Features

After working alongside NOM*D designer Margarita Robertson for six years, Sara Aspinall formed Company of Strangers in 2008. Company of Strangers’ third collection, Strangelove, which focuses on the notion of obsessive love, was recently shown at the iD Dunedin fashion show. Aspinall has reworked sharp masculine tailoring and combined it with soft floating shirts, tunics and dresses in a dark palette with slashes of musk and floral print. Hana Aoake had a quick talk with Aspinall about her take on fashion and the inspiration behind her brand.
How did you get into the fashion industry? Where did you study?
I studied here in Dunedin (Otago Polytechnic fashion school).
 

What was it like working for Margarita Robertson of NOM* D? 
Really good, the best experience you could have. She is great to work for. It was good because I got to do everything. I learnt so much about the fashion industry and met lots of people. It was really fun, because she works quite collaboratively.
 

Why did you decide to leave?
I’d been there for six and half years. I actually went to art school (Otago Polytechnic School of Art) to study photography. When I was younger I wanted to study photography or fashion. I went to fashion school here, because there was a fashion school here. Then I thought I’d just try studying photography, but only lasted two weeks. I didn’t want to be a student anymore, I’d done that.
 

What made you decide to make your own brand?
I just starting making bits and pieces then it just fell together. Obviously then I needed to make money and I needed to live. So I thought it’s now or never, give it a go and do what I really want to do. It all seemed to work out pretty well.
 

Who do you collaborate with and why?
I have an ongoing collaboration with Anne-Mieke Ytsma, who features in the JEALOUS exhibition. She makes the jewellery for the label.

 
I love how the jewellery line compliments the underlying theme of obsession evident throughout the clothing collection. I LOVE the his-and-her divorce rings.
A couple of stores have said that customers don’t like that they are called “divorce rings”, as if it’s going to give them some sort of bad karma. It’s a sense of humour. I’m a realist.

 
What inspires you as a designer?
Mostly people, people’s faces... really simple things inspire me. I can get inspired by a buckle, it doesn’t take much.
 

What inspired your Strangelove collection?
It started off with the thought of how girls start with a little crush and how that evolves. As you begin with a crush, then become a little bit obsessed and can’t stop thinking about that person. You sort of start to become quite stalkerish; doing drive-bys, going to that cafe you know they always go. Then you reach this point where you’ve crossed the line and you’ve actually become dangerous. Everyone has the tendency to become obsessed with somebody. So the range really started from this point. The idea of going and climbing into their room and taking stuff of theirs and remaking their shirts and dresses, so you can wear them all the time. The jewellery line came about in the same way; the idea of taking objects and stringing them together and making them into jewellery.

 
Describe your philosophy about the art of fashion?
Fashion is quite funny, because it’s disposable. Its so trend based. I just like to make what I like. It’s almost instinctual, rather than being trend based. Fast fashion kind of makes me a bit sick. We just make what we like, as thoughts just seem to get stuck in your head. What we make can be collected. In the same way that you can collect art, you can collect clothes. You just keep adding to your wardrobe rather than clearing everything out.
 

What about fashion as a business?
You can make a business of it, but it’s funny because it’s fickle. It’s fun, because you aren’t doing the same thing all the time. You can have a fashion business, as you can start at one point and you can grow yourself all the way through. It’s an ever-changing process. It doesn’t get boring because you are always evolving. You are doing what you love so it doesn’t feel like work. The business side of fashion is quite boring, but it’s very important. You do have to have people around you that know what they are doing. Just do what makes you happy. You can make a business out of it, if you’re smart.

 
What advice do you have for young students wishing to enter into the fashion industry?
They need to get a lot of work experience. Get a lot of experience on someone else’s time, because you could make so many expensive mistakes. It is a really hard business to get into. If you know people in the industry you can help each other. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. If you can make friends with people with whom you have things in common along the way, then you can help each other. You have to know what your point of difference is. You have to find what it is that you do that is different from everybody else, because there are so many people who want to be in fashion.

 
What is your point of difference?
I guess it started it with the leather goods. I really like handicraft work, such as crochet. I like to bring in things people like to touch, anything quite tactile. Also incorporating vintage “found” objects and fabrics, which have a sense of nostalgia or, rather, a personal familiarity which you (the wearer) can connect with.
 

What are your plans for the future?
Just to keep going and to keep collaborating with new people. I think another point of difference for me is that I like to collaborate with artists or rather people outside of the fashion world. It’s more fun and it means what you’re creating stays fresh, as it comes from another perspective. I like working with other people. I keep thinking about things I want to do. It would be great to have my own shop. I would really like to use the business to travel. We are trying to focus on Australasia at the moment. I think I’m just trying to catch up at the moment, particularly on my sleep after the last few months.