Street Cred: What’s in a name?
Great style, well put together, or just someone who catches our eye. Every week reporter Carly Gooch gets out and about to discover the people behind the clothes in Canterbury.
Dropping children off at the movies, on their way to visit family, or stocking up on library books - these three were spotted at The Palms Shopping Centre in Shirley, Christchurch. Rebecca Bone, 49, is an executive assistant and office manager living in Burwood, Christchurch.
Originally from Kent, in the United Kingdom, she lived in central London prior moving to New Zealand with her husband and toddler 14 years ago, just 10 weeks before the first of the devastating earthquakes in Christchurch.
“Finding your feet in a place crumbled around you is quite tricky.”
She’s looking forward to returning to England in November to spend time with friends for her 50th.
She says if she wasn’t in her current career, she would have liked to have been a personal shopper.
“I love fashion, I love clothes, I love colour.
“I literally plan out my outfits” for the week, she says, based around colours and moods.
She wears Marks and Spencer pants, a Zara shirt over a John Lewis cashmere knit, Carvela shoes and a Homelee bag.
Julia Taylor-James is a life coach (and much more) living in Halswell, Christchurch.
Speaking about her last name, she says “I made it myself” — changing her surname by deed poll to “get away from the emotion” of her married name when she split from her husband.
She considers Taylor-James sounds “rather grand” but it has sentimental roots. Taylor was her grandma’s maiden name, “my favourite person in the world” and James was a family name on her father’s side.
She loves op shopping and was pulled towards it after previously buying mostly expensive clothes until realising they eventually ended up in op shops where she pays “one tenth of the price”. “I find that quite fun, the fact I got it for so little.”
She wears a pre-loved top, Veronika Maine shoes and pants, and a bag from the Ballantynes men’s section.
Lilly Taia, 10, lives in Burwood, Christchurch, and goes to Waitākiri Primary School.
Lilly says she has a “full week” of play dates in the first half of her school holidays.
She loves art and dancing, and takes six classes four days a week of various dance disciplines, including ballet, jazz, hip hop, acro and musical theatre.
She’s been learning dance for five years. Her mum, Nicole Valpy, says she “started with one, and gradually worked her way up”.
Lilly says she wants to be a hairdresser when she grows up because she enjoys “styling other people’s hair”. She also loves make-up, prompting her to take YouTube tutorials on how to do eye make-up, her mum says.
Lilly’s socks (her “favourite” pair) are from an online store, while her dress and top are from Toff’s $2 Recycled Clothing Warehouse in Ferrymead.