Inspired by her heritage, Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Kwa based her entire Higher School Certificate major Textiles and Design project around Chinese Dragon Mythology.

Titled 'Dragon Deity', Miss Kwa's full-length garment secured a Band 6 grade; and has now been selected for display in Sydney's 2022 TEXStyles Exhibition.

"I drew so much inspiration for my project from my own heritage," Miss Kwa said.

"So, hopefully other people will look at it and see that culture-inspired element come through as well."

Wrapping Miss Kwa's garment from head to toe with an Indonesian 'Batik' technique of wax-resist dyeing, the dress showcases spiritual weather-making dragon, Shen-long; controller of rain, clouds and winds.

"I was inspired by Chinese mythology, especially weather dragon folklore, where the whole story behind this dragon was that it is the bringer of storms if made angry," Miss Kwa explained.

"[It's anger] would bring drought for the people, as [Shen-long] is the dragon that controls the weather."

With it's non-restrictive brief from the outset, Miss Kwa's project allowed for a deeper dive into her Chinese heritage, which also included a blue and white colour scheme inspired by traditional porcelain and ceramics.

"It was a very open brief for our design projects, and I had always wanted to do something based off of Chinese culture as part of my background," she said.

"From the very start, I decided to base the project on my heritage, and because I wanted to learn more about it as well, it provided a really good opportunity to explore those different cultural aspects that are portrayed in the item."

With a blended heritage in Chinese, Polish and Scottish cultures, Miss Kwa also pulled from both of her eastern and western backgrounds; applying a system of multiplex techniques, which she spent refining for one-year.

"[The dress] has a sheer foundation to show the dragon flying through the air; to show the dragon as if it's suspended," she said.

"The garment's background was inspired by a western designer, and though it incorporated predominantly eastern-inspired elements, it also has that western element to show the different parts of my cultural background."

From multiple design mock-ups, scrap fabric experimentation, and construction techniques, Miss Kwa's extensive research, planning and development has now earned a spot in the 'TEXStyle Exhibition' for 2022; displaying her garment alongside other of the best major HSC design projects from around the state.

"I felt really proud and happy that it had all come together as I had imagined," Miss Kwa said.

"And though there were definitely times where I thought 'it isn't going to work' or 'it won't look like the original drawing', I'd never actually stood back and really admired it ... and I really love it."

With Miss Kwa saying her Textiles and Design teacher at Kinross Wolaroi School, Penny Chandler was "very supportive throughout the whole thing", Lizzie's teacher was equally as grateful.

"Lizzie has a phenomenal work ethic, natural sense of aesthetics and attention to detail, and these traits have resulted in her fantastic HSC achievements and selection for the TexStyle exhibition," Ms Chandler said.

"Lizzie spent many days, uncounted hours, applying gutta and silk painting to create the dragon motif for her cheongsam dress ... these kind of couture skills and hand finishing go above and beyond the requirements of Year 12, and would usually be the work of older more experienced design students.

"It has been a privilege to work with a student such as Lizzie."

While Miss Kwa remains humbly surprised at the opportunity to exhibit her garment in the Sydney exhibition, she now awaits acceptance to study with either Mebourne's RMIT University or University of Sydney to undertake a Bachelor of Design with the Faculty of Architecture.

Lizzie Kwa's garment will be on display at 'The Muse' at Sydney's Ultimo TAFE, which will be showcased in the TEXStyles Exhibition from March 8 to March 13.