The final event in the season of Hotel Richmond’s free to attend fashion parades #FreshFashionFriday will happen on the 7th of August. We sat down with one of the designers, Paris Culbertson of the Bad Dolls Club, and got the lowdown on her co-owned label, what it’s like to collaborate interstate and the label’s membership.
Tell us a little bit about your collection.
I (Paris) make clothes for my label Paris Adelaide and Hattie makes accessories and neckpieces for her label Habadakas. We have worked separately for quite some time and only recently realised we should be sharing our efforts and building something together. Thus the Bad Dolls Club was born. Our first collection is bold and features a lot of heavily embellished, hand-beaded pieces. It has been very labor-intensive work and we have put a lot of ourselves into our pieces. Each piece is unique and special; to be honest it’s still a little difficult to give them away!
What is the Bad Dolls Club? Is there really a membership if so, what’s involved?
We’re not a typical fashion label. The Bad Dolls Club stocks both of our labels; Paris Adelaide and Habadakas. We pour a lot of time and energy into making pieces that resonate with people; garments that make you feel a certain way. For us, fashion is a form of art and expression and we’re all about promoting self-expression! The ‘club’ idea began because we had a strong desire to really connect with other people. We don’t want to be the kind of brand that sells designer goods to faceless consumers. There are so many amazing creative people around and we want to cultivate a supportive and inspiring environment for our peers and ourselves. We like to think of the Bad Dolls Club as a place you can be whoever you are and be celebrated for that. You can join the club on our website!
This is your first collection as a collaboration with your sister, how are you finding this experience?
So far it has been great! We know each other so well that we aren’t afraid to be really, really honest – which makes working together pretty easy! We are lucky to be sisters and also really close friends.
You currently live in Melbourne while Harriet is here in Adelaide, how do you work around not being in the same space?
We use Facetime a lot! Our situation has actually worked quite well for us. We both have busy lives and we spend our free time very carefully… so the fact that we have to schedule our meetings and plan ahead means that we don’t waste a lot of time. We write a lot of lists and use sharing apps like Trello to keep on track.
Is this is your first time the collection will be paraded? If so what are you most looking forward to? How can people get involved?
Yes- this is the first parade for the Bad Dolls Club! We are so excited to show everyone what we’ve been working on and to hopefully meet new people and recruit some more club members! The best way to get involved is to come and watch the show! If you’re not able to come, visit us online instead at www.baddolls.club. You can look through our photos, read our diary and contact us directly.
What’s on the agenda for the future?
We haven’t made any concrete plans yet – we are really enjoying our work and are just taking it as it comes. We have so many ideas that it will be a process of choosing which direction to take!
Please tell us a little bit more about yourself, and if you can, your sister.
My name is Paris Culbertson, I’m from Adelaide but have lived in Melbourne for the past 3 years. By day, I work for streetwear brand Stüssy and by night I work on the Bad Dolls Club (amongst many other things).
Hattie is studying Industrial Design at UniSA by day and working with me on the Bad Dolls Club most nights! We are both really hard workers and we tend to take on a lot. We make all of our own patterns and samples ourselves so that we have complete creative control throughout the whole process. We love what we do and we know that this is just the beginning…
Paris and Hattie’s work can be seen on Friday August 7th at the Hotel Richmond from 7pm along with breakthrough designer Paige Rowe. For more details head to the Hotel’s event page: http://www.hotelrichmond.com.au/.
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