Words: Saskia Edwards
Images: Jonathan Rae
In 1989
George Bush Snr was elected President of the United States, Denmark became the
first country to legalise gay marriage and Ice Cube left N.W.A. It was also the
year 1989 The Label’s designer Tess Gard was born.
Several
years since then, she’s lived in Switzerland, London and India and created 1989
The Label.
Tess says
these life experiences have formed her design perspective and her parents’ occupation
as architects has been a major factor in her aesthetic reference.
“Ever since
I started studying fashion, I’ve just been obsessed with buildings.
“And when I
travel I come home with photographs and none of them are actual things, they’re
just of like little bits of buildings and like where the lines meet each
other.”
It’s pretty
easy to see the architectural influences in 1989 The Label – clean lines, a
cool colour palate and angular cuts.
While some
designs may seem ostensibly simple, 1989 is all about the detail like slightly higher necklines, shorts and skirts at the most flattering lengths and personalised prints.
“I don’t
want to make anything too complicated.
“I still
want it to be really wearable, really basic, so people don’t have to buy the
whole outfit. It’s something that can just fit in someone’s wardrobe.
“But
obviously you can’t just be whipping out basics that are the same over and
over. So I just try and focus on little details.”
Tess
produced her first collection in India, after spending five weeks in Delhi. She
says while the experience was enlightening, it wasn’t practical when back in
Australia.
“I really
changed the values of where I wanted to go with the brand.
“And I
really do want to be made locally and vertically integrated as well – produce
everything in house and have retail stores.”
Her latest
collection is Australian made. Undeniably, the pièce de résistance of 1989 AW14
is the dog print motif. It’s a coy Maltese sitting like a human - basically an
Internet sensation waiting to happen. Tess explains the beautiful symbolism
behind the design.
“He’s the
cutest dog in the world.
“His name’s
Paso and he’s my boyfriend’s brother’s dog and I used to live with him for a
few years.
“And my
sister, who’s actually a photographer as well, we did a photo shoot with the
dog and she took the photos, which I turned into the print.”
What’s
there to look forward to in 1989? Well beyond the world’s best print, Tess is
working on a unisex t-shirt line. As 1989 relocates to Melbourne and continues
on, Tess hopes to add other elements to the label.
“I really
want to keep the progression really slow so every step I’m expanding I’m in
control of and I’m learning slowly and not making too many mistakes along the
way.
“I feel
more comfortable just doing things that I know I’m capable of at the moment.
Every year I learn more things and am capable of doing more with it.”
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