For Movement 18, Nagnata co-founder and creative director Laura May delves deeper into the brand’s original ethos — one rooted in sustainability, sensuality, and natural innovation — while marking a bold step forward. Developed over years and launched at Australian Fashion Week, the collection introduces Nagnata’s first organic denim program and expands on the brand’s Return to Earth philosophy: a belief that what we wear should be as conscious and considered as how we move. “It started with soil,” says May. “Skin needs to breathe, and so does the Earth.” In this interview, she shares the rituals, tensions and material choices that shaped this runway moment — and why resistance and reverence aren’t mutually exclusive.
Photograph courtesy of Nagnata.
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What does your AFW 25 collection say about where your brand is right now — and where it’s headed next?
Our Movement 18 collection marks a moment of evolution and deepened maturity for Nagnata. We’re building on our foundations — movement, sustainability, and innovation — while expanding the brand into a more complete luxury lifestyle offering. The runway show launches our Nagnata R2E Denim, evolving the Nagnata uniform in its purest essence.
It’s a collection that reinforces our DNA while signalling our future: a fashion house grounded in integrity and modern expression. Where we create, and not follow the industry blueprint but reimagine it. Where clothes are not just to be worn, but to be lived in — and eventually, ‘Return To Earth’ after decades of wear.
Can you describe the moment or mood that first sparked the concept for this season?
It started with soil. A reflection on our brand philosophy that what we put on our skin matters led us to the sentiment that what we wear should also be able to return to the Earth without harm. That sparked the Return to Earth concept and the years-long development of our 100 per cent organic cotton denim, dyed with botanicals using ancient extraction methods. From there, the collection and show grew into a meditation on cycles, of nature, of design, and of personal evolution. Skin needs to breathe, and so does the earth.
Photograph courtesy of Nagnata.
Photograph courtesy of Nagnata.
How do you see this collection in conversation with what’s happening in Australian fashion more broadly?
Australian fashion is in a moment of reflection and recalibration. There’s a growing urgency around responsibility, but also a hunger for authenticity and experimentation. At Nagnata, we’ve never designed to trends, our approach is rooted in conscious design, expression through movement and textile innovation with natural fibres. We hope to be part of a wave that shows sustainably minded design and sensuality aren’t mutually exclusive — that you can be radically conscious and still create aesthetically driven fashion.
Were there any particular materials, silhouettes, or motifs you found yourself returning to? Why do you think they resonated this time?
This season, we returned to our seamless houndstooth classics, pieces that defined our early years and marked our textile collaboration with The Woolmark Company. The designs were widely emulated in the industry, and for a while, we stepped back from offering them. It now feels powerful to reclaim and revive them as part of our core identity. The new denim styles, with their utilitarian structure, balance the softness of our knitwear. Together, they reflect our ongoing tension between form and fluidity.
How does the Australian landscape — physical or cultural — shape your work?
The Australian landscape is inseparable from the Nagnata ethos. Our approach to design is grounded in a deep respect for Country — for land, culture and community. We are guided by a responsibility to care for what we create and where it ends up, drawing from principles of sustainability not as a trend, but as a way of life. Our natural fibre philosophy, plant-dye practices and low-impact production methods are all shaped by this awareness.
Culturally, there’s an openness here, a boldness and freedom to explore outside traditional fashion systems. But there’s also an accountability: to create with purpose, to give back, and to foster community. From our philanthropic partnerships with organisations supporting First Nations communities to our ongoing environmental initiatives, Nagnata stands for more than just product, we stand for people and planet.
Photograph courtesy of Nagnata.
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Who are you designing for this season? Has that imagined wearer changed or stayed consistent over time?
The Nagnata wearer has always been self-assured, curious, and values-driven. They move through space, through life, with intention. Over time, our community has expanded across generations and genders, but that core energy remains. This season, we’ve leaned into pieces that allow people to express that duality: strength and sensuality, function and fashion, performance and play.
Are there any collaborators, references, or personal rituals that played a meaningful role in the development of this show?
This show was built with friends. Our cast, our filmmaker, our sound designer are people who’ve journeyed with us over the years. There’s something intangible that happens when a creative project is formed through real relationships; it becomes more layered, more honest. Rituals for us are grounding — movement, time in nature, and studio experimentation all inform the process.
Fashion is often about dualities — structure and softness, tradition and disruption. What tensions are you exploring in this body of work?
This collection explores the tension between permanence and impermanence. We design for longevity, but with materials that can return to the earth. The garments feel grounded and luxurious, but there’s always movement, nothing is static. There’s also a gentle rebellion in our choice to bring softness into performancewear, and to pair utility with emotion.
At Nagnata, we often speak to the intersection of art and activism, it’s central to our design philosophy and our way to challenge industry standards.
Photograph courtesy of Nagnata.
How do you balance trend-awareness with a sense of enduring identity in your collections?
We don’t look outward too much when designing. Our rhythm is slower and more intuitive— our mantra Movements not Seasons reflects a free approach to seasonality and resists the constant pursuit of newness that fuels overconsumption.
We have formed a strong brand identity by staying true to ourselves and the founding philosophies and visual language of the brand. Rather than chasing trends, we choose to go deeper, evolving with focus and exploring innovation in alignment with our values.
What’s one detail from this show — a gesture, a stitch, a soundtrack choice — that you hope doesn’t go unnoticed?
The sound score created in collaboration with Gary Sinclair is tuned to the Earth’s natural frequency 7.83hz transposed into audible harmonics. It’s a subtle undercurrent, but it’s there to transport you. It mirrors the rhythm of our design process and the quiet urgency of the message behind this collection. The runway opens with our Return To Earth film, mirroring the intention behind the show, a poetic meditation on the lifecycle of our garments. Watching a pair of our organic cotton jeans deconstructed — waistband cut, rivets removed — and returned to the soil, reinforces the heart of the collection, that clothing can be made with reverence, and designed to live and return with grace.
What other shows are you looking forward to seeing this week?
We always admire designers who push creative and cultural boundaries, and those who share our commitment to sustainability in a non-performative way. It’s an exciting time for independent Australian fashion — there’s a lot of honesty surfacing on the runway.
This week I will attend Alix Higgins, Beare Park and Romance Was Born. I’m here with my eight-week-old baby girl so my time is more limited this year.
And finally, what does showing at Australian Fashion Week mean to you, especially in a global fashion landscape?
AFW is a platform that allows us to show the depth and diversity of what Australian fashion can be, not just casual resort wear, but considered, international, and deeply innovative. For Nagnata, it’s about showing up for our community and embracing the opportunity to express our evolving ideas and identity.
Photograph courtesy of Nagnata.
