My marvellous mentor

Twentysevennames designer Anjali Stewart and her university tutor Margo Barton. Photo / Babiche Martens

It takes a village to raise a child, goes the proverb, and the same maxim could also be applied to fashion. It takes a village to start a label, to grow and sustain it, and most of all, it takes a village to get a wannabe designer to that point of actually being able to make something. Creativity doesn't work in a vacuum, and a young designer needs more of a background than just a love of pretty dresses.

The talent and skills of young designers need to be nurtured and pushed to their limit and often this is the role of tutors, who come to act as mentors. With the university year coming to a close and fashion graduate shows seemingly happening each week (Whitecliffe held theirs on Saturday night) it seems fitting to acknowledge those behind the scenes who are helping shape the future of our fashion industry. We talk to three young designers about their most inspiring tutors.

Anjali Stewart

Dunedin loves fashion: Tanya Carlson launched her label there, Nom.d and Margi Robertson have helped shape the national fashion landscape, and the designers behind Twenty-seven Names studied there and first launched their label in the Gothic City in 2006.

Anjali Stewart, one half of the now Wellington-based label, began her fashion career at Otago Polytechnic, studying a three-year fashion design degree (her other half, Rachel Easting, studied art).

The pair began their label (then called love-lies-bleeding) while still studying, with printed tees and sweatshirts - including a hand-drawn print that Margo Barton still wears.

Stewart counts Barton, the academic leader of the fashion school at the University, as a key influence on her and the label.

"She's a constant source of inspiration and support to me," explains Stewart, who catches up with Barton every year at Dunedin iD. "We have always been able to go to Margo for advice and support - she is always available, and there is something really nice about having someone who you can rely on for support when you're unsure of things."

And it's not just advice and support that 26-year-old Stewart can rely on - Barton is also currently completing her PhD in Millinery, something that came in handy for the Twenty-seven Names' show at Air New Zealand Fashion Week in September.

"She made our Yoko Ono-inspired hats - I gave her about three days' warning but she came through for us and they looked really amazing."

Stewart also counts Murray Bevan of PR agency Showroom 22, friend and PR Rebecca Lawson and designer Juliette Hogan as other important and inspiring mentors of the label.

"Juliette is our main go-to person in the industry, she always has answers for things we are unsure of and has helped us so much over the two years we have known her." (Hogan herself has somewhat of a mentor in Starfish designer Laurie Foon).

"As a young designer there is always so much of the unknown, and it has been really helpful to have mentors," says Stewart.

"It's really important to have someone whom you can ask anything of."

Tara Cunniffe

The standout in the New Generation show at NZ Fashion Week earlier this year was a collection of intricately pleated, boldly coloured pieces from 23-year-old Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design graduate Tara Cunniffe. Inspired largely by architecture, Cunniffe's debut collection was an updated and adapted version of her graduating collection from Whitecliffe in 2008.

Cunniffe studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in fashion design, an intensive four-year course that incorporates elements from a broad range of creative disciplines - something that appealed to the keen painter.

"You learn about all the different disciplines and you can incorporate that into fashion design - I wanted to go and learn about everything, then decide what my passion was and get into that." She eventually chose to focus on fashion, after working at Fashion Week as a host for international guests two years ago.

"As soon as I went to all the shows, that just made me click, I was like, 'this is what I want to do, I want to have a show and I want to be a successful designer like these people'. Then to be in it this year straight after Whitecliffe was pretty overwhelming - but amazing!"

Cunniffe credits the team behind the fashion course for helping her achieve this so early on in her design career - notably head of fashion, Belinda Watt, and lecturer Liz MacDonald, who taught Cunniffe throughout the degree.

"They have both helped me in similar ways, Liz is more practical, and Belinda has helped me to become a perfectionist with my sewing and my pattern-making."

"They're straight-up, if something's not working they'll say 'change this, it's not going to work', but they teach you how to actually do things properly. Definitely with the pattern-making, with me in particular, my designs are quite intricate and doing the patterns was pretty insane, but they just let me do it and now I can do it with my eyes closed," explains Cunniffe.

She is still in touch with both women even though she graduated last year (the college's marketing manager even helped her market the label in the lead-up to Fashion Week).

"They taught me how to express myself and not worry about what anyone thinks about your work. It's all about your perception of your idea or concept, and they help you develop it. They let you be unique and do what you're passionate about.

"They also teach you to become a successful young designer, with business strategies and marketing and all of that sort of stuff - because you have to do all of that as well, it's not just learning about patterns."

Having that background of support from her mentors has been significant for Cunniffe: "If you don't have that, I just don't know how you would succeed. Obviously I have my own passions and influence behind it, but to have someone else drive you and push you and teach you everything you need to know; that's a key ingredient to succeeding."

Nadeesha Godamunne

AUT University's fashion school has a long list of successful alumni, from Sera Lilly to Alex Jaeha Kim to Sherie Rai of emerging label Sherie Mujs to High Society's Jane Laird, all of whom have studied under tutor Linda Jones.

Nadeesha Godamunne is another protege of Jones', having completed her fashion degree course last year before going on to complete her honours in fashion illustration.

It's Godamunne's passion for illustration - something she shares with Jones, who has been working at the University for 10 years - that informed her stand-out graduate collection in 2007. Called Trompe L'oeil, it featured shift dresses printed with her own illustrations and earned her the Mittelmoda prize at Dunedin iD earlier this year as well as the supreme award at Westfield Style Pasifika.

"I didn't really expect the degree to be so vigorous. I think when people think fashion, they think, 'oh fun, I love shopping.' The third and final year was really stressful, but it was cool to specialise and integrate everything that I loved - graphics and illustration - into fashion."

This year has seen Godamunne examine whether there is a market for fashion illustration in New Zealand (she says there is), working one-on-one with mentor Jones who was there with support and advice.

"It's crucial, I think [to have a mentor]. Every time I'm stuck, it's Linda on the phone, Linda in the weekend. It's like a heightened level of respect in honours, you're closer, and it's much more engaging."

The respect is mutual, with Jones describing Godamunne as a "dream student".

"She's such an ambassador for the University, she really is. Having the opportunity to do this last year where she's really come into her own, to be valued for her real talent. She did a little bit of drawing in previous years but we don't necessarily focus on that side. Then suddenly to be be valued for what you're really good at; it's been great to watch that and see her grow."

Godamunne describes Jones' teaching style as the "tough love" kind, "but it's cool because you need that reality check to improve. She's not afraid of saying if something is bad."

Jones agrees, although she thinks it's more honesty than tough love.

"I would expect her to be as honest with me as I am with her. I know that's probably not always easy when you're seen as the tutor, but it takes time to get to that stage when you can actually have a conversation. So I don't think it's tough - my expectations are just very high. If I see potential in somebody, I get frustrated if they don't tell me their own passions."

She says she's preparing her students for a tough industry, as well as trying to foster a community of like-minded creative minds. "It's lovely, I go into the industry and it's a bit like, 'oh, there's one of my students'. I've been here long enough to see that, and that's really cool because they are of like mind, and there is much more of a community feel," says Jones, who has a big mentor group and still stays in touch with many of her past students (including designer Sherie Rai, who describes her as one of her favourite people).

Jones even holds drawing classes with past students at her house on Sundays, where they do fashion drawings and drink tea. So maybe not quite such tough love after all.

"I don't like bullshit. I like students to come from a point of honesty, and if you start that way then you have a better chance of staying true to yourself. I'm not doing them any favours if I just say, 'oh, isn't that nice dear?' There's enough bullshit in the fashion industry - they don't need it here."