The New Zealand designer was a world-class act at London Fashion Week – and we wouldn’t expect anything less.
Like the city itself, London Fashion Week is not for the weak of heart. There were over 170 runway shows, fashion presentations and brand events held over the official schedule’s five frenzied days. Yet sitting at the Rory William Docherty show on the final Monday morning (BST), a wave of calm washes over the neat, seated rows of spectators as models in natural tones and coastal camouflage prints gain ground.
Aptly titled ‘The Tides’, Rory William Docherty’s latest collection is inspired by underwater glimpses of Aotearoa New Zealand’s rugged, ranging coastline – with hints of rocky outcrops, sea grass and sea anemones forming from ink-drop and sketched prints and polished hand-sewn beads. Treasured styles – the Painterly shirt, zip-through parka hoods, re-worked denim and the origami sleeve – ebb and flow through the collection, as they do the label’s unique style language, which has been ten years in the making.
Also coming and going like the tides, is the eponymous designer himself – who was born in the UK and, after a rural New Zealand childhood, spent his mid-twenties in London, working for luxury labels, including Prada and Yohji Yamamoto. Today’s location, the Andaz London Liverpool Street hotel by Hyatt, is in his old stomping ground.
Rory has brought back with him collaborators, including Lyttelton Hat Co (who created custom fringe straw hats and close felt cloches), and Grinta Glass Studio (who created the hand-blown, and hand-sewn, beads on some of the hats, bags, necklaces and the clothes themselves). Reconnecting with his UK roots, Rory chose Harris Tweed for a jacket and bag bedecked with said beads.
After the show, FashioNZ spoke with Rory about the importance of this London show, as both the city and the designer find new footing on the sands of time.
How does it feel to have done your first London show?
“Kind of surreal. I’m on a high at the moment. It’s really beautiful to see it all come together. I’m, of course, exhausted, like every designer is at the end of it. You know, it’s really, really emotional. Especially when I work with such a small team. My partner Jordan [Draffin] and I were so deeply involved with the collection. We worked with some really incredible people, we’ve been so lucky. I feel really fortunate to have their support. Samuel [Drira] the stylist, came from Paris. Barbara [Grenet] came to produce the show as well. We’ve had Shaun [Beyen], the casting director. Really top-notch, amazing, talented and wonderful people. I feel really grateful for that. It’s also amazing to know that everyone back home has been live-streaming it and watching it.”
You were born in the UK, and you also have a lot of experience in London. Does this moment feel like a real 360?
“Yes, it does. And even showing in East London. I lived here and, back then, it was super grimy and gritty. It was not gentrified at all like it is now. It was really kind of underground cool. So it is quite nice to come back with a whole wealth of experience. Obviously, I’ve changed, and my aesthetics have changed, and I’m bringing new skills to it. And this area of London itself has changed, and it feels like maybe there’s kind of a maturing of the two at the same time. So it’s kind of nice to be in this space here, in this neighbourhood, doing my debut.”
In your own words, could you talk to me about the inspiration behind the collection?
“So I think it was kind of two things going on simultaneously. One was really about reinforcing those identifiable Rory William Docherty pieces. So the Painter’s shirt motif – that’s changed and been reinterpreted in different ways. The jumpsuits and, obviously, the Painter’s shirt come in new prints every season. It now comes in dresses. And there are the giant trench coats that we always do, but throwing them into an enormous print. And then having a big collar lapel from the trench coat, and then also putting that on a dress, a shirt. It’s playing with some of those ideas. And then working with my own artwork and prints again to kind of give it that hand-touched feel.”
And it’s coastal-inspired?
“Yes, from a camping trip slightly up north [in New Zealand], which was nice. It’s that typical thing, we try and get away from fashion to escape for a little bit. And then, lo and behold, I end up taking photos and going, now I know what the next collection is going to be. And you just can’t switch off.”
The collection is transeasonal, which works really well for New Zealand and the UK.
“I think it just has to. For most people… we buy something and it stays in our wardrobe for a long time. Or at least, I want it to. And so sometimes you might see something, fall in love with it, buy it and then kind of thrash it. And then you park it for a little bit and then pull it back out. The way I design the collections is always so that I’m looking to previous collections and I’m thinking forward, to make sure that the customer can wear those pieces that they have before. Regardless of a fashion season, but also the weather and occasion. So pieces can be dressed up and dressed down. It’s very gender inclusive and age-inclusive. There’s a lot of thought around realising that now. More than ever, customers need their clothes to work harder and do more. “
It’s good to have something that works in both market seasons as well. Is the UK becoming more of a focus for you?
“I don’t know if I necessarily thought about it like that. It was more that it felt like a great natural trajectory from Australian Fashion Week to then take the brand to a larger global audience. And showing here, given my background, it felt like a natural step.”
You probably haven’t had time to see any other shows… But in general, how do you feel London Fashion Week compares to Australian and New Zealand Fashion Weeks? How has the energy and the very quick feedback you got downstairs been?
“You’re the second person I’ve spoken to, so I genuinely don’t know. I’m just going on the feedback of the people that I’ve worked with over the last couple of days here, and they’ve been really positive about the collection. It’s been a lovely working experience.”
“I’ve literally had my head down. I try not to look at the other shows while I’m in my zone. I don’t want to be thrown in any way… Because we’re all just trying to do the very best we can. I’m doing my thing. I hope people like it.”
I’m distracted by your earring, which is one of the beautiful beads that you’ve created with Grinta Glass Studio. Can you tell me about this collaboration?
“They do hand-blown glass. They’re up in Whanagrei. So… we drove up, showed them some of the references, and had a chat. It was a process of like, let’s play around. See what we can come up with – different shapes that have that Neptune’s necklace kind of bubbly, seaweedy sort of look… In organic shapes and colours. And that’s what we got to.”
Because there were on some of the clothes, bags and hats, which are by the Lyttelton Hat Co.
“Yes. So, Jenny [Braithwaite] is here as well, which is amazing. She came over to help, which is incredible. It was really nice to collaborate with her. She did a beautiful job of the hats. And they’re really just – I’m going to use the cliché – topped the collection off nicely.”
There was also Harris Tweed, which I think was quite nice for this full-circle moment.
“Yes, I mean, it has felt like a really lovely kind of reach-out, working with other creatives. And having the Harris Tweed – that was the sort of moss, green woollen jacket with the black glass sea anemones hand-sewn all over it. It was the same with the bag. That, I hope, will be the beginning of an ongoing relationship with them.”
I know you’re busy, but I wanted to talk quickly about the hair and beauty look, which is very sleek and chic.
“With the hair, it was that kind of idea of she’s at the beach – without it being like, oh my God, it’s the summer collection and she’s at the beach, ground-breaking. It was more, I guess, juxtaposing the organic. I think there is a polish to the clothes. So I wanted to bring it down a bit and feel quite natural, at the same time. Like, it’s wet, she’s run her fingers through it, it’s pulled back. That was the look. But then also giving something a bit glossy and sleek – like the black glass anemones.”
“And then the make-up is really about enhancing each person’s own natural beauty. I feel like that’s something that we always focus on. I don’t want to hide people, I want to, hopefully, uplift them – both in their clothes and the way we present. “
That’s really nice. Thank you for your time. Do you have any plans now?
“My next plan is a glass of bubbles.”
Images: Supplied
