Personal Space: At home with fashion designer Gary Bigeni

If Australian fashion designer Gary Bigeni’s latest tie-dye clothing collection is a reflection of the man himself – it proves that colour also underpins how he decorates his one-bedroom apartment in Sydney’s inner west.

Bigeni, 39, surrounds himself with sentimental items and custom-made jewellery that doubles as his go-to daily inspiration pieces.

He is studying to become a youth worker to help LGBTQI and disabled kids. “The silver lining of the pandemic is realising we are capable of doing more than we do,” Bigeni says.

The dual passport holder [he is an Australian resident with a European passport thanks to his Maltese heritage] says he won’t rule out a European sabbatical one day in the future either.

For now Bigeni counts his blessings that a tie-dye dress he made a year ago was the one his friend MasterChef judge Melissa Leong chose to wear on the show this year. “The minute Melissa wore it I got a lot of interest and went into manic pre-order.”

A few of Gary’s favourite things …

Original Florence Broadhurst print

This is a gift from my art collector friend Ian. I jokingly told him one day that he should give me some of his art collection as he has a lot of it. He told me to take this. It’s an original Florence Broadhurst print and leaning on the wall in my bedroom.

My Doodad and Fandango chokers

I am friends with designer Nikita Margarita and have been wearing her pieces for eight years. She custom made these chokers for me. I have these on display on my cabinet and always dress up at home with them on. Her pieces inspire me and set me in the right frame of mind when working from home.

Bedroom fluorescent light

I have always had a thing for fluoro lights. I have fluoro hair, fluoro nail polish and bought this from Ikea in March this year. I love how it changes different colours every few seconds. It was an impulse purchase and I turn it on every night. I get a nice cool energy from it.

Creepers

I have been wearing Creepers shoes for 15 years. They come in different colours and prints, which I love. I used to be a rockabilly dancer as a child. My uncle was a professional rockabilly dancer, and I was one of his first students. I have been fascinated with the ’50s for a long time; and the Creepers remind me of that time.