This ensemble was designed by Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson for their Easton Pearson label and is an excellent example of the fashion designers distinctive signature. The Brisbane based duo are among Australia's most innovative and successful fashion labels and their collections are sold through some of the world's top boutiques.

While acknowledging current fashion trends, ensembles like this reflect the designer's independent and experimental vision of dress which draws on broad and eclectic sources of inspiration, ranging from their passion for vintage and traditional textiles and dress to characters from old movies, theatre and books. It also reflects their preference for natural fibres to create richly romantic clothes featuring beautifully embroidered, beaded and hand crafted fabrics.

The dress is part of a collection of Australian and international designer clothing, shoes and bags from the personal wardrobe of Catherine Martin.

Catherine Martin is one of Australia's outstanding creative talents, working as a production designer, film producer and costume designer on significant film, theatre and event productions including Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet, La Bohème and Australia. Martin's creative collaboration with husband Baz Luhrmann has produced a visually lush, musically exhilarating, poetic style of storytelling.

Her personal wardrobe reflects Martin's romantic style, knowledge of fashion history and passion for handcrafted, artisanal textiles; an aesthetic that is also a key part of her designs for film, theatre, interior design and fashion. The collection includes outfits Martin wore to premiers and award nights including the evening dress she wore to the 74th Academy Awards where she received two Academy Awards for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction.

Catherine Martin's personal wardrobe enhances the Museum's contemporary fashion and dress collection with significant examples of work from Australian and international designer labels including Easton Pearson, Collette Dinnigan, Willow, Akira Isogawa, Chanel, Mui Mui, Jill Sander, Comme des Garçons and Prada.

In addition the Catherine Martin collection includes a group of costumes and accessories from the films Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Australia (2008), set models from the film Australia (2008) and costumes and accessories from the theatre production of Puccini's opera La Boheme (2003). A key feature of these productions is the costuming and sets which reflect the extensive research and inventive interpretation of references drawn from across history and cultures. These costumes enhance the Museum's existing collection of costumes for the Baz Luhrmann films Strictly Ballroom (1992) (92/1900-92/1939) and Moulin Rouge! (2001) (2008/199/1-17).

This collection reflects the diverse approaches Martin and her team take in costuming film and theatre productions. In Romeo + Juliet, Leonardo DiCaprio's Romeo wears an off the shelf Prada shirt that has been skilfully distressed to appear dirty and bloodied, while his companions the Montague boys appear in colourful screenprinted and handpainted Hawaiian shirts. The Australia costumes reflect the design and production teams' careful research into 1930s and 1940s clothing which they have skilfully re-interpreted and reproduced for the film. In contrast the costumes for the four key characters from La Bohème are an eclectic mix of contemporary mass market workwear, designer labels and newly created garments.

- Glynis Jones, Curator, Fashion and Dress, December 2010

This ensemble was purchased from the Easton Pearson look book and is part of Catherine Martin's everyday wardrobe. The shirt was worn by Catherine Martin for a photograph that appeared on the cover of New York Times magazine.

Catherine Martin was born in Sydney in 1965. She completed a Diploma Design course at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney. It was here that she met and started working on projects with her future husband and creative partner Baz Luhrmann (b 1962).

Martin's first design project with Luhrmann was his experimental opera entitled Lake Lost devised for the Australian Opera in 1987, for which she and her co-designer Angus Strathie won a Victorian Green Room Award for Best Design. She has designed all of Luhrmann's subsequent productions including Strictly Ballroom (1992), Romeo + Juliet (1996) for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction, A Midsummer Night's Dream (various season's 1993, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2003) Moulin Rouge (2001) for which Martin won Academy Awards for Best Costume Design and best Production Design, La Bohème (various productions, 1990, 1993, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2004) and Australia (2008).

Catherine Martin and Baz Luhrmann married in 1997 and in the same year co-founded their film, theatre and entertainment production company Bazmark Inq and its subsidiaries Bazmark Live and Bazmark Music.

Clothing ensemble, womens, skirt and top, linen cheesecloth / cotton / silk, designed and made by Easton Pearson, Brisbane, Queensland, worn by Catherine Martin, Australia, c.2005

Two piece ensemble comprising top and skirt in cream linen cheesecloth with embroidered floral and net design worked in black cotton. Loose fitting peasant style blouse with centre front opening to chest, black cotton ribbon sewn onto neck with ends left loose, embroidered down centre front, around collar and on cuffs. Black cotton ribbon round cuff and tied in bow. Small standing collar, long loose fitting sleeves with deep embroidered cuff. Unfinished cuffs and neckline. No lining. Matching calf length skirt featuring three tiered embroidered panels each finished with raw edge. Zip middle back. Black silk lining.

Designed: Easton Pearson; Brisbane, Queensland; 2000 - 2010

Owned: Martin, Catherine;

Top - material label middle top back - Easton Pearson
Top - white material label proper left, bottom seam - "12"
Top - white material label proper left, bottom seam - "100% LINEN OUTER / 100% SILK LINING / WHERE APPLICABLE", care instructions, "MADE IN AUSTRALIA"
Top - white material label proper left, bottom seam - "THIS GARMENT / IS / LINED/TRIMMED / IN COTTON"
Skirt - material label proper left of back zip - Easton Pearson
Skirt - white material label bottom back of lining - "12"
Skirt - white material label bottom back of lining - "100% LINEN OUTER / 100% SILK LINING / WHERE APPLICABLE", care instructions, "MADE IN AUSTRALIA"

2011/43/6

2000 - 2010

480 mm