Jeweller Sarah James has returned from Paris, where her work was featured on the world stage. Photo: Supplied.
Under bright lights at Paris Fashion Week, a selection of hand-crafted jewellery pieces shone during runway shows – each with a Canberra connection.
They were the work of Sarah James, the creative mind (and hands) behind Little Moments, who started making jewellery in high school before going on to study psychology and visual arts at the Australian National University.
A surprise email asking her to consider coming to Paris would turn out to be the latest creative milestone for Sarah, who balances her creative work with a day job as a behavioural insights specialist in the public service.
“When they first reached out, I was a bit suspicious [and] thought, ‘Okay, this is probably just spam’.
“I honestly deleted it, but then I had a couple of their reps reach out to me and ask that I please apply with them because they’d love to have me on the Paris Fashion Week.”
It turned out the email was from Flying Solo, a company that flies out groups of independent brands and designers to events like Paris Fashion Week.
After speaking with previous participants to ensure it wasn’t a ‘too good to be true’ email, Sarah signed on and submitted an application.
“I didn’t have a studio when I got accepted [after recently moving to Canberra].
“I really wasn’t expecting [it] … I thought, ‘I’ll get pushed back, I’ll ask for feedback and apply again next year.”
But in March, they accepted her application.
A few months later, she was packing up items drawn from three collections, especially made for the event, and heading to Paris.
“They were really interested in my jewellery, because I have a different look to a lot of your more standard, minimalist jewellery. They thought I would be a really good fit for the show.”
Sarah and her partner had a brief holiday in Iceland, before arriving with fellow designers, stylists, models and other creatives in Paris in time for Fashion Week in early October.
She brought items from her Molten and Coalescence collections, as well as items from a Coercive Control collection.
“I’d definitely spent quite a while designing the pieces and figuring out how I could transfer these smaller designs into bigger pieces and still have it work [for the runway].”
The latter collection is black and silver, while the other pieces were shinier. Sarah says she wanted those pieces – with their “earthier” look – to do more than catch someone’s eye.
“It can be quite a stressful thing to bring up – you want to bring it up in a safe way and make sure you’re getting the right messages across to the person that you’re worried about,” she says.
“This collection was a way to get the term coercive control out there a little bit more in the public eye, and start some conversations about that.
“I’ve had a few people reach out and go, ‘That’s what’s happening with me’ … I don’t have tens of thousands of people following me, but the very first time that I posted about this collection, I had a complete stranger from the other side of the world reach out to me and tell me her story.”
Sarah spent one day before Fashion Week officially started, meeting designers and stylists in a “chaotic and fantastic” pairing event.
Her work was selected for two shows: one with clothing and bag designer Beth Keener, and the other featured in a brand collaboration with JBL.
“It was this strange, surreal [feeling] – a big mix of the above,” she says.
For Sarah, Paris was an amazing chance to meet creatives from across the world (despite the nerves), including potential collaboration opportunities.
“I really, really loved Parish Fashion Week. I’m open to doing another one, but for now I’m going to be focusing on a bit of rest, a bit of calm before the Christmas crazy rush.”
“I’ll be preparing to make a lot of beautiful things for a lot of wonderful people for Christmas!”
You can find Sarah’s work at her online store, or find more information, follow her on Facebook.
If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.
