Focus on Alexandra Dunn and Lauren Connolly of Coop

Lauren Connolly and Alexandra Dunn's designs are young, edgy and fun, with a rebellious spirit. Photo / Babiche Martens

Backed by their mentor Trelise Cooper, Alexandra Dunn and Lauren Connolly have high hopes for their young label.

Boy drama may not seem the likeliest of scenarios for friendship and creativity to flourish, but for Alexandra Dunn and Lauren Connolly, the young designers behind new label Coop, it was a shared crush on a boy that brought them together.

"We were working together and we bonded over this shared love," explains Dunn, "which turned into all the terrible things when boys get involved. But then out of it, we became really close - and Coop blossomed. From destruction came something really awesome."

That destruction and bonding happened in the Trelise Cooper workroom, where the idea for the new label was developed earlier this year. The story goes something like this: Dunn and Connolly wanted to do something new, and Cooper was game to take on a new brand. Her biggest stockist, Australian department store David Jones, was keen for a new label as well, to fill a gap left by Sass and Bide (who moved to another store) - so Coop was born. It was a whirlwind process, with two weeks to come up with concepts and two weeks to create a range - the pair, both 28, joke that they had to create a brand in a month.

That brand is still growing - their debut collection, titled Badlands, has just arrived in stores - but they describe it as being young, edgy and fun, with a rebellious spirit. "We don't want it to be serious and intellectual; it's got to be cool, young," explains Dunn, who has worked as a buyer's assistant and freelance writer.

"None of this too-cool-for-school thing," agrees Connolly. "We want a lot of people to get into it and experience it; and not be afraid of it."

That first range reflects Coop's youthful aesthetic, with raised hemlines, contrasting textures, shredded fabrics and earthy tones offset with bolder colours. There are also quirky details that are discovered as you look closer, like embroidered sequinned dream catchers, raw edging and laser cutting. (Natural imagery and earthly elements are recurring symbols, possibly influenced by Connolly's academic background in geology.) The pair say the range was created around the idea of "escaping your normal mundane life" - heading out to the hot and steamy desert on a psychedelic road trip.

If there's a Cooper influence, it's in the sequinned pieces in the range - but though the label may come from the designer's stable and workroom (and there's the obvious connection with the name), the pair are keen to keep them separate. But they fondly describe her as being a kind of fairy godmother, which seems fitting, given Cooper's sparkly image.

"She is our mentor," explains Dunn, "and she funds it, but creatively we are allowed to do what we want; although she gets the final say. She will always give us direction when we need it, and we can always go to her for advice. It's great having someone with so much experience; just a mind-full of knowledge."

Dunn and Connolly are both well aware of their fortunate position in having such a mentor and accessible resources. "We definitely wouldn't have been able to get the garments that we wanted, or get that many stores in our first season, if we'd started out by ourselves," says Dunn. "Everything we've achieved so far is because we've had the machine behind us."

That's not to say that they're not talented or ambitious in their own right. Working with someone as successful as Cooper must embed a certain level of hard work and determination, and the pair are certainly ambitious. They made their NZ Fashion Week début in August, just months after launching, and are keen to grow the brand overseas in markets like America and Asia (Australia is already their biggest market, with around 40 of their roughly 55 stockists there). As Connolly explains simply: "We've got big plans."