nicolangela

Melbourne made fashion since 2000. Nicole Williams designs a considered wardrobe, from acclaimed occasion wear to The Edit and the upcoming Wardrobe Capsule.

Not for a single moment, for what follows. Award winning Australian fashion designer specialising in women’s occasion wear.

24/08/2026

The sheer size of this is extraordinary.

The marble. The architecture. The figures, every one of them carrying meaning, carrying history. There are over 3000 statues, so many carved in the likeness of real people, Leonardo being one of them. Constant cleaning, constant maintenance of this grand structure at the heart of Milano.

The view was incredible. Thirty-five degrees at 10am, it was a lot!

This place has survived wars, bombings, everyone who came before it, and it is still standing. Still a place of wonder, a place of worship, a place of history.

The architecture, the mindful ex*****on, the maintenance all of it timeless.

What’s something in your life that’s lasted because someone kept choosing to look after it?

Nicole x

20/08/2026

There’s a difference between seeing Leonardo’s work and being where Leonardo worked.

His paintings are in some of the most famous galleries in the world, rooms built to hold and protect them. The work is there however the place where it was made is somewhere else entirely.

The refectory at Santa Maria delle Grazie is different, he was here. He stood in this room for years. You can feel the time he spent in it, the contemplation, the corrections, the going away and coming back.

What interested me was something I hadn’t expected to think about. Leonardo didn’t separate science from art. For him they were the same thing, the same question asked in different directions.

Is there a place you’ve been where you could feel the presence of whoever made it?

Nicole x

15/08/2026

A lesson on my first day was Che lavoro fai? What do you do for work?

I’ve been sitting with that question in Italian. Sono una stilista. I’m a fashion designer. Sono Australiana, di Melbourne. I’m from Melbourne, Australia. These are the sentences I can say with some confidence. Most other sentences, less so.

I’m studying at Scuola Leonardo da Vinci here in Milan, A1/1, which is about as beginner as it gets. My class is 14 people from 12 different countries. Some students are also stilisti di moda (Fashion Designers), all of them are better at Italian than I am.

Something happens when you’re a beginner again at this stage of life. The self-consciousness that usually comes with not knowing something simply stops being useful, so you let it go. You make the mistake, you hear the correction, you try again. The stakes are low enough that you can afford to be wrong.

After class I sat outside with the textbook still open, Che lavoro fai? I ordered something cold and watched Milan go past for a while. The Armani Silos pen was the only one in my bag. It felt right somehow, using it to take notes on the verb essere.

After class on Friday some classmates and I went to Navigli for an aperitivo. 8 people, 8 countries and one week of beginner Italian between us. It was fascinating and fun.

Piano piano. Slowly slowly. They say it here the way Australians say no worries. I’m starting to understand why.

Nicole x

Have you ever gone back to being a complete beginner at something? I’d love to know what it was.

12/08/2026

I’ve wanted to come here for a long time, it felt different to how I imagined it.

Giorgio Armani passed away last September. I’ve known his work for most of my adult life, the way he understood the body, the way fabric moved differently in his hands than anyone else’s. Standing in the Silos knowing he was gone made me move through the rooms more slowly than I might have otherwise, the kind of slowly that makes you self conscious.

There’s a champagne silk gown on the third floor that stopped me, the silhouette is so precisely considered that the eye has nowhere to wander, it simply follows the line from shoulder to floor and stays there. I stood in front of it thinking about the kind of clarity and patience that requires.

The fundamental belief about how a woman should move through a room, that never wavers & Armani perfected that.

Then there are the red rooms. Complete conviction in a single colour. A veil that covers everything, a skirt made of a thousand roses & a gown that seems to generate its own light.

And then, a piece so intricately covered in embroidery & beading that you have to get close before you understand what you’re looking at. I got very close, I still couldn’t find where it ended.

I’ve been in this industry long enough to know that very few people sustain a point of view for fifty years without apologising for it or softening it or chasing what’s next. He was one of them.

Vale, Mr Armani. Your work says everything.

Nicole x

Is there a designer whose work has stayed with you across decades? I’d love to know who.

08/08/2026

Twenty years ago I walked through these doors and left knowing something I hadn’t been able to say before, that the most powerful thing a design space can do is offer a point of view, not just a product.

I went back this week, same address, same ivy climbing the facade, same sense of arriving somewhere that knows exactly what it is.

But the booklet on the table told a different story, rethinking 10 Corso Como. Unveiled in September 2024, stripped back to its original early 20th-century bones, the accumulated layers removed, the space reimagined as a flexible theatrical machine, movable walls, modular surfaces, a new steel staircase connecting everything.

The spirit, somehow, entirely intact.

I sat with a glass of wine and read those words and stayed for a long time.

Not because I was tired, because inside that building, in the industrial light of the reimagined store, beside the rough-cut terracotta stone that anchors the whole space, standing in front of a photograph from the VOID installation that I couldn’t quite leave, something clicked into place.

This is exactly what I’m trying to do with Nicolangela.

Not start again, rethink, strip back to what was always true, keep the thing that made it worth returning to in the first place and then make it ready for what comes next.

The notebook is filling quickly.

Nicole x

Have you ever returned somewhere after years away and found it had changed in exactly the right way?

28/07/2026

Some places stay with you long after you’ve left them.

The photograph of 10 Corso Como has been tucked into various notebooks of mine for nearly twenty years.

The first time I walked through the doors I didn’t quite know where to look. The art, the books, the clothing, the cafe, the people, the way everything had been chosen with intention. No noise. No trend. No apology. Just the most considered point of view I’d ever experienced.

I was completely immersed in this wonderful world of celebrated, measured creativity.

That visit changed something. It changed the way I wanted to design.

The passport is ready, the itinerary is finalised and the notebook is wide open.

Twenty years later, I’m going back, this time with the next Nicolangela collection taking shape in the background and a lot of questions I’m looking forward to sitting with.

I’ll share the journey as it happens.

Come with me.

Nicole x

Which city has inspired you most? I’d love to know x

19/06/2026

I’ve been staring out the window more than usual lately.

It’s the same light that pours through the window, onto the same sketches pinned to the wall but I keep finding reasons to stop and look out for longer than I mean to.

This notebook in my hands is still mostly empty. That’s unusual for me, normally these pages fill quickly. This time, I’ve been more careful with what goes into them.

After more than three decades in fashion, I’ve learned that the most enduring pieces are rarely the most complicated. They’re the ones we reach for again and again, the ones that become part of a life, not just a wardrobe.

I’ve spent the last few months reflecting, asking myself a simple question. What does a Nicolangela wardrobe look like when it’s not built for one night, but for every day after it?

Not a new collection for the sake of a new collection. Something closer to a promise.

This is the beginning of figuring that out, in public, with you.

Thank you for still being here.

Nicole x

If you’ve been here a while, thank you for sticking around.

What’s the most-worn piece in your wardrobe?

12/04/2025

She said ‘I do’ to her forever,
with the two people who taught her what love really means by her side.

Congratulations Lataya & Caiden!
Here’s to a lifetime of laughter, adventure, and love that only grows stronger. ❤️

📷
📍

20/10/2024

There’s nothing quite like the excitement of the Flemington Spring Racing Carnival—the buzz, the fashion, the unforgettable moments with friends. 🌸✨ For me, it’s not just about the races, but the excitement of getting dressed up and celebrating the magic of the day. The atmosphere is electric, and there’s something special about seeing everyone in their racing best.

Do you have your outfit ready? The Carnival is always a chance to express yourself through fashion, and I’ve loved being part of it over the years - especially with my experiences as a multiple winner of the Design Award for Fashions on the Field. Here’s a few photos from the archives, I had such a wonderful time creating these looks, there’s something so beautiful about race day style!

Can’t wait to see all the incredible looks this year! 💫

Flemington Racecourse and Victoria Racing Club MYER Kerrie Stanley Livimade

16/09/2024

We’re thrilled to announce our involvement in the Edition 4 campaign, proudly supported by Australia Post! 🇦🇺✨

This is your chance to not only support Australian fashion but also WIN BIG, including a trip to New York Fashion Week in February 2025! 🗽💃

💥 $40,000 worth of prizes up for grabs! 💥

🏆 **First Prize**:
- Trip for two to NYFW 2025
- Tickets to the WWA x Australia Post launch event
- $5,000 Australian Designer wardrobe
- $2,000 spending money 💸

🥈 **Second Prize**:
- $5,000 Australian Designer wardrobe

🥉 **Third Prize**:
- $2,000 Australian Designer wardrobe

**How to Enter:**
1. Make any purchase from Sept 12-26, 2024
2. Register your purchase on the WeWearAustralian website

Prizes will be drawn on October 2, 2024. Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to support local and experience NYFW! 🌟

👉 Enter here: 🔗 in bio or -
https://www.nicolangela.com.au/pages/we-wear-australian-competition

Address

Melbourne, VIC

Telephone

+611300798956

Website

https://www.nicolangela.com.au/

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