Catherine Boddy doesn’t mess around. This 17-year-old fashion designer from Auckland began her eponymous brand while still at high school, winning the YMCA/Raise Up’s Walk The Line competition at New Zealand Fashion Week.
Two weeks later she launched her full collection with a self-produced fifteen look show presented in loading bay off Auckland’s notorious K’Rd. All this propelled her into early acceptance to AUT’s fashion department, where she is currently working towards her design degree.
She talks to Chris Lorimer about always loving winter, ‘90s movie star muses, and her dislike of body-con.
portraits David K Shields
fashion Rachael Churchward
When did your brand begin?
I suppose my brand started at my launch last September, or a little before the show. I have produced one season only, and am currently working on for A/W ‘17, which will come out later in the season when I feel warmer garments are necessary. I feel I can release it when I want to and when I think it is right - because again, it’ll be released as a show, and used after that for projects that I choose, but not actually stocked. My first collection is called Katana. This one can’t really be categorised - it wasn’t seasonal, or gendered, and wasn’t very structured. It was closest to an S/S collection but also included a huge puffer coat and pairs of multiple layered woollen pants. I don’t know where that really leaves it. I wanted to start by doing and making whatever I wanted. Now I think about it, I can’t really leave winter alone.
How would you describe your design aesthetic?
I find this quite hard; as I’ve been given a lot of opinions about my clothing - it‘s been called “very fun”, and also “very sophisticated”. I like to think it is both. It is kind of art, kind of business. I don’t think my pieces are limited in terms of where or how they can be worn. An important thing for me to include is puffiness or volume. I enjoy creating things with a lot of mass and don’t like the idea of things that hug the body too tightly.
What’s inspiring you right now?
This season it’s a serious focus on staying away from the human form. I have been playing around with textiles a lot lately - laser cutting, painting and damaging fabrics, and using less conventional fabrics like durasealing some beautiful old wartime newspapers Grant gave me while we were shooting for this article. This will be an enjoyable change from the block colours I stuck to last collection. I’ve always been quite anti- fashion, in fact I don’t like fashion, so my influences never really lie in the industry. I don’t pay a lot of attention to what is going on when I design, I don’t want someone else’s creations to get stuck in my mind.
What are your favourite fabrics to use?
Denim, although not in a completely traditional sense, wool, and things that have some shine to them. I tend to use a lot of PVC and leather, which work well with my laser cutting techniques.
Although your label is so new, do you have any signatures developing?
My signatures are really hard to recognise yet, if there are any. I will always create something large and puffy though, that’s for sure. I also love covering the head. Headwear is here to stay.
Who is your archetypal girl and guy and how do you know what to design for them?
She’s stubborn and fierce and clashes the tackiest costume jewellery. He is very feminine and soft as well as having a very fiery Year of the Dragon side to him. To know how to design for them, I can look and analyse Ethan my boyfriend (who is modelling my clothes in the shoot) and myself. I know us both well. I also like to imagine 1995-era Liv Tyler, or maybe Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillipe in my clothes.
Why did you start your own brand?
Before really thinking about it as my own “brand”, I thought, “I want to have a beautiful show, done my way, with all the beautiful clothes I feel like making”. From there a brand was I suppose necessary. Plus it gave me something to do through Year 12 at high school, and I loved it. I didn’t do Year 13 as I had proved to myself that this is what I wanted to do, and am now I’m at AUT and I am enjoying it!
What are your thoughts on the pros and cons are of having a fashion education before starting a brand?
There are so many people right now debating whether it is better to have a degree or instead just work experience in almost any creative industry. I think I would feel very anxious being chucked in the deep end without all the knowledge education brings. Which is why I think both are just as important. Even working in retail like I also am now has taught me first hand so much about the commercial side of things, such as how to design for a demographic, what people like to wear and what people don’t etc. This is going to seriously help my work when I do decide to go a bit more commercial. So many people are insecure about their arms.
What are some of the opportunities provided by showing at NZ Fashion Week?
At NZFW I showed just one look, in the Walk the Line competition show. I won the show and that made me happy. It exposed me to how a show is actually run; there were some aspects I didn’t realize [I’d have to deal with]. However, I was already planning my solo runway presentation for two weeks later and I wanted my own to be very, very different.
How do you feel about breaking into the established NZ fashion scene?
There is always going to be a tremendous amount of competition, it can be a little overwhelming and fierce. Some people think they’re very important also. Humble is good.
What direction do you see you and your work taking in the next five years?
I want to go overseas, and I definitely will, but as a 17-year- old I think New Zealand is teaching me a lot right now. Who knows where it will go, but I’ll continue creating.
Catherine and Ethan wear clothing throughout by Catherine Boddy.
