Anjali Stewart and Rachel Easting are childhood friends and the designers behind Twenty-seven Names. They talk to fellow designer - and good pal - Juliette Hogan about the history of their relationship and fashion label.
Juliette Hogan: So first things first, how did you meet each other?
Rachel Easting: In primary school, at Karori Normal School in Wellington.
Anjali Stewart: There are two schools in Karori; one that's "high society" and another for, like, gangstas - I went to that one first, then to the other after we moved.
Was it hard to go from being a gangsta to a socialite?
AS: It was quite hard because I was a little bit older, they put me in a class with people who were older than me - but then because I'm dyslexic, they held me back.
Was Rachel nice to you on the first day?
RE: Well I don't think we actually met until we were about 7 or 8.
AS: Yeah, we went to one of the biggest schools in the southern hemisphere.
JH: I went to Karaka Primary School and there were only about 90 kids.
AS: Our school was really cool - there were no race [issues], it didn't matter, and everyone was the same "colour". We all used to do kapa haka.
JH: Give us a demo then! [Laughter]
RE: I remember all the girls in my classes ended up going to Marsden, the private girls' school across the road, and I didn't really have any friends left. I remember the teachers taking me aside and saying, "Since all your friends have gone, do you know anyone else that you'd want to go in a class with?", and I said Anjali.
Oh did you? Did you have a secret crush on her from way back?
RE: I think it's because she was nice to me!
AS: We didn't hit it off straight away, because Rachel was really good at school and the teachers always favoured her. I was a bit upset about that ... and might have been a little bit mean to her when we were growing up.
Do you remember that Rachel?
RE: Yes.
AS: Then Rachel moved to Oxford in England for seven months, and we became penpals, which was really fun. When she came back to Wellington I was really upset because I was being bullied by this girl, and then we started being friends. Some of our other friends started going off the rails, and we became best friends.
And you went to the same college?
AS: Yeah, we went to Wellington Girls.
RE: But we were never in the same classes until we were about 16.
But you hung out like you were besties and did everything and played at each others' houses?
AS & RE: Yep!
Did you used to make clothes?
AS: I got a sewing machine when I was about 15, it cost about $70 bucks.
RE: But it took her a whole term to make a hoodie. One day she sewed a shoulder seam, then the next day she sewed another shoulder seam, and then the teacher made her unpick it because she'd done the wrong thing, and then she had to unpick the next one ... it was that slow.
AS: I cried on my first day of textiles because I didn't know what to do and I didn't know anyone in the class. I thought it would be fun, but I was terrible at it. I just thought it would be cool to know how to make a hoodie, that's what my main reason was. When I started to get good at textiles at school, I began to think it was fun. I really liked designing stuff, and so I started doing more arty subjects.
Did you both decide that you were going to go to the same university?
RE: Kind of. Anjali's brother and my sister were both in Dunedin and we both really wanted to leave home and get out of Wellington, to learn in another city.
AS: Yeah, I only applied for that one course. Rachel applied for Elam and Otago, and chose Otago.
Did you carry on the friendship in Dunedin?
AS: We stayed in the halls for the first year, but ended up flatting together with some of my friends in second and third year.
And in first year you introduced Rachel to her boy?
AS: Yeah - my friend said to me 'why don't you hook up with Alex?', and I was like, yeah he's real hot but I don't know if he's my type. Then one night we went out and I was like, "Rachel, you should meet this guy". He already knew about her because we'd already planted the seed.
RE: A total set up!
So what happened when you finished university?
RE: Both Anjali and my boyfriend Alex had three-year degrees whereas mine was four - so I basically made them stay in Dunedin for an extra year of pain.
AS: It was the worst year of my life!
What did you do, cook Rachel dinner after a long day at uni?
AS: I did some tutoring and did a research thing for school, and also worked retail.
Had you decided by then that you wanted to do a fashion label?
RE: We decided in second year that we were going to do that.
AS: We started with a really small jewellery label; I think we put like $40 into the start of the business. One day we just decided, 'let's start this - I'll start doing it from home and you can help me when you're not at school'.
RE: Anj sampled our first collection in the September of the year following her graduation, when I was just finishing art school.
Was it well received?
AS: Yeah it was, we picked up two or three stores. It was all just printed hoodies and T-shirts. We did this really cool sweater that said 'Any Broken Hearts to Mend' printed on it; Rachel did all the handwriting on it. We had another T-shirt that had two Best Friends half hearts on it; I've still got my one. Then when Rachel graduated, we moved to Wellington and moved into a flat together, with Alex. We had our studio in the living room.
RE: It was freezing, it was far away from everywhere, and we hardly went out.
AS: We took up jogging, otherwise we would literally never leave the house. We'd get up at 7am and go for a small run and come home and work. It was actually really hard - we had no money and didn't really know what we were doing. We'd have massive fights.
RE: That was probably the hardest part of our friendship, that first year.
So was that when you fell into your separate roles in the business?
RE: Kind of, by the end of the year we were already doing our separate roles.
AS: But we'd check the emails sitting next to each other, and we'd cut the fabric together and lay the fabric and do everything together; Rachel would sit next to me and pin as I made countless hoodies.
RE: Yeah Anj used to do heaps of the sewing.
AS: I really badly sprained my wrist from doing too much sewing, so now I can't really do it anymore.
That's kind of funny because you're the one who studied fashion?
AS: Yeah. How would you explain that Rachel?
I think you're more technically minded Rachel.
RE: Yeah - I think had I done fashion, I would have been better at construction and pattern making, but I didn't so I've kind of had to learn it on the go. It's all just practical problem solving, and I don't like doing what Anjali does - so it works out really well.
So with the actual designing, it's a joint thing, collaborating?
AS: Collaboration isn't really the right word for it. Sometimes what we do is when we've come up with the idea or the concept for the range, we'll go away and think about that separately and then come back with some ideas - and then we'll be like "all those ideas are terrible!"
Are you quite honest with each other?
RE: Oh yeah.
AS: Brutal.
Is it hurtful?
RE: Sometimes, but I don't get offended. I think you can't offended because you're equally going to say something if their idea sucks too.
AS: We also have this thing when you're allowed a couple of things in the range that the other person may not necessarily like or have anything to do with. Like, "this is MY crushed velvet skirt, we're doing it this way". It works quite well I think.
So Rachel does the construction and the pattern drafting, and you do the more financial, cold calling, the business side of thing?
RE: Anj runs the business basically and I create the product. That's kind of how I would split it.
AS: Rachel deals with the manufacturers, and I deal with everybody else.
Do you think it's like an equal work flow?
RE: Oh yeah - it has kind of ebbs and flows. Often when Anj is busy, I'm not busy and vice versa.
AS: Which is quite hard because when Rachel's not busy she likes to come up to my desk and sit next to me, and that's when I'm really busy.
Do you ever feel like you want a break from each other?
AS: If we feel like that, we just don't talk to each other. We don't really talk to each other in the workroom; so if I want to ask her to sit down and talk; otherwise we don't really talk to each other during the day. We don't just sit there all day and gossip. Although if we want a gossip we'll just sit down and gossip!
Do you guys hang out outside of work a lot?
RE: Yeah we do.
JH: I'm jealous! There's something nice about working with your friend - at the end of the day they can't just go and up and leave you and go somewhere else.
So I know how you both met - but when did you first meet me?
RE: Was it when we were in Sydney for the first time selling a collection in 2007?
JH: It was at the PR showroom we both use. I remember that your stuff was hanging up on a rack and you had used a fabric that I'd used - I was like "who are these punks that have used the same fabric!". But we first properly met in Sydney.
AS: And it was love at first sight.
Yes, and since then we've been inseparable. OK, so tell me about your book club.
RE: Our book club is awesome. Quite a lot of girls in our book club are English literature majors, so they all know what they're talking about - I'm not necessarily the person who has the best opinions, I sit there absorbing it all. But the books we have read have been awesome.
AS: At the moment we're doing Murakami. And I'm reading The Beauty Myth; I love it.
RE: It's about becoming aware of how much pressure is put on you by media and magazines.
AS: Yeah, I don't wear makeup anymore.
Seriously? Because of the book?
AS: Yep, since I've been reading it. Rachel and I have been talking about it heaps. She's read it before, and a lot the stuff she did at art school is based on that. I want to photocopy some pages from it, so I can always remember it. I mean, it doesn't say, "don't wear makeup" - it's just been a gut reaction for me.
I just think you can spend too much time worrying about what other people think about you and whether or not you're "good looking".
