Lady of the lake for iD Fashion week (+programme)

For the second successive year, Jane Sutherland has been selected for the iD Dunedin Fashion show, where outfits from her latest collection promise to once again display her distinctive design individuality. Jude Hathaway reports.

Underpinning creativity is individuality.

Take, for instance, Kingston-based fashion designer Jane Sutherland, who will be sending pieces from her latest winter collection down the catwalk at the two iD Dunedin Fashion Shows next Friday and Saturday nights.

Who would think of opening a fashion store in the small settlement of Kingston at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu? She did.

Who would design their signature logo around a passion for medieval armour, swords and daggers? She did.

And who would make their design studio and workroom in a tunnel house? She did.

The great thing is that Mr So and So, the little fashion shop Jane and her business partner Terzann Elliot established, is doing well since it opened two years ago.

Its success could well be gauged by the fact that it recently shifted from its original tiny premises to the spacious Kingston service station and garage next door.

This could also be perceived as a radical move.

She explains: "My partner Duane Hibbs and I own the service station and garage and we lease out the workshop.

Because the pumps are a self-service operation, the reception area at the station is no longer required, so we decided to make good use of the space."

The couple moved to Kingston 11 years ago.

By that time she was establishing herself as a jeweller, having trained in Dunedin at Fluxus gallery under the talented direction of the late Georg Beer.

Her subsequent success with jewellery included experimenting with metal on T-shirts.

Fashion-store owners she was supplying loved the concept and about six years ago, spurred on by their response, she began developing fashion garments and accessories while continuing to produce jewellery.

By this time she had set up a design studio in the couple's tunnel house.

It provided the space required but proved less than ideal in other ways.

"It's a hothouse on warm days and like living in an igloo in winter," Jane remarks, adding that plans for a new studio are on the drawing board for this year (perhaps providing light at the end of the tunnel).

But fluctuating temperatures in her studio have not affected her creativity and through an exciting and original take on fashion, she has built a strong client base around New Zealand.

She supplies 16 fashion outlets as well as Mr So and So, while keeping machinists in Invercargill and Edendale busy completing seasonal ranges.

Neither is the comparative isolation of Kingston a problem.