Images via Juno Arya
By Christina Karras

Claire Anderson is the brains behind Juno Arya, a new, slow-fashion, size-inclusive brand based here in Melbourne. It proves you can tick all the boxes, and look good while doing it.

With a penchant for turtlenecks, a love of bright colours and a background in the fashion industry, Claire took the leap to make Juno Arya into a reality - filled with vibrant original prints or recycled dead stock fabrics.

Designs include the pastel purple Fikus top, the retro blue flowers of the Kiffen turtleneck and a short sleeve butterfly turtleneck inspired by that iconic Versace dress which JLo wore to the Grammy Awards in 2000.

Claire told us the story of the brand’s namesake, and her ethos within the brand.

Tell us a bit about you and how you got into fashion?

I currently reside in Melbourne with the love of my life in a teeny tiny studio apartment. I work part time for a fabric company and the rest of my time is filled with running Juno Arya, binging 90 Day Fiance, dreaming of becoming a pro MMA fighter & memorising Young Thug lyrics.

I grew up in a rural town in Queensland with next to no clothing stores so my mum always made my clothes. Some of my earliest memories are going fabric shopping with her and choosing exactly what I wanted for my garments - from the fabrics down to the buttons. But I kind of fell into fashion as an adult - starting with a part time job in retail, moving onto some high fashion sales associate roles (literally the most miserable time of my life) and eventually into digital marketing and eCommerce for fashion companies.

What inspired you to start Juno Araya and where did the name come from?

I wear turtlenecks every day without fail - 40 degree heat? Turtleneck. Going for a run? Turtleneck. Job interview? Turtleneck. But noticed a serious gap in the market - it felt as though the only two options were either super high-end luxury or cheap-as-chips fast fashion.

The former was unfortunately incompatible with my savings (or lack of there of) and the latter didn't sit right with my conscience. I also noticed the severe lack of size inclusion - nothing will perplex me more than brands that offer a women's size 12 as their largest size!

The name started as a little bit of a joke. Araya is boyfriend/business partner/muse/co-creative director, Yoyo's, surname. Since we began dating I always joked that he needed to hurry up and marry me because Araya is much more of a “fashion” last name than Anderson. We actually had plans to elope this August but Miss Rona wasn't going to let that happen - so we incorporated Araya into the brand name instead of my legal name, for now! As for Juno, that's the name of my sewing machine - the backbone of the label so we decided to pay homage to her as well!

I love how you feature original prints in your designs, can you tell us a bit about that process and how they are made?

Thank you so much. It's a different process depending on which artist we're working with. For our first lot of custom prints I approached one of my favourite artists, Besrat Kebede, he already had some amazing paintings that I was seriously in love with. I explained the project & what Juno Araya was all about and we negotiated a fair rate for use of his work. He sent us a digital copy and we sent it to our fabric printers in Sydney - lo and behold my favourite fabric ever was created!

I have another original print in the works at the moment, I shared the colour palette with the artist and asked them to include some mushrooms (my new obsession) and they've created something magical & dreamy from their genius brain for us.

Why was it important to you to use recycled fabrics?

I always try to bring myself back to the original reasons for starting the brand - to bring a more eco-conscious, colourful & affordable turtleneck offering to the (already very crowded) fashion table. It didn't make sense to build our brand identity around sustainability and then turn around & use fabrics that are really harsh on the environment & just creating more landfill. Obviously we're still new and our practices aren't perfect but it's a journey and something that's always at the forefront of our minds - using recycled materials seemed like a good first step.

Why exclusively turtlenecks?

Rather than offering a full range I wanted to focus on my first love, turtlenecks, and perfect the art of crafting them. Maybe in the future we will expand - but for now our mission is to cover as many visible necks as possible!

Juno Arya donates 10 per cent of all proceeds to an Ethiopian NGO dedicated to improving the lives of the elderly and disabled. Follow them here on Instagram and shop their turtlenecks here.

Melbourne Brand Juno Araya is Dedicated to (Exclusively) Making Turtlenecks