This year Sans Pareil are taking you to the iconic iD Dunedin Fashion Week.
We have been lucky enough to get some exclusive interviews with some of the designers in this event.
Robecca Leyden chatted to Sara Munro of Company of Strangers -
Congratulations on being part of ID this year, have you been here before?
This is possibly our 12th year of doing iD, I actually can’t remember how many times we’ve shown before
I love that your clothing is designed in Dunedin, and made in NZ. Why do you think it's so important to keep our clothing production local?
It’s very important to us to keep it made as locally as possible, for economic sustainablitiy as well as quality, keeping our industry alive, and being able to work so closely with our manufacturers and do things in real time. No delays, smaller carbon footprint.
Who are some local fashion icons you look up to?
Margi Robertson of course and Margo Barton. Both educated me in different ways, Margo was the forming foundation of my love for fashion and Margi was and still is an inspiration. Both I admire and love working with for their determination and love of our industry. Also they never run out of batteries!
Outside of fashion, what are your main interests? How do you like to fill a weekend?
I love leaving the city, heading to the Waitaki Valley most weekends, swimming in the river, walking or running around Lake Benmore, reading books and keeping off my phone. Being in the country is so grounding, relaxing and has done wonders for my stress levels.
We see you've recently opened a retail store in Dunedin, that's awesome! What was that process like, any big learning curves?
I opened our store in Dunedin 10 years ago, however September last year we shifted it to a beautiful upstairs space directly across the road from our old store. After 10 years of being on ground floor retail I learnt that the designs I feel are the most effortless or make me the happiest are the ones my customers love the most, so I decided my retail store needed to also reflect this value. I went against all the standard retail advice of what not to do in retail and do what my gut told me to and I’m so happy to have followed my instinct. Our new store reflects our strong values that we need to slow down retail, bring enjoyment back to the retail experience. Providing a unique warm, welcoming environment, with strong design aesthetic but most importantly a well constructed fit, comfort and colour palette. As soon as our customers walk into the space they say ‘ooooohhhhhh this is sooo relaxing now I see why you wanted to move here!
You've also branched out into jewellery, do you find that different to designing clothes?
We started our whole company making jewellery then leather goods then clothing came last. Jewellery and clothing go hand in hand, when you dress, when you try on, everything is considered. It just made sense, I’ve always thought about the whole dressing experience. I would love to make shoes too but more recently I prefer to have time off 🙂
Do you have any favourite quotes or words to live by to share with our audience?
Do and wear what makes you feel like yourself. The right clothing should make you feel comfortable in your own skin, not be trying to make you look like anyone else. Dressing should be for you nobody else
