Fashion designer Valentino takes Victorian artist's work to catwalk

From her studio in Daylesford, Stewart has spent many months working on abstract forms using solid and bold blocks of colour.

After building up strong interest in the Melbourne design community, her work has been eyed off by other labels in the past.

But Stewart waited for an opportunity that felt right.

Valentino was it.

A member of the label's menswear team stumbled upon her work in an online review and asked if she was interested in collaborating.

"Of course I was enormously excited," she said.

"The design and production team at Valentino have exceptional design skills and superb craftsmanship."

Valentino spent six months working the forms onto fabric for the men's fall/winter 2015-16 collection.

Last month Stewart was flown to Paris Fashion Week, where she saw the paintings transformed by masters of couture.

The 26-year-old who has always had an eye for fashion was stunned with the final result.

"The attention to detail with which they applied my paintings to the carpets, clothes and accessories was remarkable," she said.

"As a painter it was fantastic to see my works transformed in that context, to see how the painted image translated when given texture and form."

Esther grew up on a semi-rural property at Daylesford; a childhood she says continues to influence her creative mind.

"I spent a lot of time outside, climbing trees, riding horses and adventuring," she said.

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"Living away from the city has shaped the way that I experience space and my surroundings and continues to influence the way I think."

Her love of creating flourished while going to high school in Ballarat, where teachers opened her eyes to different and interesting forms of art.

"It was probably not until I started art school that I fully understood what it was to be an artist and developed my own sense of artistic practice," she said.

Along with meeting the Valentino team, seeing the retrospective exhibition of Jewish-French artist Sonia Delaunay was a highlight of the trip.

"She applied her abstract designs to paintings, clothing, architecture and furniture.

"Her skill, passion and determination was remarkable and is so present in her vibrant works.

"Her quote "abstract art is only important if it is the endless rhythm where the very ancient and the distant future meet" inspires me enormously."

While she has no major projects in the pipeline at this stage, she would like to create large-scale outdoor sculptures that relate to the buildings that surround them.