Reviving a brand is no easy task. I like to work through the process as method acting. Becoming a consumer of the product, and the community that comes with it. This lead me to creating a presentation on what I felt SGC was. My initial thoughts can be summed up as “bogan couture”.

I proceeded to involve myself in every avenue of the business. Meeting with the staff, learning about their interests, frequenting the parties, and focussing in on what an SGC person really is. This lead me to discover a group of people eager to express themselves, socialise, and stand out where they once fit in. 

 Asahi Beer approached Stolen Girlfriends Club to create a unique event that centred around Japanese food, performance, and music. The menu was tailored to incorporate colours from the current range and aspects of SGC’s playful mischief. Dishes were served in jewellery boxes, with the dessert served in a syringe. The interior was fitted with custom giant polystyrene jewellery pieces in black, outlined with LED lighting. Working with PR agency Public Library, we sent jewellery invites to select influencers frozen in a box of water, giving them the option of either smashing the cube or waiting for their bracelet. The event sold out every night and wound up hosting encore seatings.

Creating content for a fashion label is a very regular occurrence. Focussing on realigning the brand to its core customer, I set out to shoot campaigns that allowed for multiple interpretations, interesting styling, and the ability to be used in above the line marketing.

A personal favourite is a shoot produced with Marc and Derya at Meola Reef. Having hunted down the spot recently for Auckland City Rail Link, the space provided dynamic texture, grit and attitude that SGC embodies. We set out late afternoon when the tide was out to shoot the campaign before being swept away into the harbour. Both models were street casted, neither had modelled before, but were able to create the desired look - an outcast wanting to stand out. A mix of denims, leathers and bright hues of yellow and green lined the sandstone in the late autumn sun.  

I spent many years working on Stolen Girlfriends Clubs fashion week shows. How did they look? How did the night play out? What were the business partners and sponsors for the event? Who do we invite?

A lot of questions would plague my mind for many weeks, ensuring we would offer the best experience for all attendees - be it international buyers, local buyers, media, and fans of the brand. There’s a standard set, and one we needed to live up to.

The first year I was involved, I helped produce the show and ensure everything ran smoothly. We took over a factory in Grey Lynn, created an internal room for models and a band to play, then covered the whole space in black building wrap. Warped with heatguns, the material created an alluring but strange cube in the centre of the room. Models would then cut and rip their way through the wrap and do their walk, all while a band played live inside.

Prior to all of this, I shot a campaign and produced a video to go alongside it.

This carried on for another year at Red Bull NZ’s carpark. We collaborated with Crocs on custom shearling lined clogs and built custom wheelie bins to take out the trash, down the runway.

The following year I was given the lead on hosting the fashion week show. We wanted to take it back home to where Marc’s from - Avondale, Auckland. We immediately knew the ideal space would be the dilapidated, but alive, Avondale Racecourse.

With months of planning and a near cancellation due to weather, we pulled the show off. The guests were seated two rows per side, with a lighting and sprinkler system rigged in. In the middle of the runway was a set of 40gal drums, ready to be set on fire.

The show started with my friend Cam dressed up in a hoodie, walking down the runway with a bottle of turpentine and a blow torch, setting each barrel ablaze. The models then walked down the line. On their final lap they were each given our SGC Blunt umbrella and told to open just before the sprinklers went off. The sprinklers went off, coating the entire front row in water, a ploy at the typical front row snarkiness.

It’s easier to show in pictures:

And in a video by Veronica Crockford-Pound, featuring the SGC x MAC lipstick I designed.

Stolen never fails to amaze me, in the past 4 years the brand has gone from negative to positive, in every sense of the words. They’re doing better than ever before with more and more international stockists coming on board. Their studio is now based in Avondale with a full-scale warehouse operation built in.

I’m stoked to have played a role in the turnaround of one of NZ’s original fashion brands, and look forward to seeing it develop even further into the future.