Go Grace!

Check out the slideshow of some of Grace's work from her just released memoir.
Ok, so we're not really on a first name basis but I think she would super cool to hang out with.
She of Vogue (creative director), co-star with Anna Wintour of 'The September Issue' & generally awesome redhead- Grace Coddington.
One for the Christmas list!

Bye-bye Berhampore

Having had an amazing 3 years in our Adelaide Road boutique/workroom, sadly it is time to say au revoir.

This Friday 26th & Saturday 27th October is our last weekend and we're having a HUGE workroom sale.
Everything's reduced...clothing, samples, fabric, vintage bric-a-brac...lots of treasures looking for a new home.

I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the lovely locals (and not so local) folks that have popped in and taken home a pretty dress, cosy cardi or gorgeous gift, and helped take emma from a home based, single handed business to a fashion label dressing some of the nicest and most stylish women in our cool creative capital, Wellington, and beyond.

I'm really lucky to have had this opportunity and must thank my 'landlords' the marvellous Maranui Surf Club cafe, all the local craftswomen who have supplied such beautiful stock, Hannah my awesome assistant and you for supporting New Zealand made businesses (nice one ladies,keep it up:)

Hope to see you this weekend & toast to a jolly good past and a future full of lots more journeys in fashion, cheers!!

Meet the Makers #2... Black Agnes

Welcome to the second installment of 'Meet the Makers'!
This time we put a few questions to Christine, the super talented and lovely lady behind jewellery range, Black Agnes
Her work varies from the ever popular and very feminine petite pendulum crystal earrings to harder edged militaria style brooches and necklaces (these ones have quite a steam punk feel to them).
We love it all!

Where do you call home and make your jewellery e.g.garden shed, kitchen table?

My home is an industrial-style house in Jville, built in the 1940s/50s which looks like no other house on the street! It is also a large renovation project...

I have a studio which I have nicknamed‘The Lightbox’due to it being glass on 3 sides, but confess that
my materials and my making often overflow into other parts of the house.

Tell us about your latest collection and the inspiration behind it.  

I love combining metal and textile in my jewellery and am particularly drawn to aesthetics that hint at another era. 

In my latest collection ‘Everyday Hero’ the pieces take on a medal-like quality with the inclusion of boldly-striped tapes anchoring each medallion.

What is your favorite piece from this season/collection and why?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a necklace girl through and through, but this season I am loving these tiny Accolade medal brooches which also look great in tandem and can be worn on anything from a t-shirt to a dress or tailored jacket. 

I like to have a little arsenal of stories at the ready for when someone asks me what I have done to be worthy of my medals ;-)

If you had to choose three words to sum up the spirit of your label what would they be?

Fearless, quirky, 21st century Victoriana!

Mixing modern and historic references is something we love to do at emma too with each season taking inspiration from beloved clothing, objects, music & people from bygone eras. 
Must be why we like Black Agnes as we do. Thanks Christine, always exciting to see what you will create next! 

Meet the makers #1.... Shh by Sadie

Today is the first of what is to become a regular slot on the emma blog!
We ask a few questions of the designers/ makers/ general clever crafty types whose wares we stock in our emma boutiques.
There'll be fashion designers, jewellery makers, card printers, scarf knitters and more!
First up is the lovely Sadie whose nothing but bones necklaces have been a best seller since we first started stocking her jewellery brand Shh By Sadie back in March this year.

Where do you call home and make your jewellery? 
 I’m lucky enough to call two places ‘home’ – here in Wellington and south Wales in the UK.
In NZ I make my jewellery at my kitchen table in Oriental Bay, with a pretty awesome view of the harbour in front of me. I take a lot of my beads with me to Wales when I visit (I’m yet to learn the art of travelling lightly!). When I’m there and making necklaces my mum kindly acts as my ‘dummy’. She loves jewellery as much as I do, but doesn’t understand my obsession with skull beads! I call my dad my bead scout. When I recently visited Wales he took me on daytrips so that I could visit the bead shops he’d found. It was a LOT of fun!

 Tell us about your latest collection/pieces and the inspiration behind it. 
I love attention-seeking jewellery and I’ve recently become a big fan of layering necklaces. My latest pieces are chains and necklaces that can be mixed and matched - worn alone or layered together to make a statement. I want people to have fun with the pieces.

What is your favorite piece and why?
 My favourite piece is my Chunky Chain, in Barbie pink. I find myself wearing it way too often, but I do love a splash of pink!

If you had to choose three words to sum up the spirit of your label what would they be?
Fun, colourful and playful.  

Thanks Sadie, we love your fun and playful jewellery and think it's great teamed up with our new summer collection too.

Summer 2012 shoot - Mimosa Sundays

Had such a great shoot for our latest collection Mimosa Sundays 
(check out our collections page for all the pics) and really enjoyed the day spent with an awesome team of  crazily creative and clever Wellingtonians.

We were shooting in the middle of winter and didn't want to battle the Wellington wind/rain/cold so set up racks of summer samples, shoes, accessories and the major prop
(peacock chair, yep it's a beauty:) at Boxtale Studio.
Photographer Louise Hatton found us some sunshine with sultry yellow and lavender backdrops (genius:)  and Emma M from Red 11  looked oh so beautiful as she drifted into a sultry Mimosa Sunday circa 1950, somewhere exotic perhaps a very secluded Asian hideaway:)
We wanted the look of the shoot to be part resort glam/ part holiday ease with relaxed styling and it was really nice to work with stylist Sopheak Seng for the first time to achieve that. He had the best finds, like the gorgeous gem brooch and 'cats eye' sunglasses from Emporium Vintage, shoes from Ultra and much more.

Of course,  Lisa Ussher of The Powder Room came to the party and worked her magic with the hair  and there was stunning, sunkissed make-up by Hayley Nees.
I grabbed some brightly coloured Shh by Sadie necklaces off a display in-store on my way out the door and they fitted in so well with some of the lookbook shots, as did one of my grandmother Airini's glass bead necklaces from some exotic location she had travelled to.
It all added up to a create our very own emma look for summer and with production underway styles will be in-store soon.
Don't forget to join the mailing list if you want to be the first to hear about new style drops and other such handy titbits!

Winter sale time!

We've reduced all clothing for our bumper winter sale...so hurry on in to our boutiques at
268 Cuba St or 476 Adelaide Rd in Wellytown or check it out online , love to see you soon:)

Summer 2012/13 inspiration

Seeing as we're in the depths of winter thought it might be nice to 'escape' the chills and ills and share some of the images that inspired me for summer 12/13. Loving 1950s resort glam, prettiness, vintage prints and parasols!! (also just saw this blog from Jennie http://alittle-vintage.blogspot.co.nz/...we used some great vintage cats eye glasses in our summer shoot,  will post very soon)

NEW ONLINE BOUTIQUE for emma

We've been very busy getting our latest winter '12 collection 'She's with the band' in-store and it's going down a treat- the tangerine, teal and purple spot silk shift dress has won quite a few hearts and our stretchy skinny pants in black, grey or tangerine are a new staple winter piece for keeping comfy and cosy.

Also this season, we are very excited to have launched our own online boutique 
YIPPEE!!!
We're adding new pieces all the time so whether you're in Wellington, Melbourne, Austin or actually anywhere in the whole wide wonderful world, we would be thrilled to send you out your very own piece (or two) of emma:)
Here's just a couple of my favs for the season...
I'm loving these black fake fur pieces (the fabric has this soft feather like 'fur' surface with a slight sheen to it, ammmazzing)
The  'Jumpin' Jack Flash' Jumper has this fur as the front panel and sleeves and back in 100% Merino Wool (toasty)
'First cut is the deepest' vest looks great over a shirt or to add a gorgeous textural element to an outfit.

 New winter styles are arriving in-store every week so pop into our Cuba Street or Adelaide Road boutiques or check out our new online boutique.

Easter goody giveaway!!

So, we're giving away the yummiest marshmallow easter eggs from L'Affaire au Chocolate

ALL this week, just 'cause we think you deserve it, lovely ones.

Jo is our local chocolatier (how many people can say that!!) and her shop is just down the road from us on Adelaide Road, lucky we say!

You'll often see one of us nip down to grab a special chocolate or two to help the day go by (Jo does spoil us:) and her to-die-for hot chocolates are to-die-for on those chilly days or when you need an extra special pick me up.

Bring a friend along and you can sit in her intimate French-styled shop and watch the world go by enjoying the best chocolate in town.YUM.

Bonjour! PARDON MY FRENCH

Pardon my French is a lovely new local label designed by

Lucy Kemp and is exclusively available in Wellington at emma on Cuba Street, lucky us!

Lucy has designed a really strong first season which is attracting loads of press.

Her Young American winter '12 collection is tres chic, very feminine with smart detailing and a sprinkle of sportswear too (cool stripe knit collars & cuffs).

Hard to pick a fav but I'm loving the 9 to 5 black wool dress at the moment, you can totally channel your inner Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffanys in this gorgeous number!

NEW label for emma- SHERYL MAY

Two local lasses, Emma and Sheryl, once went to fashion school in Wellington, became great friends, travelled the world, found love, lost love, made families, danced & played whilst always coming 'home' to their shared love of clothes, fashion and sewing.

Well this season I'm really excited to say my wonderful friend and talented designer

Sheryl May is stocking her self-named fashion label at emma on Cuba Street.

Sheryl's clothing collection is beautifully made, uses amazing fabrics and flattering shapes, takes reference from vintage art in her prints and is all New Zealand made (yah!)

Sheryl is based in her hometown of Gisborne for half the year then whizzes back to London to work backstage for Burberry at Fashion Week and indulge her other love of dancing while sourcing new fabrics and inspiration- all sounds good to me:)

Her select pieces are in-store now so please pop in and take a peek at lovely Sheryl May

Sweet 1960s

Getting excited about the new winter '12 season and have lots of inspiration courtesy of some very cool women from the music and fashion scene of the 1960s...

Twiggy and those lurvely eyelashes, Patti Boyd's sweet style & staunch attitude ( love that knitted beret:), Pamela Courson's rock'n'roll love life, Mary Quant's innovation of shape and amazing style and the photography of John French...inspiring!!!