Growing up in a town of 5000 people outside Launceston, it's fair to say Rochelle Bramich's fashion options were somewhat limited.
As a teenager, Bramich, 22, started drawing and had a school teacher show her the ropes on a sewing machine.
![Dare to dream ... Rochelle Bramich, who was born in Tasmania, is one of the rising stars on the Australian fashion scene.](/web/20170307075835im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/j/9/f/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guja0z.png/1487907573463.jpg)
After failing the first year of a business course, she was accepted to fashion school and moved to Melbourne.
But the challenges didn't end there, she said.
![A shearling jacket by Rochelle Bramich, one of the graduates who will feature at the Melbourne Fashion Festival.](/web/20170307075835im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/j/9/f/o/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.guja0z.png/1487899341020.jpg)
"I really struggled [in first year], I ended up doing the wrong thing ... in third year we are introduced to menswear," she says.
And then the lightbulb went off.
Bramich is one of 12 young designers, and the only one from the Whitehouse Institute of Design, to be selected to show in the National Graduate Showcase at the Melbourne Fashion Festival next month.
Her final-year range includes streetwear in shades of green, pink and grey, inspired by a photograph she took of flaking paint on a wall in Fitzroy.
![A design by Rochelle Bramich, who graduated from the Whitehouse Institute of Design last week.](/web/20170307075835im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/j/9/f/s/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.guja0z.png/1487899341020.jpg)
"I thought it was obvious to do a female collection in green, pink and grey but I sat with my teacher and decided to do menswear. And then I just flourished," she says.
"When you see the model put on your jacket you have spent hours and hours on, that you've cried over, that you've lost sleep over ... you see the hands go through the sleeves, they pop the hood and they smile. And you have a little voice in your head that says, 'yes, I did it'."
![Influential ... Rochelle Bramich is influenced by several streetwear designers, including Vetements (pictured).](/web/20170307075835im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/j/m/u/k/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.guja0z.png/1487899341020.jpg)
She said she's keen to change people's perceptions of streetwear, which is most commonly designed in dark shades.
"I have nothing against black or wearing dark colours but it's so easy ... and I got so sick of people considering Melbourne as the city of black," she says.
The collection also draws inspiration from music, specifically '80s an d'90s hip-hop, as well as Bramich's Filipino heritage on her mother's side.
"My grandmother is a very strong, independent ethnic woman. She has been an influence on me to go to university and follow my dreams," she says.
Although she has a full-time retail job, Bramich is determined to intern at a streetwear or denim label, and would like to work overseas.
She said labels such as Vetements, which is redefining both streetwear and fashion more generally with collaborations with brands such as Champion, had influenced her.
"One of my greatest inspirations are people who are thinking outside the box, giving people something they didn't even know they wanted. They know how to understand their customer and give them something new. I would love to have that kind of impact on the design world one day."
The National Graduate Showcase will take place on Sunday, March 19. Bookings: vamff.com.au.