Stories and images are now up online from our recent photoshoot in New Zealand organised by the Massey University team. 

Here are some excerpts from stories of garment use collected on the day:

"This is an old second-hand shirt, that I bought many years ago and I changed it. And then I added lots of buttons, it is not one buttonhole but lots of them but I don’t use them all. They all do function, but (…) I didn’t like the buttons that were on it originally so I thought ‘I’ll just take these buttons off because I don’t like those buttons anyway.’ And then I thought ‘Um, It still missing something, it still missing something fruity’, and so I wanted a ’fruited outfit’, you know make it little bit more luscious. Because it is quite ‘gardeny’, “herbaceous border” you know something about going out into the garden, I needed to add more of something... "   - From Herbaceous border shirt

"This is a blazer that I got when my twin-sister and I were travelling through southeast Asia on our first travels together, our first trip overseas alone. And there was a place there that you can go and get anything made.  I’ve always quite liked the shapes of blazers but there they have such outrageous fabrics! And I really liked the magical dragon fabric that I found, actually we both really liked it. So I got this made, and we’ve actually ended up sharing it… it’s probably… [passed between us] seven or eight times]. She is almost as tall as me… it is like the twin-blazer. And it’s also just the most ridiculous party blazer as well (laughs). As soon as you put on, it just sets the tone for the whole evening…"  from the Twin-blazer

"I got this in India - I was in India for three months - and I was trying to find a really good value pashmina when I was there. So during my search I found this. They were calling it pashmina but it is not made using the wool that’s normally used. It was made using yak wool, so I call it my ‘yakmina’. (laughs).  (…) I laboured [over what to take with me when I went travelling], and was so upset about a few things that I had to leave at home, you know, my favourite pair of shoes… And now, a few months later, I’ve moved on and I forgot I ever had these things and I don’t even really know what I left home… I’ve now purchased a few small affordable items…" - from Yakmina 

"These pants were given to me by my mother… I liked the colour and comfort of them.  (…) I used to just use [comfortable clothing like these] round the home, because I was too aware in public spaces of, I guess, of trends, of what was in fashion. But now I use them when I feel like being quite comfortable, I guess." - from Comfort dressing

Full stories and portraits from Wellington here. 

A special thanks to our photographer Aliscia Young for capturing that New Zealand light so beautifully and to Holly McQuillan and Jen Whitty at Massey for everything!