The start of changing our thinking of fashion and clothing

I always wanted to be a fashion designer. I wanted to make beautiful garments that could be put in a museum many years from now, and people would think, “that is such a beautiful ….., I wish I could have something like that.”

So I started to design clothing my mother would like to wear with a few pieces that I would want as well. To solve the problem of the fast fashion that we have today, I design clothing that would last a long time.

I have a few dresses that were my grandmothers, and I think they are still beautiful 50 years on.

I am designing my garments to be treated like this. While I still incorporate what is currently in fashion, I make pieces which are timeless. I only produce a few sizes of my garments so they are more exclusive and I won’t have excess stock that just has to be cut up and thrown away. (Something that even the high-end designers do today by the way).

And let us not forget what the fashion industry is doing to the environment

The other big problem out there is the effect on the environment with the fast fashion industry. Believe it or not, if manufactures stopped producing clothing right now, there would still be enough clothing in storages to last us another 50 years! Just 500 years ago people used to wear a garment the then it was well worn, they would unpick it and turn it inside out and resew it together to get more wear out of it. What do we do today? Wear a garment, decide we don’t like it as much and throw it away. They are finding fabric fibers in fish meat! Isn’t it all just becoming a bit terrifying.

Looking into the future

I want my brand to be seen as a high-end designer clothing that is wearable for any occasion, even just having a coffee with a friend. I don’t want anything to do with the fast-fashion life we live today. We are exploiting the people who live in the third world countries who work extremely hard in extreme environments, to just earn a few dollars a day. This just isn’t right.

I would like women to look in their closets which are filled with beautiful pieces that they just love to wear. Whether those garments are brand new or over 50 years old. I don’t want ladies to buy garments because ‘if they buy 2 they will get the 3^rd free’. I would prefer that I spent a little more money and just bought one amazing piece that was ethically made and made them feel so amazing in it. I don’t want to have women buy an outfit for an event just to buy another one in 2 weeks because they realized they didn’t really like the first one. I want women to feel confident and beautiful in what they wear, knowing that they look like the ‘best dressed’ women in the room.

It all started with a shopping trip:

I love to go shopping with my mother and we go in and out of every store when we have our outing days. We are the type of people who love to dress up and put on our heels for any occasion. We also love clothing that is very girly and feminine but also sophisticated at the same time. I make a beeline for the designer stores rather than the fast fashion stores as those stores tend to sell much more simply designed garments and they are very boring to look at. I am finding more stores that I loved, selling boring garments now which is really disappointing.

But no matter what we see, nothing looks good on

My mum tells me that she doesn’t feel very pretty in what she wears and that’s because the garments in the stores are not all that pretty to start off with. I know how I would want to look and feel at her age and right now there doesn’t seem to be anything out there.

 The launch

I started the label Carmen Kirstein at Vancouver fashion week. The collection was inspired by African wildlife and showcases enduring beauty and unrestrained finesse. Some of the pieces in the collection were from my last year at university. This commitment to high quality and creative flair overflows into the collections that are continued to be brought to you today.

Find us at:

Julie Bryce Fashion Emporium (Invercargill)

Collective (Christchurch Colombo)