by Carla Caruso

Want to make a fashion statement, showing off your pride for the Adelaide Park Lands – in particular, the Botanic Garden (Park 11)?

Local clothing label Sunset Lover has released resort-wear featuring prints inspired by iconic garden imagery.

This includes images of the old Palm House by Gilbert Dashorst, who was employed at the State Herbarium as a botanical artist, and some botanical images by Jan Woodman from her book, Nature Revealed. (The garden still pays royalties on the latter’s sales.)

Adelaide identities like influencer Samantha Costello, pictured, have been seen wearing the prints around town.

Sunset Lover was founded by couple Dean and Melanie Flintoft in 2021 and is said to be a “turning point” for them “as a vehicle to make a difference and leave the planet better than how they found it”.

Previously, the duo were known for their mass-market clothing under the Australian Fashion Labels umbrella - a company which went into administration before being bought by a consortium.

In contrast to the fast fashion world, their Sunset Lover label uses compostable fabrics and aims to leave “a zero footprint”.

As the designers say on their site:

“Our collections are designed in collaboration with the South Australian Museum and Botanic Garden of South Australia.
“Deep [diving] into the archives of these cultural institutions, Sunset Lover draws print inspiration from species of global flora and fauna that have played a sacred part in the ecology of our planet.
“Carefully preserving the objects or illustrations of the original artist, we adapt these into prints for textiles, transforming them into wearable pieces of art.”

The label has licensed about five images from the Botanic Gardens over the past two years, according to Dr Peter Dean, the head of business services at the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium (BGSH).

“From time to time, we provide temporary licences to images, which the BGSH Board has ownership or copyright over,” Dr Dean said.

“BGSH has a large collection of botanic artworks – both prepared by its own staff over the years, donated, and purchased.

“We also have a considerable collection of rare books and the state’s botanic library.

“The licences for access to images, prints, slides, photos etc have strict conditions, such as [labels] giving credit in their promos and on their website to the artist, or if not art, then to BGSH for providing access.

“Images are also accessed by institutions around the world for use in scientific publications, which is a reciprocal arrangement.

“When we provide licences to individual images, such as those used by Sunset Lover, they must provide the final proofs for our approval - to ensure that images have not been taken out of context, or could be mistaken as scientific when they have become art.

“Sometimes the artist merges parts of several images into one print and this is when the final copy must clearly indicate that it is art.

“We require a donation for access to each image, payable to our Foundation.”

Sunset Lover is sold online and at invite-only trunk shows, as well as through several stores nationally and abroad.

Note: Want another way to flaunt your enthusiasm for the Park Lands via your clothes? Check out our APA Shop.