The entertainment industry can be so fickle. You’re always waiting for the phone to ring. This way, I’m the one that’s in charge.
typically delivers pink and frilly for girls and skulls and monsters for boys. Nat is particularly focused on making the garments age-appropriate, citing discomfort with some of the revealing outfits that some brands market to very young girls. “I still think kids should be comfortable and not look like they are trying to be thirteen, yet still have a cool edge about it – you know what I mean? I don’t think it needs to be tarty or too fitted… there are a lot brands out there that…it’s just not appropriate for kids to be wearing those kinds of clothes. Our clothes are fashion forward, I would say, as far as trends go, but they’re still playful and comfortable so that the kids can run around in them.” Nat may be the very public face of Chi Khi, but she has a team behind her that works on the design and execution of the garments. The final say, however, is hers, a fairly novel experience for someone used to slogging it out in the entertainment industry, her future usually determined by casting directors or producers. “It’s great to call something your own. Also, the entertainment industry can be so fickle. You’re always waiting for the phone to ring. This way, I’m the one that’s in charge. “We have quite a big team now. Everyone often thinks that
“I’m the Creative Director and the people we have behind the designs are just amazing. They come to me with some amazing
I’m the designer and the actual fact is that I created the brand,
drawings or inspiration or pics, and I’m like, ‘love that, love that,
so the name and the identity of what Chi Khi is. I wanted to use
love that, not sure about that’ and then they go and work up a
bamboo fabrics - that came from me. I wanted to create a brand
number of pieces and come back to me over a number of months,
that was along the lines of a monochromatic palette, definitely,
and we eventually cull it down to the picks of the season. So I do
but then branch into some colour down the track but always have
get the final say, which is good!”
that as a core part of our identity, and for it to be unisex. That’s my vision for it.
The Chi Khi range has expanded to include skincare products to calm sensitive skin, again inspired by Nat’s children both of whom have suffered from skin irritation, particularly when they
22
Offspring | spring 2015 | perth