Fashion designer dreams of empire
From poring over fashion magazines to featuring in them - Kerikeri’s Maggie Hewitt has come a long way.
Her eponymous clothing label ‘Maggie Marilyn’ launched in September with its first Resort collection featuring on vogue.com and at Paris Fashion Week.
Hewitt lived in Kerikeri until she went to boarding school in Auckland aged 13.
Feeling homesick, she would walk to the nearest news stand almost every day to purchase a glossy magazine.
‘‘Reading these magazines was an amazing escape for me, this was when my true love affair with fashion and luxury fashion houses started.
‘‘Apparently it was obvious to everyone around me, my obsession with clothes and collaging magazine covers and building of mood boards started when I was super young.’’
The collection is stocked exclusively at luxury online store Net-A-Porter and The Shelter in Auckland.
‘‘What is so great about our partnership with Net-A-Porter is that even though we are based in New Zealand we are now a global brand. We are accessible to everyone and that is something I always wanted - for Maggie Marilyn to be a global brand.’’
She says without the network of managing director Jo Knight she ‘‘might still be sitting in my lounge with a beautiful collection with no one to see it’’.
Having only graduated from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design last year, 22-year-old Hewitt has her sights set on building a fashion empire.
She says she is inspired in some ways by 15th century Italian renaissance art, in particular Michelangelo’s unfinished sculptures located in The Accademia Gallery in Florence, called Prisoners and Slaves.
‘‘I love the raw, tormented and unfinished nature of these sculptures. To me they express the feeling of being imprisoned by your own thoughts...also the idea of a garment not being quite finished, it having something raw like a silk satin dress with a raw hem makes it more pared back, something you could wear everyday, a little less precious but still luxurious.’’
Following on from her 2015 award at the Whitecliffe College Fashion Show for Outstanding and Sustainable Design, Hewitt is determined to make sure her label is ethically produced, in terms of materials used and how her staff are treated.
‘‘I think growing up in the country and living by the sea gave me a deep appreciation for the environment.
‘‘I love the variety of people and relationships that we build right from fashion directors through to the people that press the garments.
‘‘I love the humanness of it. This is something that is extremely important to me that I have a transparent supply chain and that I know where everything has come from...this is something that I never want to lose sight of.’’
Hewitt’s secret to achieving success in business at such a young age is believing in her childhood dream, hard work and determination.
‘‘Also having an amazing support system in my family and my partner Issac is what keeps everything in balance.
‘‘Being able to laugh and cry and be ridiculous and make sure you celebrate.
‘‘My mum and dad are both amazing entrepreneurs that have built a successful business from literally nothing so I have learnt a lot from them over the years.’’
Hewitt returns to the Far North to spend Christmas with her whole family every year.