New Zealand label Paige Jansen is handmaking one-of-one garments from natural fibres
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAIGE JANSEN
WORDS BY MAGGIE ZHOU
“Be the slow burn.”
For New Zealand local Paige Jansen, fashion is a form of art. As with any medium, it’s a platform to communicate and experiment with. Since she graduated with her fashion degree in 2017, she’s been making clothes from start to finish. But to Paige, her eponymous label “is not really about clothing at all anymore”.
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Living in Lyttelton, Paige is undoubtedly influenced by being surrounded by the coast. Her garments are crafted from natural or secondhand fibres, and silhouettes teeter between simple cuts and draped patchwork shapes. After an instance of burnout from recreating a singular dress 20 times, the pieces she now creates are one-of-ones. Here, Paige gives us an insight into her design process and the journey of her label.
Tell us about you. What’s your fashion background?
My Oma [grandmother] was a seamstress, my dad wrapped bias binding for his first job, my mother sewed all our baby clothes growing up and my great-grandmother owned a boutique called Mollie’s in England in the ’50s. I knew I wanted to learn how to make clothes as a teenager, so after school, I moved to Dunedin and got a degree in it. I did a lot of label internships before and during study, and got offered jobs, but I wanted to finish what I started. I don’t think I was ever really interested in working for companies, I did want to see what it was all about though.
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During [my] study, some other makers and I got together and organised these weekend-long pop-up stores in old buildings on George Street. We sold our first bits of work here and selected a few other friends to jump on board. I finished my degree in 2017 and I’ve been making my own work ever since.
How did the label get started? Talk us through the process and the challenges.
I began by making one-off pieces from a small studio in Dunedin. I don’t think I was particularly motivated at the time, I was still daydreaming a little [and] living very cheaply out on the peninsula. It took me a few years before I took it more seriously.
In 2019 I did my first collaboration and produced a contemporary dance performance alongside Julia Harvie. This got me excited and opened up the possibility of what the work could be. From this point on, [my] interest was in creating a universe and I realised I don’t have to limit it to clothes.
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In 2020 I made a dress and I ended up remaking it 20 or so times because people were into it. I came out the other side of that and felt empty. I swore I’d never do that again, remaking to that extent is valid if it gives you satisfaction. But for me, it drained out all potential energy for other making, I became the machine and I lost interest.
I felt like I learnt publicly, which initially haunted me and sometimes still does. Someone once told me you should wait until you really know what you want to make before doing it and putting it in the world. Initially, I was like ‘Wow, so wise’. But now, contradiction and change are such a big part of [making], I don’t know what I’d do without it. We all learn through doing, we all have to dive in at some point.
What were you trying to achieve from the project at the time?
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When I started out I was mainly concerned with utilising the skills I had just learned, trying not to lose them and continuing to grow and develop them. I only started sewing when I went to study [and] I still wasn’t very good once I left, so [I] focus[ed on] patternmaking and construction. I have always worked with secondhand and natural materials, and always completed the whole process myself. This has held true throughout my entire making life.
How has this evolved and what are you trying to communicate through the brand now?
As my technical ability has progressed, I’m less concerned with construction as my main focus. What I’ve slowly come to realise is it’s not really about clothing at all anymore. I’m more interested in trying to answer my questions, creating a universe and… making. In the last two years, I’ve started weaving… and I’m wanting to spend my time with that. Clothing and textiles seem to be the mediums [through] which I can understand my questions, but I don’t doubt that will continue to shift.
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How would you describe your brand to someone who’s never seen it before?
I’m going to contradict myself real good here because I don’t really like describing my work and I’d rather you decide what you think it’s about. I think for now, the work could be seen as bewitching dye techniques, careful hand stitching, natural, robust and intricate material choices and meticulous intuitive weaving… A mixture of both simple silhouettes (where intimate details can be found on close inspection) and bouncy, chaotic, draped patchwork pieces.
What are you most proud of in your work on your brand?
That I am able to do this work and that I’m still doing it. I’m not in any particular rush to get anywhere, I’m happy to just see how it all unfolds. Accepting the slow burn and acknowledging that I will be making, in some way, ’til death day. I look forward to the process of that.
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What do you wish you had known when you started?
Trust the process, take notice of what’s really interesting you and be the slow burn.
Who is most exciting in the New Zealand fashion scene right now?
There are some really intelligent makers here in Ōtautahi, who I’m honoured to call friends. We’ve collaborated in the past and sometimes we share dinners and talk; people like FBPD, Evan Beijnen, 6×4 and Being.
What about the Australian and New Zealand fashion scene needs to change?
Evaluate how much you really need.
How can we buy one of your pieces?
Online or at our stockists: Public Record [in] Auckland, Kaukau [in] Wellington [and] Midden Studio [in] Dunedin.
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