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Outer, the Brand
Design by Outer brings past and future together, stitch by stich, by conserving textile heritage and craftsmanship in the now, with concerns of ethics and sustainability for the future of art and fashion.
Outer’s mission is to produce artworks, clothing and accessories which inspires people to express themselves. Outer uses innovative, experimental and sculptural approaches to design and construction, combined with traditional textile techniques, creating her unique visual language and identity. Each piece is an artisanal, aesthetical and social statement about individuality, and society’s relationship with each other and nature.
Outer understands cloth as that layer separating the private and the public, from a personal perspective. Outer’s artwork and designs are focused on the tension between the uniqueness of the individual and the collectiveness of the society, the paradox of standing out and belonging.
Outer, the Artist & Designer
Simone Zarpelon Leao (aka Outer) is a textile artist and emergent fashion designer. Simone learned traditional embroidery, fabric texturing, tailoring and dressmaking as a child with her grandmother, who migrated to Brazil from Italy. While a teenager in the 1980s Simone developed her identity in part by designing and creating her own clothes. While never stopping developing her art and design, Simone became an Engineer, with a PhD in Geomatics, and had a long and successful international career as a senior scientist on urban sustainability. Science took Simone to live and work across five continents, collecting experiences and developing a global sense of diversity and a better understanding of her identity and roots. Simone became a migrant herself, to Australia, in 2010. It was the context of the global pandemic that slowed down her science and provided more time, space and inspiration for her creativity to re-emerge. While in isolation in her new home, a four-hectare off-grid bushland in the picturesque Noosa region in eastern Australia, Simone and her partner built an art and design studio. So, Outer art studio was born in 2021. In just a few short years, Simone achieved national and international recognition. Her textile artworks have been exhibited in several art exhibitions and she won the Best Exhibit award in 2024 at a renowned textile art exhibition in Victoria, Australia. Simone is strongly connected to the textile art community in Australia, being supportive and supported. She is attending an art residency at the Icelandic Textile Art Centre in March 2025. Outer’s translation of her textile art into fashion design has taken her to participation in major fashion events, such as 2023 New York Fashion Week and 2024 Milan Fashion Week, and an award as an emergent fashion designer in Australia in 2024