This talented designer mixes technical innovation and sustainability in her first collection to create the fashion industry's first knitted puffer jacket
Knitwear designer Alberta Bucciarelli is pushing her craft into new territory, as she emerges as a distinctive talent featured at this year’s New Generation runway at Australian Fashion Week (AFW), with an industry-first, all knitted puffer jacket.
Along with four other emerging designers, Bucciarelli presented her debut collection, Oceana, at AFW in early May, showcasing a mix of technical innovation and sustainable craftsmanship.
The New Generation showcase is one of AFW’s most closely watched platforms, as it offers emerging designers a rare opportunity for national visibility in an industry that’s notoriously difficult to break into.
Established in 1996, the program has helped launch labels such as Camilla and Marc, Gorman and Sass & Bide.
This year’s cohort included designers Gloria Chol, KingKing Creative and Edition Alice Van Muers x Sarrita King.
They were selected through what Australian Fashion Council Chair Marianna Perkovic toldVogue was a "highly competitive" process.
Buccarelli is a UTS fashion honours graduate, and her work has already drawn external recognition. Vogue Australia / the Australian’s Rahemma Azwar noted the sophistication of her knitwear and the strength of her industry grounding at the 2025 UTS Fashion Showcase, including her work experience with leading labels Romance Was Born and Carla Zampatti.
In her Oceana collection, the Sydney-based designer reimagines Australia’s coastal environment through sculptural knitwear, crafting wave-like structures and vivid marine colours to capture the movement and contrasts of underwater landscapes.
The collection centres on Bucciarelli’s signature use of knit, a fabric structure that is lighter and uses less material, which subtly reinforces the collection’s environmental focus and sustainability principles.
Bucciarelli’s affinity for knitwear began when she first learnt the craft at age three with her Nonna. It’s a memory that continues to shape her practice in her twenties.
"I began knitting before I could read or write. I still remember the knitting needles being bigger than me," she says.
"It was the tactility that drew me to knitting and the connection between me and my Nonna."
That early fascination with knitting evolved into a design purpose centred on textures. "I think what I especially love about knitting is that you’re not just making garments, but the textiles embedded into the fabric."
Bucciarelli says she’s always been drawn to the natural world, which inspires her designs. "It’s so crazy to me how beautiful the world is, and it wasn’t man-made. It’s like if we tried to design it, it wouldn’t be as good."
Her strongest inspiration is the ocean, so familiar from her childhood growing up between Sydney and the Central Coast. The vivid, high contrast colours of aposematic sea creatures shaped the direction of this collection.
"Their pairings were so electric and unreal," she said. "I wanted the collection to feel alive with colour."
The standout of the collection is a knitted puffer jacket. Produced on a Shima Seiki machine, a high-tech flat knitting system, the jacket was knitted in one continuous process.
It took her over 20 hours to make.
The puffer was one of the reasons why Bucciarelli earned a place on the New Generation program, as its combination of creativity and technical innovation push the conventions of Australian knitwear.
"The puffer is an industry first. Usually, knitted puffers start by knitting the shell, then [it] is later filled as a post treatment with duck down, goose down and polyester," Bucciarelli explains.
"I wanted to knit the whole thing at once. There's a special yarn that knits the filling during the knitting process on the Shima Seiki."
For Bucciarelli, the puffer also represents the clearest expression of her approach. "I think it’s a standout piece because it challenges what people think knitwear can do," she said.
"It’s my way of saying knitwear can be just as innovative and sculptural as any other textile."
The collection of 11 looks includes a cotton halter-neck top, integrating the Better Cotton Initiative’s lower-impact fibre standards to reinforce the collection’s broader environmental focus.
Bucciarelli appreciates the opportunity she’s been given. "Being selected for the New Gen runway feels incredibly affirming. I’ve spent a long time refining my skills in knit, so to have that recognised feels both surreal and deeply rewarding".
"Personally, it feels like a moment of validation for all the years of dedication, and also a moment to honour my late Nonna and her craft.
"Professionally, it opens a door to share my work on a much larger platform and show Australia that knitwear can be couture."
Most of all, she hopes her work shifts perceptions of knitwear and its creative possibilities.
"Anything woven [fabric] can do, knit can do better, and more sustainably!"
