Nom*D was the first designer label I ever owned. I was 14 when I bought my first cardie. I worked weekends washing dishes and baby-sitting to fund my love for the brand, which I’d wear with a mix op-shop and vintage, and Doc boots.
I was a teenager in the 90s and fully immersed in the angsty grunge culture, popular at the time. While Nirvana was my soundtrack, Nom*D was my wardrobe - its dark, moody aesthetic suited my teen temperament perfectly.
A couple of weeks ago I got to visit the Nom*D workroom and talk to its founder, Margarita Robertson about how the label came about.
Margi Robertson isn’t sure why her parents, who were travelling from Piraeus, Greece to Melbourne, Australia aboard the Belgium refugee ship, MS Goya decided not get off the boat at their destination. Instead they stayed onboard, along with her two older siblings, until they reached Wellington.
After arriving in New Zealand in 1952, Margi’s family had a three month induction at the Immigration Camp in Pahiatua, where they learnt English, NZ law and customs, before settling in Chatto Creek, where her father was stationed as a rail-way worker.
Not long after re-establishing themselves in New Zealand, Margi was born. A year later her family relocated to St Clair.
Growing up, Margi’s mother worked as a seamstress, and would often make clothes for her children, which meant Margi had a lot of input into what she wore. Over time Margi learned to sew and pattern-draught herself and recalls spending Saturday’s as a teenager making dresses for the Saturday night dance at the Ag Hall.
“Back then in the 60’s we wore tent or Op art dresses and hot pants, but I always wanted to be individual, so I’d alter patterns; changing collars and pockets. Margi said.
Although she had an interest in fashion from early on, Margi pursued a career in clerical work, studying short-hand typing at King Edward Technical College, when she left school at 15.
“During that time women were expected to either do an academic course-be teachers or nurses, or go to a technical college. There was a lot of work out there for office workers and my older sister Liz had gone to tech, so it seemed like the natural thing to do.”
At 18 Margi married sign-writer, Chris Robertson.
While continuing to do clerical work her love for fashion design was still ever present and in 1975 she opened her first boutique, Hang-Ups in Dunedin.
“Liz moved to Auckland in her early twenties and I would go visit her quite a bit. We’d go shopping in all the boutiques up there and that’s what really inspired me to do something down here,” Margi said.
With Chris fully supporting her endeavour, he sold his beloved MG for $3000, making enough money for them to buy their first lot of stock. Their first store was opened in the current Mazagran café location. Eighteen months later they relocated to the CML building, where they were until 1978, before opening in the new Golden Centre Mall.
Hang-up’s sold classic 80s brands like Vamp, The Case is Altered, and Elle. When the pair secured the contract for Jag, they were forced to find a bigger location, as the brand was so extensive.
It was at this time they opened their second store, Plume on George St.
“The Hang-Ups store in the mall was dedicated to jeans and more casual-wear, while Plume was focused on higher-end designer clothing."
One of the designers sold in the early days of Plume was Caroline Sills, who created a range of knit-wear. In 1986 That brand decided to broaden their market so stopped supplying exclusively to boutiques. With Caroline Sills gone and a need for a quality knitwear brand in the store, Margi and Chris decided to launch their own label, NOM*d that same year.
NOM*d was exclusively a knitwear brand until 1998, however that all changed when they were invited to London Fashion Week as a part of the ‘New Zealand Four’ along-side her sister Liz Findlay of Zambesi, WORLD and Karen Walker.
“Prior to London fashion Week we’d always shown our knitwear alongside Zambesi on a New Zealand stage, but for this event we felt it was important to be recognized as a brand of our own. People had this perception that we were part of Zambesi, but that’s never been the case, it was just Liz and I working together in the same industry.”
For the London shows, Margi and Chris created utilitarian inspired garments to compliment their knitwear. They received an extremely positive response from buyers and secured some big accounts.
With the brand steadily developing, it was time to get a workroom for sampling, pattern-drafting and design. Initially they worked out of the top floor of the Plume store, with just three staff members.
However in 2007 Margi and Chris rented a two-story building in the Dunedin CBD to accommodate their seven staff members, creating what Margi describes as a “relaxed, but productive environment.”
Here’s a look behind the scenes of one New Zealand’s most pre-eminent fashion brands.
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