Kiri Nathan. Photo / Rebecca Zephyr Thomas
In a new series, Canvas asks what is the soundtrack to your life? First up: fashion designer Kiri Nathan.
Lady Soul
The Temptations
I think I first heard it at my third form or fourth form social. You might remember everyone used to stand in line, so whoever you were dancing with,
you'd be in one line and they'd be in the other line and that's how it was. It was so funny, because everyone used to do this head bop to the left and head bop to the right, depending on what the beat was. Of course Lady Soul comes on and it's the slowest beat in the universe. I remember it being hilarious but I just loved it.
We Belong
Pat Benatar
I just thought she was an absolute badass. When I look back at the videos now, she was actually quite candy but at the time I thought she was just a little bit staunch. We Belong had an awesome melody and rhythm but the words within that song also meant something, 'cause when you're a teenager and you're young, you know everything, but the whole world's against you. And also, given that we were from a predominantly Māori and Pasifika school and all of the challenges of a decile 1 place, that really felt like it resonated. I wouldn't have felt like I understood that at the time, but I do now.
Frank Sinatra
It reminds me of my grandma. I don't actually have a specific song but he was her great love within music. She's the only person that I really feel that I just absolutely adored and loved and have lost physically and that music, that particular artist, just always brings her straight back.
I went to live with Grandma as well, so she was like, Grandma but also in that parenting role and she was also the woman who, along with Mum, was how I ended up sewing and getting into fashion and having this huge love of Ginger Rogers and the dresses and the fashion of that era. So she was actually a huge part of that early development.
