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Originally from Australia, Samantha Whetton has been spreading the joy of handcrafted fashion everywhere she goes. Whetton moved here from Brisbane and promptly began encouraging her new Auckland friends to make their own clothes and accessories.
About a quarter of Whetton's wardrobe is handmade. "It's just that I
usually don't like clothes other people make - unless they're really expensive ones that I can never afford," she says. Besides being the organiser of the Craftwerk fairs (the next one is tomorrow), Whetton also prints textiles and decorates leather for her best friend's shoe brand, New Kid, based in Britain.
Shortly Whetton will be leaving this country to spread the crafty word further afield - she's off to London where she says she will "concentrate on making her own work because there's already a good foundation there to sell things."
Who are your favourite designers?
Anyone willing to make ridiculous and fun clothing. And people who do things with textiles that make me want to roll around on the floor yelping. So maybe Bernhard Willhelm, Beckerman from Canada and Eley Kishimoto. And I'm a fan of the full on, dress up fun of Cassette Playa too.
What was the last item of clothing you bought?
The last new addition to my wardrobe was a dress I made.
What's your guilty pleasure?
Sewing for myself, eating, and watching movies and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Who or what inspires you?
Communes, old textiles, handmade objects, craft guilds, my friends, songs.
Your favourite accessory?
A primitive-looking, little necklace made of some realistic plastic teeth. A couple of the teeth fell in some gross red stuff so it looks they look like they've been freshly ripped out of someone's mouth. I call it the "serial killer" necklace.
Best fashion bargain?
My whole wardrobe.
Who does the best shoes?
Newkid.co.uk. Because they are great and almost always flats.
What's the one thing everyone should have in their wardrobe?
Warm socks.
What endures throughout the seasons?
Anything you want. Goths will wear trench coats in summer, you know.
Your best beauty tip?
Wash regularly.
Whose wardrobe would you most like to raid?
Some very old woman's entirely handmade wardrobe, with lots of embroidered detailing and sack-like dresses. And maybe a career clown's wardrobe, too, to add a bit more colour perhaps.
What won't you be wearing this season?
G-strings.
What do you wear to work?
I work from home, but I don't have pyjamas so I do actually get dressed each morning.
What is the biggest fashion mistake you have ever made?
Probably everything I wear! I guess it depends who's asking.
If money were no option?
I'd start a self-sufficient communal village with the people I love (if they wanted to, of course).
Any style icons?
Siouxsie Sioux and Busby Berkeley.
The one rule you always dress by?
How badly can I make the patterns and colours clash?
Favourite fashion-y movie?
Horror movies and musicals. There's something to tantalise me in most of them.
