Aylish Inwood: Carrying home within

Aylish Inwood grounds her practice in building a connection to the wearer, establishing a strength in femininity and an authentic sense of home in the body and clothing. Inspired by deconstructivism and the avant-garde, Aylish looks past a garment's utilitarian purpose in search of something beautiful.

A nest is a humble beginning, a place of home, both physical and internal. The physical nest, a home, a love, an environment to nurture the internal. The internal nest, a form of identity, everything that you are, collected through experience and memory. The Nests are intrinsically bound, building off one another.

Aylish’s graduate collection ‘Nest’ uses a phenomenological perspective to re-imagine the utilitarian purpose of a bird's nest. Through texture, silhouette and craftsmanship, Aylish explores aesthetic and emotive designer language to represent the concept of ‘flying the nest’ – Leaving behind the physical, carrying the internal.

Aylish graduated with a Bachelor of Design in fashion design at the end of 2025. After beginning her studies at Victoria University of Wellington, she moved to Massey University and quickly felt she had found the right creative environment.

“I fell in love. she recalls. “I was like, ‘This is where I want to be.’”

Her graduate collection, Nest, draws on Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space to explore how people build an internal world from their relationships, surroundings and experiences. Like a bird gathering twigs, these influences come together to form an identity that continues to grow and change.

Across three looks, the collection moves through the nest, the maternal figure and the fledgling leaving home. Its final stage represents someone who has found confidence through knowing where they come from.

“They know themselves. They’re a bit of a rock star, and they don’t care what people think, because they know their people and they know themselves.”

The support of her classmates was an important part of Aylish’s time at Massey. Long nights in the workroom created an environment of shared ambition, with each person encouraging the others to keep going and produce their best work.

“We wanted everyone to succeed. Everyone was saying, ‘Come on, you’ve got this!’”

Showing at New Zealand Fashion Week is an important milestone. Having watched older students present their collections, Aylish had long hoped to reach the same stage. She sees it as a valuable opportunity for emerging designers to share the work they have invested so much in creating.

Now based in Melbourne, Aylish is beginning again: meeting people, seeking new opportunities and hoping to become part of the city’s creative community.

Like the fledgling at the centre of Nest, she has left one home carrying everything it gave her. Now, she is ready to build another.