SLOW DOWN, BAG UP
Stephanie Mitchell talks to Lucy Morris who runs fashion label, Luna.
Lucy Morris is following in her father’s footsteps with her new fashion label, Luna. Morris’ father was a trained shoe maker and leather artisan and gave her the first glimpse into the trade.
‘‘I grew up exploring his workshop.’’
That same workshop is now her own.
‘‘I’ve used it for a year as my own which was great but it’s never really felt like mine.’’
Queenie, Morris’ cat, soon fixed that.
‘‘My cat fell through the roof, she’s so fat, so we’ve had to get some things redone which is good for me because I can put my own mark on it now.’’
Morris graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor of Design with 1st class honours majoring in fashion design. It wasn’t long after graduating she realised the traditional fast-paced fashion industry wasn’t for her.
‘‘I wanted to slow down the fashion industry process and make pieces that will last your whole life. I wanted to be creating my own brand, paving my own way with my own ideals.’’
Morris said she had worked with brands that produced items in two weeks from concept to being in store.
‘‘Brands can make things so cheap with overseas manufacturing. It’s insane.’’
Morris’ label Luna creates made-to-order leather bags. She tries to push boundaries with leather as a medium such as steering away from sewing and opting for weaving the leather together instead.
‘‘I feel like people aren’t exploring it and they stick to the one thing because it sells.
‘‘People are afraid of using leather because of the technique
"I wanted to be creating my own brand, paving my own way with my own ideals."
Lucy Morris
that comes with it.’’
Luna started in Auckland when Morris was based there but she was happy to move back to her hometown of New Plymouth as it allowed her creativity to flow.
‘‘It’s calmer down here and my day-to-day is far less stressful and it allows me to create better products.’’
Although it’s calmer Morris said the difference between having a brand in New Plymouth compared to Auckland was networking.
‘‘Networking is different down here but there is a huge creative community from what I’ve seen. It’s just about giving it time to find that community.’’
Luna is something Morris has had in the works since 2011. The name came from merging the first two letters of her first name and the first two letters of her father’s last name. Luna also ties in with Morris’ love of astrology.
‘‘I’ve always been obsessed with anything relating to astrology, the moon and cycles.