AJ Bradley — Oh Hi

At the moment I’m working retail, it was sort of the first job I applied for after graduating last year. I’m working at Max in the Plaza. It’s alright, it’s a job. It’s a part of the industry I don’t have that much… well, I’m flexing my muscles in customer psychology and all that.

It’s intense. Initially, I thought “oh fun, retail”, but it’s super intense. So I work about 4 – 5 days a week, every other day I’m here, working on my collection. I’m just building on my graduate collection, which makes my life so much easier. I have to make about 10 outfits, so 30 different pieces for Fashion Week in August. It’s real soon.

When did you graduate? Last year was my final year (of study). I started my first year in 2011, and then before going back for my second year I found out that I was pregnant. I decided, oh my gosh, I have no money saved and trying to save while doing my second year was just not going to happen because studying fashion is expensive. Especially if you want the good quality fabric and all of that. So yeah, I just started working. I had a couple of years off looking after Otis and staying home with him. Then I just felt like, I need to get back. I really enjoyed my time being a stay at home mum, but, you know. I love designing and sewing and all that practical stuff. Creating stuff. So I went back and did my second year. It’s a good thing that I did because my year was the final year to graduate.

Which is super dumb. I did a couple of internships last year, one of them with Penny Sage – of which the designer Kate Megaw is actually a UCOL graduate. She’s so awesome. People rave about UCOL students because they’ve got that industry practical knowledge. But I think numbers were going down, so. It’s a real shame. I spend a bit of time in Auckland. Miss Crabb is from Wanganui. Dane Johnston who is Zambesi is also. They're strong players in the industry who have graduated from that course.

What do you think it is? I can’t really say, because I don’t know that much. But I think that Massey, who produce some awesome designers, spend a whole year on concepts and thinking conceptually. Really building strong designers. Whereas UCOL is super practical. We did spend a lot of time working on concepts and making sure that everything is informed by something, from a seed. But, then you go to the pattern drafting stage and then the sewing, so there’s a logical sequence to it. But I think Massey spend a lot of time on that first stage, which is really cool!

How did Fashion Week happen? So last year in our final year, it was in the brief that you have to submit your mini collection. In the final year you make two collections, the first half is a mini collection which is 3 outfits. So you had to submit that to a completion. I chose Miromoda, because of the ethos of it and I liked that there was a really strong connection to Fashion Week. You know Dame Pieter Stewart? Miromoda is her idea. I thought, 'I have to do this', but I didn’t think anything would come of it. But then it did! I was doing an internship in Auckland at the time, so I had to drive to Hamilton with my collection to present to a panel of judges, which was Dam Pieter, the designer Adrian Hailwood, this really intense PR lady Miranda, and I think that was about it. But it was really, really nerve nerve-racking. I was first up and had to just walk into this conference room.

You have to explain why you’ve done certain things, really making them understand what has informed things, the silhouettes and all that. So, through that, I was selected to showcase in the Miromoda show at Fashion Week last year. I was featured in Vogue.com’s 12 must-know designers in New Zealand Fashion Week through that, which is really awesome. I think maybe it was that exposure, well everyone knows Vogue, that lead to being asked to feature this year. That’s what I think anyway. Maybe they liked it as well… but yeah. I just got a call from this representative, her name was Huia, and it sounded like she just wanted to talk about my experience, write about it on the website maybe. So I told her I thought it was really awesome, rewarding, this and that, and then at the end of the conversation, I was on my lunch break, she was like, “Oh, so I just want to know if you’re interested in featuring this year? We’d love to have you featured in the New Gen show”. They have that every year. And I was like, oh my gosh, yes! Started crying. I did not expect it. But yeah. I’ve definitely had to apply myself every day since. It’s a massive workload, but it’s doable.

I don’t really spend that long in my comfort zone. It’s stupid. I always do things that make me mentally stretched. It’s good because it has been fruitful, you know? The Vogue thing, for example, doing Fashion Week lead to that. That also made me super crazy, because I was in my final year of study and I should have been focusing on that, but I was also trying to make a collection to show at Fashion Week. That was such a gnarly time, but I’ve got great support. It’s the ultimate. My family rule, Josh is awesome, and Otis is cool too.

What are the themes in your collection? The summer before I started my third year, I had a big reading list. I finally got around to reading Just Kids, by Patti Smith, and that’s what really informed my mini collection that showed last year at Fashion Week. It’s so awesome and poetic and when she writes something it’s so descriptive, so it was easy to design from that. It was a really fun process, I super enjoyed it. It was cool to dig deeper into the book because you had to for the assignment but it was a joy. Then, this collection, it’s funny because they’ve just made it into a TV series, but do you know Preacher? The graphic novel series? By Garth Ennis. It’s a 9-part comic. That’s sort of the concept. It’s a work of pulp fiction, there’s heaps of violence and it’s a cool story. So that’s what that’s from. In this collection there’s a lot of ecclesiastical wear, so what nuns and preachers wear, just those silhouettes.

So I’ve incorporated a lot of leather and stuff like that to touch on that side of the story. A real mix of things. At this stage, what I showed at my graduate show was all white, so I’m building on that. I’ve been thinking of incorporating another colour but it’s hard because it’s white. A lot of it is dynamic. But at the moment it’s all white, which is why I don’t have it here. It’s risky, anything shows up and it’s so noticeable. I’m really clumsy, so with pins, I’m always pricking myself. I’ve got white denim, white linen, white silk, white leather, really great fabrics. I made sure to choose the right leather. The texture is beautiful, quite pricey, though.

Is fashion where you’d like your career to stay? Definitely. It’s super daunting, though, I’m critical of myself and can’t really see where I’d fit in. If I could do it, design and produce my own stuff, that would be ultimate. But I don’t know. I don’t know where I see myself just yet, or doing what.

What else do you enjoy? I love family stuff, especially since having Otis, and being a mum, it makes you aware of your mortality. Being aware of everybody’s mortality. And just being like, fuck life is really really short so I want to spend heaps of time with you. I love family. I love doing things with my friends. I love gestures and stuff like that.