Cassie Leatham Fisher Patterson is an Indigenous artist and designer who combines her traditional practices working with native flora with deconstructing and upcycling fast fashion pieces in her brand Yanggurdi.
“I call myself a fashion designer and creative as I deconstruct upcycled fashion and make it into new pieces, adding my dying work with native plants and woven adornments that highlight my culture,” Cassie explains.
She launched her brand Yanggurdi in 2022, but says that she has always created her own fashion. “When I was younger I was dyeing my clothes in muddy water and ripping jeans … even painting my shoes with my artwork.”
WALKING TO HER OWN BEAT
Cassie has always chosen to wear what she wanted, not influenced by trends and says that she “always wanted to be different and more connected to plants”.
“I would ‘colour’ my clothes with plant dyes. It was only when I got the opportunity to explore pattern design and designing with Kin Fashion that I developed a collection. Before that I was making my own patterns, using upcycled fabric with native plant dyes.”
The brand name that Cassie chose – Yanggurdi [pronounced ‘young gurdi’] means ‘walkabout’ in Cassie’s traditional language Taungurung.
“… and that’s what I do everyday, walkabout exploring country but with a very special blue budgie. While I was thinking about my brand name he kept asking to go ‘Yanggurdi Biik’ so [an image of him] is my logo with my thumb print as I am unique and the lines in my thumb also represent the water holes where I collect my native grasses to weave my adornments,” explains Cassie.
Yanggurdi was launched via an exhibition and on the Melbourne Fashion Festival runway in 2023, and at the same time Cassie collaborated with an event in Milan, Italy for the fashion festival with her “silversmithing adornments”.
INSPIRED TO BE SUSTAINABLE
“I’m not inspired by people or other brands,” says Cassie. “My inspiration comes from country and wildlife where I am witness to the effects of climate change. Hence why I started this brand to give a voice to the impacts of the fashion industry and the waste of fast fashion and wasted materials.
“I hope I can be the brand that people look at and then want to change their ways of designing and making for a better future in the fashion industry, and to slow it down.”
Cassie says that Yanggurdi is not just about fashion and garments, it is also a vehicle to spread information and awareness about how fashion production impacts the environment, creates waste and contributes to climate change.
“[These are things] that we all need to address today for a better future. [The fashion industry] is one of the three leading contributors to emissions. Fashion is an environmental disaster and the global climate crisis is real but the fashion industry doesn’t listen to.
“So I am hoping that one small brand like mine can be a voice about the impacts, but also share the joys of upcycling and deconstructing [fast fashion] with new designs,” Cassie says.
“I want my brand to give a voice to environmental and wildlife conservation while creating a better future instead of creating landfill, using natural resources and developing native plant based wearable arts that are biodegradable and sustainable.
“Using upcycled and recycled materials alongside native plant natural resources that are no longer attached to the trees due to high winds and/or found materials that are of use for fabric dyeing instead of using toxic inks and fabric chemical dyes [is an important part of my brand]. Sustainable ethical standards and practices are my top priority for continuing this brand into the future.”
According to Cassie, her long term goals for Yanggurdi are to continue to upcycle and educate, and to develop new workshops.
“I am excited to be developing new workshops in my new studio/gallery space that will see participants working on upcycling, bush-dying and recycling projects while mentoring youth so that they too can create new designs from old ones and learn about how to put the brakes on fast unethical practices that will have major consequences for our future.”
Cassie also plans to do seasonal tours featuring the native plants that she uses in her bush-dying workshops, and to help show people the impact of the fashion industry on the environment.
“I want to impact the mindsets of future designers with a visual experience that makes them think more about sustainability and ethical considerations in their making,” says Cassie.
“Yanggurdi is bigger than just a brand. It’s about educating and promoting sustainability and ethics in fashion design.”
To follow Yanggurdi, go to @yanggurdi, and follow Cassie at @bushtukka_cassie.
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