AFLW Pride Guernsey Unveiled In Melbourne Museum’s Rainbow Threads Exhibition
Image: Katie Brennan (right).
Melbourne Museum unveiled the penultimate addition to their year-long Rainbow Threads exhibition on International Lesbian Day on Sunday, October 8.
Rainbow Threads highlights the contributions of LGBTQI Melburnians through garments worn, made and designed by members of the community.
The newest exhibit features the Pride guernsey worn by Australian Football League Women’s (AFLW) Richmond Football Club’s captain Katie Brennan during the winning Pride Round game against Carlton on October 14, 2022The guernsey was designed in collaboration with vice-captain Sarah Hosking and designer Matthew Chan, developed in conjunction with the Midsumma Festival.
Launched in 2017, the Western Bulldogs and Carlton’s Blues played two rounds of Pride Matches from 2018, with St Kilda and Melbourne joining in 2020 before the AFLW officially launched a Pride Round for all teams in 2021. Since then, all teams have had specially commissioned Pride guernseys designed to celebrate LGBTQIA+ contributions to the team and the wider community.
Brennan’s Pride Guernsey tells a story along what is usually the yellow tiger-stripe sash, reflecting the journey many of AFLW Richmond’s players from girlhood through the Richmond Women’s program and into the AFLW family. Featuring the words ‘Never, never give up’, ‘Mum’ and ‘We are W’ to reflect various themes and inclusive messages that Brennan, Hosking and the rest of the team wanted to communicate.
“I love the powerful conversations that are created around Pride Round and Pride guernseys about diversity and making sure that we are progressing forward as a society.
The guernsey joins the history-making wedding dress worn by Georgie Stone as her character Mackenzie on Neighbours which was unveiled on Trans Day of Visibility, iconic costumes from the Xchange Hotel including an embellished cape worn by Dorreen Manganini unveiled on IDAHOBIT day, and a stunning wedding dress made by nonbinary designer Jackie Wu unveiled on Non-Binary Peoples’ Day. The final garment in the Rainbow Threads exhibition will be unveiled on December 1, in honour of World AIDS Day.
See Katie Brennan’s Pride Jersey and the rest of the Rainbow Threads exhibition from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. until 31 March 2024. Tickets are included with regular Melbourne Museum entry.
