ignition.ac.nz | fashion
Miste Launch your own label and show at New Zealand Fashion Week – it’s the path most fashion graduates dream of taking. CPIT graduates Mickey Lin and Ra Thomson from MisteR have done just that and Next Top Model judge, Colin Mathura-Jeffree, has already singled them out as a label to watch.
“ CPIT created a community for us - that is one of the best things about it ” MisteR’s fashion week debut was the culmination of hard work, talent and support from CPIT. Ten years on from CPIT’s fashion technology and design course and five years after launching MisteR, Mickey and Ra were keen to raise the profile of their exquisite menswear range at New Zealand’s premier fashion event.
32 | ignition
MisteR’s New Zealand made, natural fibre, fitted and beautifully tailored menswear contrasted the boxy shapes and loose styles that dominated menswear five years ago. Suddenly, tall, skinny boys had something to wear too; something with colourful silk and cotton linings, structured international style and simply joyous details. Marvels in Wellington first stocked MisteR, closely followed by Ballantynes Contemporary Lounge. “The first two seasons we made pretty much everything - it was a smaller scale than now,” Ra said. Ra and Mickey still make several styles themselves. The rest they outsource – the jeans to Nelson, the shirts to Hamilton, the jackets are made in Christchurch and the knitwear goes to Auckland. “We think the places we have found are the best,” Mickey said. MisteR has collected more retailers and their temporary postquake relocation doesn’t seem to have slowed them down. They stay in touch with their former classmates and tutors.
“We always speak very highly of our time at CPIT,” Ra said. “CPIT created a community for us - that is one of the best things about it. The skills you learn there are probably some of the best in New Zealand because of the hands-on approach to how fashion is done. Other courses are more design-oriented.” “You can pretty much walk into a design workroom and take up any job,” Mickey added. Mickey and Ra have worked for other companies (Jockey children’s underwear, Starfish – Ra, Ballantynes and New York’s Gam and Gale – Mickey). Now they’ve taken their own label to fashion week, the future looks bright. “The main thing is to make MisteR better known locally,” Mickey said, “but if we get international orders it will be awesome. Every designer wants to get to New Zealand Fashion Week. Hopefully in another five years for us it will be New York Fashion Week or London.”