Mariam Seddiq: I graduated in Italy, and then when I came back to Australia, it was the end of the recession, and there weren’t any jobs. For any fashion design or even entry-level roles, you needed a minimum of five years’ paid experience, so all the studying and work experience I had done didn’t count for anything. I couldn’t even get my foot in the door, so I went into buying.  When I was doing the buying job, every day was the same thing, it wasn’t creative. But when I started my label, everybody in the buying company had a skill that I could use for the business. There was a girl who was good at writing, so she did press releases, there was a photographer, so we did a shoot, and I did a collection that didn’t make much sense. It was a bit of a mismatch, trying to figure out what my skills were, and then it just started from there, so I had a full-time job and a full-time label.  IR: You’ve touched on some of the challenges in the fashion industry – it’s so competitive and hard to get your foot in the door. It’s a lot about who you know. How did you navigate some of these barriers to entry?  MS: There really aren’t any tricks. For me, who didn’t have any contacts, didn’t have any actual experience other than work experience, I had to figure it out on my own. That’s why when I get work experience kids, I share wholesalers and lots of information because that’s going to really help them. I had to figure all that out on my own with a lot of hours, a lot of research, a lot of random drives visiting suppliers. Some were successful, some were not. Some of them I’ve been working with for years from the get-go. People have been recognising the brand in the last few years and thinking the success has come all of a sudden, and that’s not the case. The label’s been around for seven years, but it was all that groundwork I laid while I had my full-time job that really set up the foundation. IR: You’re really well known for your use of colour, so I wanted to ask what colour means to you. What do you like about making fashion that’s bright and bold?  MS: I didn’t start off doing bright and bold fashion, it was always quite embellished and architectural, with a softness and femininity of drape. The first colour that I used in the very first collection was turquoise, and I do have colour in each collection, but the foundation of my work is the structure and the drape. We’ve really gone back to that foundation for this collection [at Afterpay Australian Fashion Week], which you’ll see.  “The foundation of my work is the structure and the drape.” Getty Images We don’t hide anything on social media. I know with new collections, sometimes brands archive what they’ve posted before, but I love when our followers say they went on a deep dive all the way to the start of the journey, and we’ve got that. You can see that it was quite monochrome with a bit of colour to begin with, and then after Covid-19, it became extremely colourful because of the environment we were in, we needed lots of colour, so we went a bit crazy, and now the brand is known for colour. And now we’re going back to what it was, which I won’t share too much.  IR: Can you tell me about your creative process? You’re Afghan-Australian, and I’m curious about whether any aspects of that culture come through in your creative process.  MS: It’s Australian-Afghan, because I’m Australian first and foremost. My parents are both from Kabul, and they came here over 40 years ago, so it’s more of a background thing. I had no idea what it was until I actually went there for the first time in 2018. Growing up here as an Aussie, it wasn’t a focus.  IR: Where do you go for inspiration when you’re putting a collection together? MS: I really hate rules. My creative process is always based on my pace, how I like to do things and what I think is right, and then hiring the correct people to achieve whatever it is I’m trying to achieve.  It always begins with a mood, there’s no cliche thing like, ‘This is my inspiration, blah, blah, blah.’ I see the colours and the gist of what I want to do, and then I start creating. I don’t design everything all at once. I start with five key pieces, and then the building and the mistakes along the way are the magical bit.  IR: In 2022, you invited a young woman from Kabul to participate in your show. Is supporting the refugee community something you’ve continued to do over the last year or so? MS: Absolutely. I got her scholarships to study fashion and textile design and also fashion marketing at the National Fashion College. The business marketing and the practical side of fashion are key, so she’s doing that at the moment. And then her mother still does hand-sewing for me. I’m definitely still linked up with the refugees, and they’re doing well.  Afghan refugee Nazdana Bakhtiari (right) in the Mariam Seddiq show at AAFW last year. Getty Images IR: I know that you’re passionate about designing for people of every shape, size, ethnicity and background. Obviously, diversity is a big buzzword in fashion right now. How do you think about diversity within your business?  MS: Like I said, I don’t like rules. We do as we want, when we want, and there’s no question that we have been diverse across sizes, colours and shapes from the beginning. Diversity is not a trend for us, it comes naturally and it’s a given. It’s just the model of our business. When we get clients, they’re all shapes, colours, sizes, ages. On any given day, I could be working with a 70-year-old woman and an 18-year-old, so there’s no limit, and there shouldn’t be. IR: Where do you see room for improvement in the fashion industry? MS: I would say there’s room for improvement on the education side of things, to teach more real-world skills and actually paint a picture of what a designer is. It’s not always rosy. I mean, I love every moment of it, but I think a lot of people want to be designers, and they don’t realise that it takes a village to make these things.  IR: Can you share your vision for Mariam Seddiq the label? What’s next for your business? MS: After Fashion Week, we’ll be working heavily on our store and our website. We are going to have more read-to-wear pieces available for order. We’ll still be doing orders with a two-week delivery process because we don’t like any kind of waste, so once an order is placed, we cut it, create it and send it.  Because we’ve got a lot of international customers and requests, we’re going to rely heavily on our web platform, as well as having exclusive [pieces] in-store. We have a new bridal capsule collection coming as well.