Former tradesman well-suited to fashion week debut
A former Lower Hutt roofer is now a budding clothing designer, having shown his work at the country’s leading fashion event.
Wainuiomata resident Jerome Taylor, 25, was among this year’s fashion technology graduates chosen to show their creations on the NZ Fashion Week runway in Auckland this week.
His career started when he was 18, experimenting with graffiti during his days as a roofer, he said. ‘‘I was really inspired by Banksy. I ended up approaching [a screenprinter] who wanted to buy my work outright and not give me any recognition. So I bought some AS Colour T-shirts and started screenprinting my artwork on them.’’
Taylor picked up a job as an insurance salesman which saw him start work at midday, giving him the mornings to hone his craft.
But he quickly became bored with T-shirts so approached a local tailor to try to mix things up. She offered to teach him to sew.
‘‘I would go to her each morning for a few hours, then go off to work. I ended up buying some top-of-theline machinery and setting myself up at home.’’
From concept to garment, every part of his designs were created in Wellington, and Taylor would like to keep it that way. He is hoping to gain enough momentum from fashion week to see his label Not For You picked up overseas.
‘‘I definitely copped a bit of flak from the boys; even my family kind of looked at me sideways when I said I was going into fashion. But they had seen the process ... they could see where it was going.’’
Taylor said his fashion week collection was inspired by his struggle within the justice system to arrange shared custody of his daughter. It included a pair of designer-distressed jeans, which represented ‘‘all the nights I had to get down on my knees and pray that this will all be OK’’.
He also designed a doublebreasted jacket that was militaristic and authoritive - the type that could boost the confidence of the man wearing it. ‘‘My clothing represents the garments I wish I had when I was going through those hard times,’’ Taylor said.