Mythological creatures and goddesses mingle with drag queens, gangsters and fairytale characters in the HomeStart Costume Graduate Exhibition at the Adelaide College of the Arts (AC Arts).

The exhibition highlights the creative vision and technical skills of the class of 2025, graduates of the Bachelor of Creative Arts - Costume Design, a qualification offered by TAFE SA and Flinders University.

As part of their final year of study, the Bachelor students design and produce a costume collection for an existing or imagined production, with one costume from each collection included in the annual HomeStart Fashion and Costume Graduate Parade.

This exhibition is the first opportunity the graduates have to showcase their full range to family, friends and industry.

Graduate Jayce Smith’s striking collection, The Lost Mythos, features three mythological creatures - the Minotaur, Siren and Harpy - inspired by the book The Resurrectionist by E.B. Hudspeth.

“The book is about a scientist who thinks we’ve evolved from mythological creatures - and I loved the concept,” he says.

“At the end of the book the scientist has gone missing and my collection fills in what happens next, showing a snippet of the mythological creatures he has written about and the encounters he had along the way.”

Jayce concedes it was a “left field moment” that led him to TAFE SA’s Fashion and Costume Program after he missed out on a place in the veterinary nursing course.

Inspired by his grandmother who was an accomplished sewer, Jayce opted to study fashion to “keep busy and learn some practical skills”.

In the process he discovered a passion and talent for costume design which prompted him to further his study with the Bachelor qualification, and he now aspires to create special effects and fantastical costumes for science fiction and fantasy films.

Since graduating, he has worked on the costuming for a short film, a drama which was shot in the Adelaide Hills in March.

While he can’t give too much away about the yet-to-be-released film, he says his role involved making and adapting outfits, supervising fittings and sourcing props.

“I was thrown in the deep end and I thrive on that kind of challenge. I drew on knowledge that I’d gained from the course and it was a really good experience,” he says.

From July he’ll be working with Hills theatre group, Ink Pot Arts, to develop costumes for a Fringe show and says he’s open to any opportunities to build on his skills.

“The creativity is what I like, bringing abstract ideas to life,” he says.