Nicola Luey, 22, may be still studying fashion at AUT’s post-graduate honours programme, but that hasn’t stopped the talented young designer from making her mark on the fashion world. Her work with Vietnamese designer Khanh Vy won first place at the Vietnamese and New Zealand Embassy Fashion Collaboration, and she was selected to show as an emerging designer at iD Fashion Week. She also participated in this year’s Heart of the City’s 10 Days of Fashion in the City, whereby successful applicants exhibited their designs in their own pop-up store.
What are you working on at the moment?
Finishing my honours year of university, which includes a thesis as well as my new collection.
Tell us about your biggest achievements to date.
I have been blessed with so many great national and international experiences through fashion but my new collection is my biggest achievement so far because it is a project I have put everything into and had loads of fun with. I was able to try out heaps of new techniques, like screen printing and designing knitwear, and collaborated with some very creative and inspiring individuals.
How would you describe your designs and aesthetic; what sets you apart from other designers?
Often, the aesthetic of my designs is influenced by a whole range of elements that I aim to pull together in a unique way. I enjoy playing with familiar conventions from pop culture and material culture, and interpreting this through my personal lens of experiences and feelings to create something new that is both familiar and unfamiliar. The result is often a youthful jumble of colours, graphic illustration, surface design, and tongue-in-cheek humour.
Tell us about the inspiration and ideas behind your work — the thinking behind some of your key pieces.
My new collection is particularly inspired by ideas of identity and nostalgia for my adolescence. One key idea that I have been exploring is the emotional value of clothing as a reaction to the current over-saturated trend-driven market that I believe has lessened the potential for people to connect with clothing. I have translated this idea into customisation techniques such as fabric painting, screen printing and accessories design that can be seen on my customised denim pieces. They were inspired by the way that I used to personalise my clothing and belongings as an adolescent as a way to make what I had unique.
Judging by your Instagram account, you obviously enjoy the photography side of fashion as well. What do you get out of it and who appears in your photos?
The presentation of my work is an extension of the story I want to tell through my clothes, so it is important for me to collaborate with a team that relates to the concept and can expand it by interpreting it in their own way. This is especially important when it comes to casting models as the way that clothes are worn can completely change its context and how it is read.
Who do you most admire in the fashion world, and why?
I admire the attitudes and style of youth subcultures for their fearless self-expression, ability to innovate and their deliberate choice to deviate from mainstream trends.
How do you think younger designers such as yourself are doing things differently from the previous generation — what advantages/disadvantages do you have?
I think what sets us apart as a generation is our do-it-yourself attitude to exploring new mediums and picking up new skills. Because of the time that we live in, we can access information and tutorials that allow us to teach ourselves new things even if we are not specifically trained in them. This means we can realise even more outcomes that are beyond a single creative medium.
What are your goals for the next year or so?
To continue to develop as a designer, keep playing, keep experimenting, keep making, and never stop learning. I don't know what this will look like yet, or where it will be, but my goal is to keep "growing".
