A woman, alone in her kitchen, wearing noth-
ing but her bra and knickers, bops along to her
favourite song. It’s a picture of pure, uninhib-
ited, infectious delight.
“How often do you dance?”, Allie Cameron
asks in the video caption, inviting us to ponder,
just for a moment, the connection between
our physical selves and thinking minds. It
isn’t the sort of thing most people expect to
see roll across their social media feed. But
it’s exactly what the designer behind HARA,
a Melbourne-made eco intimates brand, has
become known for.
From sharing rousing quotes and prose to dis-
cussing zeitgeisty issues such as ecofeminism,
Allie has a knack for turning the conversation
surrounding a notoriously superficial industry
firmly inward. Stirring dialogues about self-
acceptance, body positivity and environmen-
talism are activated through her long-form
Facebook posts and newsletters. Photos and
clips of real women with real bodies dressed
in HARA lingerie, often sent in by fans of the
label, accompany Allie’s musings.
The way she cultivates community around her
brand by building up strong, informed minds
and bodies rather than tearing women down –
by challenging stereotypes rather than reduc-
ing women to them – is a far cry from the mar-
keting campaigns we’ve grown used to.
“For too long now, we have been sold a false
idea of what it means to be beautiful,” Allie
says. “We have been sold one particular story.
And from a young age, the world demanded
we fit that mould. It’s easy to take the power
feeling free
FOR HARA FOUNDER ALLIE CAMERON, EMPOWERMENT
AND TRUE BEAUTY GO HAND IN HAND.words EMILY LUSH photo BROOKE ELIZABETH“
”
It’s easy to take the power f rom someone who
is exhausted f rom being in an environment that
punishes them for being who they are
from someone who is exhausted from being in
an environment that punishes them for being
who they are.”
Having grown up with five sisters in Hamilton,
New Zealand, Allie’s insights are shaped by
personal experience. “For me, my body hair
was one of my biggest insecurities,” she con-
fides. “I come from a Māori background, so I
naturally have thick, dark hair all over my body.
I grew up thinking that to be a woman, I had to
be hairless. I punished myself for what was just
my natural body.”
Allie attributes her eventual shift towards
healthier self-perception to being exposed
to greater diversity. “Through social media, I
was introduced to all these beautiful women
that also came from indigenous backgrounds,
who had hair and loved themselves for it,”
she reflects. “It was a revelation to me. To
see that gave me the strength to finally ignore
these false ideas that I had so easily allowed
myself to see truth in. Realising it was all in
my power to not deny myself the full love that
I deserved, that my hair on my body was OK, I
could really relax into my natural state for the
first time.”
“One of the best things to happen with the
rise of social media is that we no longer have
to allow mainstream media to define what
beauty is,” Allie continues. “We have access
to so many more people than ever before. We
can explore the lives of people who look and
feel so different to us, but also people who
look and feel the same. It reminds us that we
are not alone, that we are enough, and that we
have a voice.”Allie saw an opportunity to join this rising cho-
rus when she founded HARA in 2016. “HARA
was created to be a part of this movement, to
allow a space for everyone to feel heard and
to speak for those who do not have a voice,”
she explains.
In Allie’s words, HARA – which means ‘green’ in
Hindi – strives to be “a clothing label designed
for you and our Earth collectively”. Intimates
and loungewear are made from low-impact
bamboo fibres and natural dyes derived from
turmeric, indigo and madder root. Produc-
tion is centralised in one location, Melbourne,
which allows for control over the supply chain.
The final piece of the puzzle, the marketing
campaigns, are diverse and authentic, holding
a mirror to anyone who previously felt left out.
“We’re here to represent all, not just the few,”
Allie says of HARA.
The freedom to be yourself, to own it, to dance
around the kitchen in your knickers without
inhibition: this is what Allie wants for all women
who, like her, were once held back by the pres-
sure to conform. “Empowerment is freedom:
freedom to allow yourself to move from your
heart and fall into your own flow,” she says.
“Freedom is self-expression in its purest form.
When we lose any labels and stories we have
attached to our being, we allow who we are to
be redefined over and over again. In the pro-
cess, we move closer to our own truth.”