storytelling conveys the inspiration behind the curation and thought process of each look.
“[I am] creating pieces that aim to spark an emotive response whether it is lust or nostalgia or disgust. As a fashion designer my aim is to be perceived and make other people feel seen in their favourite persona.”
HOW IT BEGAN
Helena launched her brand in conjunction with graduating from an Honours Degree in Fashion Design at RMIT, in 2023, alongside her presentation at the Melbourne Fashion Week student runway show.
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“Through my time at uni, there were two important things that stick out in terms of [why I am interested in fashion], firstly; how bad fashion production is for the environment, secondly; filling in the blanks that formed my obsession with persona and what the back bone of that perspective is,” says Helena.
“From there I kind of just knew that this is where I want to situate my practice, as persona is often how I describe my main inspirations for new looks.
“With this in mind I found myself expanding from just toiling with thrifted textiles to using it as the primary textile in all my looks, [and] using colour theory to create harmonious pieces that embrace the idea of ‘one man’s trash into another man’s treasure’. But more so in the sense of bringing admiration into pieces that would be scrapped and unwanted in landfill.
According to Helena, she was always making art as a child: “I would say it was one of my first loves of the world, drawing my childhood dog turned into fashion illustrations and followed into tumblr blog curation and questionable outfits like a never ending snow ball. I just never turned back and jumped right in.”
Helena says that after graduating from high school, she knew she wanted to pursue fashion. “It felt, to me, that this was the medium with the most possibility for me to be able to bring in everything I love into never ending outcomes.”
As for the brand’s name, Helena explains that there were lots of prototypes “before I settled on Karma Corbett, but I always knew I wanted a ‘stage name’ for my brand, something I could slip into and forever evolve with like an alter ego”. “Essentially “Karma” is an ode to my best friend and “Corbett” is a cheeky little secret I might share later.”
After settling on a name, Helena says that she launched the brand “from my bedroom floor”. “I have made most choices for my brand just by biting the bullet; never saying no to an opportunity I felt I could grow from in terms of knowledge or experiences and spreading my art to a wider audience. As you can’t learn from your mistakes if you never take the first step.”
SPARKING AN EMOTIVE RESPONSE
Helena says that she gets much of her inspiration from “different forms of creative media like music, poetry and films”, and people which become “muses”.
“My main fashion inspirations situate themselves as muses within my work as each collection comes around. I [will] have a new muse in mind, sometimes that muse is a person, a film, a song or even a perspective.”
Currently there are two collections that Helena is working with — ‘I Forgot How to Fit into My Own Shoes’ and ‘#karma.gurls.got.swag’. “The muse for ‘I Forgot How to Fit into My Own Shoes’ was Vivienne Westwood, for texture layering references, as well as the perspective of growing up in the outer suburbs paved with teenage ignorance and the song ‘Ribs’ by Lorde.
“In comparison, this new collection’s main fashion inspiration is [the brand] Dsquared2 and the online relationship between a girl and her tumblr blog in the mid 2010’s with no limitations to aesthetics, aside from what would deem them as the next ‘cool girl.’ “[It was] soundtracked by artists like Halsey, The 1975, Charli XCX and Adela, creating personas that bring that nostalgia into the modern world like an ode to the blueprint.
“My practice focuses around ‘frankensteining’ garments together to create unrecognisable pieces but [also] allowing the bones of the garment to show within [so that] the inside of the looks embrace the contrast of what once was.
“[I am] aiming to influence a change [as to] how people view sustainable fashion; admiring the past versions of yourself but [also] allowing [you] the freedom to explore your personal style through an ever-evolving lens, rather than feeling like you have to fit into a mold.”
When it comes to describing Karma Corbett’s overall aesthetic, Helena is all about the hashtag: “#karma.gurls.got.swag #nostalgic #chaotic #loved.by.divas”.
HANDMADE WITH LOVE
Helena creates every garment herself. “To make each garment I go to the Op Shop with a colour palette in mind and start going through the racks to find garments I like the colours and textures of, from there I proceed to ‘frankenstein’ the garments together through methods like draping and patternmaking.
“Sometimes this will include layering paired with hand-applied textile manipulation, other times it will be bleaching or dying. I like to view this process with the poetic sense of positioning unwanted textiles into a new ‘found admiration’ rather than being discarded into landfill,” Helena says.
“I have so many goals within my artistic personas but some of the long term goals I would like to achieve as a brand is to have my work published in my favourite magazines like Dazed and Polyester; collaborating with new creative people in other disciplines like music and film, as well as finding myself in a position to be a part of international runway shows.”
See more Karma Corbett on the runway as part of the QUEER BY DESIGN show on Thursday 19 February 2026. Tickets available from www.trybooking.com/DGPPG For more information about Helena’s work and Karma Corbett, go to @karma.corbett
PHOTOGRAPHERS @marquis_artbook @omoidee.c @mollyburmeisterphotography @edenn.jpg @edoniestudio @jono.rrell
MODELS @ash.lyons444 @killmxddi @puisabel_ @g15e13 @bambiliciousssss @laura.nayman @elaraward
HMUA: @makeupby.ada @m1nxdoeshair @ameliesbasement @danieltanmakeupartist
DECOR: @soya_florist
