Project Rundle - Da Costa Arcade

Da Costa Arcade inspired fashion students Jacqui and Georgia.

Jacqui: Which Adelaide laneway/arcade were you given for Project Rundle?
Da Costa Arcade


Jacqui: Describe your garment and Da Costa Arcade influenced the design? What was your inspiration?
Da Costa Arcade has very structured architecture and a sharpness to the overall look. It also has a lot of panelling and horizontal lines. I used these key influences and incorporated the structure into my outfit by having a structured crop jacket and detailed pleated high waist skirt. I used a furnishing fabric for both these design which almost resembles the marble look of the arcade, and for my pleats I used a striped fabric, taking inspiration from the stripes on the floor and panelling on the walls. The arcade has one main bright colour, red so this was our team’s pop colour. I constructed a basic long sleeve knit top in red and for the finishing touch used iron on rhinestones to present the arcades initials – DCA.

Jacqui: Tell us about the highlights and challenges of Project Rundle.
The main challenge was designing and taking in inspiration from the arcade, it took some time to evaluate the area and use it in your design. It’s always a challenge to construct something you have never made previously but that was the great thing about this task learning something new! The main highlight for me was finishing the outfit successfully without any changes to the design.


Georgia: Which laneway/arcade were you given for Project Rundle?
Da Costa Arcade

Georgia: Describe your garment and how Da Costa Arcade influenced the design? What was your inspiration?
Walking through Da Costa Arcade after just receiving the brief I was immediately struck by the retro geometric shapes, a bit of an 80’s time warp! These shapes followed throughout the arcade via window frames, wood panelling, and ceiling beams, in particular the pillars. The pillars especially struck me and resulted in the layered peplums of the dress and jacket. The strapless dress has a strong geometric feel achieved by the use of vertical symmetric seams, colour blocks and the sharp neckline. The jacket also uses sharp, symmetrical seams and darts with blocks of red suede to emphasise the retro geometric theme of Da Costa Arcade. The layered peplums together with the fitted jacket, bodice and slim pencil skirt exaggerate a typical 80s style and highlight the female figure.

Georgia: Tell us about the highlights and challenges of Project Rundle.
The highlight for me was the brief itself, it is totally different to anything else I have done at TAFE and it was great to get a location with so much character. Having such a limited colour palette was difficult especially with somewhat limited fabric choice. There were a few issues during the patternmaking process mainly concerned with the fit of the strapless dress, however soon rectified.

Parades will take place on Friday 25 March at 12pm, 1:30pm, 5:30pm and 7pm and on Saturday 26 March at 12pm, 1pm and 2pm at the Gawler Place canopy.