Ahead of New Zealand Fashion Week: Kahuria, we caught up with designer Rory Docherty at his heritage apartment in Kingsland, Auckland, to talk about the importance of home, art and aesthetics.
Rory Docherty opens the front door to his apartment dressed casually in a white T-shirt, holding a polishing cloth
He ushers me upstairs to the living room where Rory’s Parisian-born intern Floyd is waiting. The aroma of furniture polish fills the air. The room looks immaculate. The pair have clearly just finished prepping for the Viva shoot.
Rory has taken precious time away from working on his collection for New Zealand Fashion Week (his debut show is today, on August 29) for this interview. Appearance is everything in fashion, and he wants the apartment to be a considered reflection of his brand, Rory William Docherty. The apartment is unique: beautiful, creative and carefully-cultivated, just like the clothes he designs.
NZFW is back for the first time since 2019 and Rory’s show at Fashion Week is his debut. He brings an interesting new voice to New Zealand fashion. His label has already attracted international attention. Rory William Docherty is featured in the latest issue of Australian fashion magazine Jane and he’s being courted by global agents.
“I’m still a relatively unknown brand, so hopefully [the show] will be a positive, fresh introduction. For those familiar with my work, I hope it cements what they know and trust, and continues to invigorate and inspire.”
In the pre-Fashion Week whirl, he has spent very little time at his apartment. “I haven’t been here nearly as much as I would like. And when I have, it’s been simply to refuel or crash.” This has put Rory literally out of his comfort zone. “My home is hugely important to me. It is my sanctuary. A space that I can escape to.
“The reality is that my apartment is in the middle of an intensely urban environment, above shops on a busy road. But for me, that really works. I love its proximity to everything — work, good restaurants, bars, galleries, public transport, but inside it’s my haven. A quiet, curated space.”
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Advertise with NZME.The two-storey apartment is in a heritage building in Kingsland, Auckland. A beautiful timber staircase leads from the downstairs kitchen to the living room and bedrooms. There are rough exposed brick walls and aged wooden floors throughout. The thematic thread that runs through the apartment is Rory’s passion for timber and tan leather.
“I like warm, earthy, grounding colours. I’m drawn to what has been called ‘Rory tan’ by my friends because of my love of the colour. It’s a rich, brown leather that you find in a lot of mid-century pieces. It really works in the apartment and I’m a believer in responding to a space and environment, and bringing out its best features, not fighting it and trying to make it something that it’s not,” says Rory of the space that’s been home for the past three years.
His early years were spent in rural Palmerston North, which is where his Scottish parents settled when they emigrated to New Zealand in 1980. Rory was 2.
“I was born in the UK but you could say I’ve had a very Scottish upbringing. Every New Year we would have Hogmanay at our house, and Mum and Dad would invite all the local farmers. Dad’s an artist and Mum’s a primary teacher who loves getting dressed up, so they would both go all out. There was a theatricality to it and the party was always great fun. I loved it, and so did all the farmers!”
The appreciation of art and design is in his DNA. Rory’s grandparents, who moved to New Zealand in the mid-80s, had an eye for mid-century pieces. “I inherited a couple of original chrome and leather armchairs and a matching coffee table from them. They brought them from Scotland and I’ve always loved them. They have a wonderful balance of functional, strong, clean, contemporary lines. To me, they are timeless. I’m not as fastidious as Grandma was with her polishing, but anytime there’s a smudge on the glass coffee table, I can see her cleaning it off. The same goes for the Murano glass I inherited from them.”
In addition to the family furniture, there are other pieces that have sentimental value to Rory — some gifted to him by loved ones, and mementos from his travels overseas.
“At 21, I had nothing in my backpack, apart from a passport, a Lonely Planet guide and a sketchbook. On my journeys I’d collect floor runners, wall hangings, small objects and books. In those formative years I was discovering crafts from different cultures, all with a long-term eye, knowing they would warm my home of the future,” he says. “The things I’m drawn to have a story, pieces made with craftsmanship, often with a tactile quality.”
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Advertise with NZME.Art and aesthetics played an important role in his childhood and that’s reflected in his home. There is art in every room, perhaps most notably, a photograph by Tim White of a dress from Rory’s first collection in 2017.
“It remains a touchstone for me,” he says. “It’s the beginning of my brand and this set the tone for future collections.” On the opposite wall is a mixed-media nasturtium artwork by Rory, which inspired the print design and embroidery featured in the 2017 collection. There are also works by his dad, Willie Docherty. “I’ve got quite a few of his so they get rotated,” says Rory. There are also a collection of works by artist and friend John Reynolds. “He did one for me called I Can’t Draw Flowers,” laughs Rory. “And, of course, the beautiful small canvas Claire, a tribute to John’s late wife, who was a brilliant, bright beauty in every sense.”
Rory met the couple at a party. He formed a strong connection with them and ended up dressing the late Claire in a bold red dress for her daughter Hart’s wedding. Last year, when Claire was in the hospice, in the final stages of breast cancer, she called Rory to ask him to dress her for her funeral.
“It was an honour and a privilege to be able to do that for her,” he says.
In the stairwell is an artwork by Damien Hirst. “I lived in London in the early 2000s when Damien Hirst was at his height,” says Rory. “Years later, living in New Zealand again, I returned to London for a couple of days en route to a family wedding in the Black Forest in Germany. I decided to visit a gallery but on my way I collapsed from exhaustion, had a seizure and fractured my skull. I was hospitalised for weeks, unable to attend the wedding. While I was recovering from the head injury, waiting until I was well enough to fly home, I bought the Damien Hirst Psalm print,” he says.
“The fragility of the butterflies, the temporary nature of beauty and life, and the visual brilliance, with its macabre undertones and echoes of spirituality in its stained glass window reference, seemed rather poignant,” he continues. “Now it acts as a reminder to me of the importance of balance, to look after myself, the danger of burning out, and that life and how we choose to spend it is precious.”
Rory Docherty does indeed have something to say. And the fashion world is about to hear it. Listen up. Rory William Docherty is a label that is going places.
