Jaime Lee is MAJORMAJOR

Jaime Lee Major is a visual artist from Perth, Western Australia originally known for her explosive watercolour paintings. In 2008 she held her first solo exhibition at The Bakery, Artrage Complex and was selected for the Curvy 5 book, a Yen and Paper Tiger publication which showcased 100 of the best female artists from around the world.

Graduating from the Central Institute of Technology with an Advanced Diploma in fashion and textile design, Jaime Lee won the X-Press Emerging Designer and Minter Ellison awards. It was here where Jaime Lee experimented with creating textiles that replicated her watercolour paintings and the natural progression from art into fashion evolved.

Jaime Lee officially launched the “Jaime Lee” label in 2010 with a stunning hypercolour campaign by fashion photographer Thom Kerr.

The vibrant images were a success and went on to be featured in numerous national and international magazines. Her debut collection “Out of Focus” was a favourite at the Perth Fashion Festival in September 2010, even attracting global media attention with The New York Magazine’s “The Cut” reporting Jaime Lee’s collection was a “Lucha Libre fighters meet Power Rangers meet earlier 90’s Barbie, with alien eyes and Madonna circa Blonde Ambition hair.” 

Jaime’s next collection “Pollination”, debuted at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in May 2011 and featured an exciting collaboration with LA based latex designer Abigail Greydanus, famed for creating Katy Perry’s latex costumes.

The collection featured hand embellished couture finishings and exclusive digital prints with textural surface treatments to create a pollen-like texture. Primarily, silks and natural fibres make up the collection with an inclusion of wool and various hand knitting techniques.

Jaime Lee’s RAFW debut garnered both critical and commercial acclaim with Pages Digital hailing Jaime Lee’s designs as “the boldest and brightest to be coming out of Australia at the moment”. The magazine went on to say Jaime Lee’s “Pollination” collection was “unlike anything we’re seeing down under. This designers clothes are out of this world.”

In November 2011, Jaime Lee cemented herself as Australian fashion’s fastest rising star by securing a collaboration with one half of 2011’s most celebrated musical duos and Best Female ARIA award winner, Kimbra.

Stylist Jana Bartolo initially introduced Kimbra to Jaime Lee’s “Pollination” collection at a photo shoot. At the time, Kimbra was already earning a reputation for making bold fashion choices and naturally gravitated towards Jaime Lee’s hypercolour digital prints when looking for outfits for the Parklife tour.

Kimbra received so much praise for her style during that tour that when she was nominated for 5 ARIA Awards, she immediately commissioned Jaime Lee to create her a look for the occasion.

Jaime Lee crafted two dresses for Kimbra at the ARIAs. One, which was worn during Kimbra’s performance with Gotye, is a show-stopping gold lace fishtail dress with hand beaded Swarovski Crystals. The second is a lilac and gold party frock, which was made for Kimbra to wear when accepting her awards. 

Jaime Lee also customised a pair of suede nude pumps, embellished in lace and crystals, that Kimbra wore with each dress. These shoes were described by OK! Magazine as ‘divine’ with the magazine proclaiming the whole lilac look as ‘bold and edgy in an electro pop-sicle way!’ 

The dresses, each valued at over $6000, took over a month to create, and embodied the quirkily beautiful aesthetic that personifies the Jaime Lee label.

Jaime Lee plans to continue to create demi-couture clothing for private clients, whilst supporting herself by designing full-time with a popular high-street brand.

 The following are pictures are from the OUT OF FOCUS campaign on the JaimeLee website. 

Follow Jaime Lee on Instagram @ jaimeleemajor or on Tumblr.