Bundjalung/Kamilaroi artist and fashion design student Lou Bloomer graduates from RMIT University on Wednesday, December 15.
Bloomer's ancestors are from Kamilaroi, the Indigenous land in the mid-north coast of NSW, while she grew up in neighbouring Bundjalung.
Despite not finishing high school, Bloomer this week graduates from RMIT's Bachelor of Fashion (Design) and has started applying for fashion design, technical design and digital design jobs within the fashion industry.
Earlier this year, she won a competition to have her artwork featured as RMIT's Indigenous branding design, which features prominently on the university's digital channels, including email banners, document templates, and digital screens.
Bloomer began at RMIT with a Certificate IV in Textile Design and Development, followed by an Associate Degree in Fashion Design and Technology, before commencing the Bachelor of Fashion (Design).
Throughout her time at RMIT, Bloomer gained support from the Ngarara Willim Centre — RMIT's dedicated support service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
"When I looked at going back to uni and applied to RMIT, Ngarara Willim reached out to me with the pathway to get to the Bachelor level I wanted," Bloomer, 28, said.
"That was fantastic and they were able to get me fully signed up within a week, and then the week after I started the course," she said.
Bloomer, who originally considered undertaking a course in palaeontology, says her journey at RMIT not only cemented her love of fashion and design but took her on a "self exploratory journey" into her own Indigenous heritage.
"My fashion journey has allowed me to explore and acknowledge and promote that part of me and my blood line and be proud of my family history and incorporate my Indigenous heritage into my fashion and textiles," she said.
"It also allowed me to explore more about Indigenous history in general. My final collection this year, for example, was inspired by Indigenous colonialism… and what Indigenous people wore at the time and how they acted and it had this very strong, modern warrior woman theme," she says.
During her time at RMIT, Bloomer has developed a love of textile and print design, combining hand painting and digital design.
Bloomer says she is inspired by Dr Bronwyn Bancroft, a Bundjalung artist who has been exhibiting in Australia and internationally for more than 30 years.
"I love designing prints and combining my love of design and nature," Bloomer says.
In her final collection at RMIT, she incorporated prints that symbolised the Australian landscape, "with brown hills, blue skies and stories journeying in the wind."
Bloomer is currently applying for fashion roles "right across the country and even overseas."
"I'm really open to anything and everything. And after my experience at RMIT and being able to graduate with a Bachelor of Fashion (Design) despite not having finished high school, I know that anything is possible," she says.
"I've learned that it's important to dream big. And if someone tells you, you can't do something. Do it anyway. There's always a way. Anything really is possible."
