We would like to introduce you to Sylvie Cornu, the quirky founder/owner of Sydney boutique, +ESTATEofMIND.

+ESTATEofMIND opened its doors on Sydney’s style savvy, Crown St.  Surry Hills, in February this year.  It has since become known as the place with awesome windows, eerie décor and above all, completely unique designs.

Sylvie started +ESTATEofMIND to give Sydney’s underground designers an opportunity to showcase their wares as well as to provide Sydneysiders with the opportunity to step out of their comfort zone and arm themselves with something a little more individual.

Sylvie is as colourful and interesting as the designers she stocks and her hair changes colour almost as regularly as her windows, coming from a background in the beauty industry it’s no wonder.

Sylvie went from make-up artist, to design student, to design assistant at Michael Lo Sordo, to founder and owner of +ESTATEofMIND all in search of a outlet that would completely fulfill her creativity, needless to say she eventually found it.

If you check out the +ESTATEofMIND blog you will see that Sylvie exercises her creativity at least once a day. Walk into her store and you will see that she lives and breathes that creativity; skulls, bones and white candles dripping in black wax make up the store interiors and her windows are regularly filled with odd creatures and crazy fashion.

We sat down with Sylvie to talk fashion, style, dead animals and summer.

Tell us about why you started +ESTATEofMIND

Having come from a design background, I knew how hard it was to get a start in the industry, with most emerging Aussie designers needing to export their wares to be ‘seen’ and ‘heard’, so I thought, “I’m just going to open my own store dedicated purely to young underground designers.” So +ESTATEofMIND was born! It’s designed to give our homegrown talent a start in the industry and create brand awareness within the fashion scene and be a hub where fashion and design enthusiasts can come browse and purchase original and unique designs. Also, with the rise of mass-produced clothing, I saw a gap in the market for a store where people who were against this and were wanting original designs could go to shop.

How did you come up with the name?

I really wish I had a cool story to tell with this haha but I don’t… I cant remember exactly how I came up with it as it was thought of once I had consumed copious amounts of wine, when I was studying and I needed a label name for my end of year grad show!

How would you describe the style of the garments in +ESTATEofMIND?

It’s a little eccentric, a little insane, a little edgy, a little irregular and a little unconventional! I really  want my customer to be exposed to different fabrics, strange cuts and designs, unusual textures, and experimental colours. People are always seeing the same things and the same cuts and colours, so most end up dressing the same—I want them to be experimental and try new things.

Why do you personally love fashion?

Because it’s fun and it’s a way of showing your creativeness and talent as well as challenging when you look at the design side.

How would you describe the ambiance of the store?

Like a pet morgue! I wanted to create something different people would remember, so when they are gossiping with their friends and mention the store there will be no blankness at trying to remember it- I mean for christ sake who could forget all the dead animals hanging off my wall! 

Tell us about the stock coming in for summer?

The stock coming this summer is VERY colourful, I noticed at RAFW (Rosemount Australian Fashion Week) a lot of the labels were using whites, beiges, soft palettes of colour with the occasional label doing pop colours, so I decided to go with what I new most stores wouldn’t be doing and ordered a lot of bright pop colours and eccentric prints with the occasional plain colours to mix in.

What pieces are you most excited about getting?

Hands down I must say the very colourful Wayuu Morchilas bags I have coming from Colombia; they are amazing! Plus no one in Australia has caught onto them yet, but they are huge overseas.

What would you say about the next generation of Australian Fashion? 

They are taking more risks and starting to use colours, fabrics, textures and shapes not generally used in fashion design and it’s great I love it!

Stay tuned for details of the +ESTATEofMIND Summer launch party coming soon, in the meantime keep up with Sylvie’s regular fashion rants on the +ESTATEofMIND blog.