If you could wear one designer for the rest of your life, day in/day out, just one, who would it be?
Zoe: God, I couldn't think of anything worse, but if I had to choose then Luella. I like her stuff because it has a sense of humour. But I’d probably get sick of it after a year, so maybe something classic would be more sensible - like Celine?
Natalie: Um, I don’t know. Maybe Chloe – I like that the label is quite subdued and natural, fashion aware but not overly trend-based, feminine without being too over the top, classic and tasteful but not boring, and I think it would translate to me now at age 25 to when I am older. Hopefully. Do they make pyjamas?
Favourite band. I know it's a bit cliche...but it is always something I'm interested in.
Natalie: That’s really hard to narrow down to just one band. A top five would be easier – Patti Smith, Television, Talking Heads, The National, Atlas Sound.
Zoe: I don’t have just one, but right now I am listening to lots of The Kinks, Au Revoir Simone, Nancy Sinatra and The Mint Chicks - does that count?
What do you eat for breakfast? What are your morning routines?
Zoe: I want to say that I wake up early, go for a run and then eat a nutritious bowl of rolled oats, but what I actually do is grab a takeaway coffee and muffin and eat it on the bus on my way to work… I am always running late in the morning.
Natalie: Two pieces of Vogel’s toast with butter and Marmite, black coffee and an orange juice. And routine, don't really have one.
What was your biggest teenage fashion disaster?
Zoe: Probably my Baby Spice phase: blue mascara, white mini dresses, fluffy bags, pigtails and lots of Sun-In to try and make my hair as peroxide blonde as hers.
Natalie: Oh god. I had this book called ‘Funky Fashion’ when I was about ten, and it was this super early nineties DIY how to that encouraged the wearing of fluffit pen decoration on plain canvas sneakers, bright tights and oversized tees teamed with a side ponytail. So that.
Who is your favourite stylist/photographer?
Zoe: I love Leith Clark’s work; her aesthetic is very much like my own – cute, pretty, pink. It’s so unashamedly girly, which I adore. Photography wise, probably Tim Walker for similar reasons. His work is like being sucked into a beautiful fairytale world, and I like fairytales.
Natalie: I love Camille Bidault-Waddington’s styling, it’s so beautiful and slightly off kilter and a little nerdy. And whoever is styling Paper Planes editorial. My favourite photographer varies, I like Tim Walker but it’s so busy and staged which I love, on the other end of the scale I like really blown out, clean, seemingly casual photography – I guess Juergen Teller, oh and I adore Derek Henderson’s work as it feels like being at home in New Zealand and has a sense of the romantic without being overworked.
Do you prefer the quieter unknown labels as opposed to the high-end mega brands?
Zoe: Not really, I just like what I like, regardless of whether it’s by Prada or a new label at the markets.
Natalie: Not necessarily – I just like things on their merit – some of the labels I like to buy or would if I had more money are huge (Chanel, Chloe) and some are not, comparatively. I just like brands and designers with an aesthetic I appreciate.
Any place//city//country you want to visit asap?
Zoe: There are so many places I want to visit, but top of the list at the moment would be Paris. Last time I went I got lost wandering the backstreets and it was wonderful.
Natalie: I’ve never been to New York, I think that will be my next trip.
What were you like in high school and how does it relate to where you are now?
Zoe: I was very, very shy; I liked to sit back and observe others - which fits in rather nicely with what I do know for a job.
Natalie: I was a bit wayward and good at English, I guess nothing’s changed. And I guess, always had a problem being told what to do, which is why I’m freelance.
What are your earliest memories of writing?
Zoe: I have always been interested in writing, even as a young girl when my teachers would comment on my passion for writing short stories and poems. I would read books by Roald Dahl or Enid Blyton and be inspired to write my own stories about finding a tiny fairy world in the back garden, talking cats or other childhood adventures. I wish I had kept these stories!
Natalie: I won a Parker fountain pen from a letter I wrote into the Listener when I was 12!
At what point did you start calling yourself a writer?
Natalie: About two years ago, I still feel a bit strange when I write it in the space where it says occupation on the entry card at immigration.
Zoe: My mum and teachers started calling me a writer before I did. In fact I still find it very odd to say that I’m a writer when people ask what I 'do'.
What is your ideal writing environment?
Zoe: In bed, late at night with complete silence. Sitting outside in the sunshine is also a lovely way to write, although unfortunately most of my writing is done in a grey office under fluorescent lighting.
Natalie: Alone, in a very clean, tidy room. Nothing on my desk but my computer and a vase of flowers and some pretty things tacked to the walls. Magically, there is no access to Facebook, and every day at 12.30 Zoe would appear and we would go out for lunch. This doesn't actually happen.
What song do you love but are too ashamed to admit to anyone else?
Zoe: I’m not embarrassed by any of the music on my iPod - even the Lindsay Lohan track.
Natalie: I’m not ashamed of nothing. I love cheesy stuff, INXS – Never Tear Us Apart, TLC – Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, that Chris de Burgh song…
Who were your celebrity crushes when you were a teenager?
Zoe: JTT when I was a tweenager. Shame...
Natalie: I fantasised about kissing Daniel Johns from Silverchair all the time. I probably even practiced on my hand. Then I met him at a bar in Sydney last year and I felt like a creep.
If you studied, how did you cope with student life and having a sense of style?
Zoe: I didn’t, I had terrible style as a student - I’m sure some of my fellow students must see me working as a fashion writer and wonder how the hell that happened.
Natalie: I always had a part-time job. I like vintage clothes and bought selective designer pieces, and had secret credit cards I hid from my parents to buy Karen Walker dresses. Don’t tell my mother. And student life, I don’t think I ever really got into being ‘student-y’ – I mean, I loved studying, but I never lived in a hall or anything.
What do you think it is about people from NZ and Australia that makes an impact on the fashion scene?
Zoe: I think it’s probably a sense of just getting on with it; New Zealanders are often shy or subtle and don’t like to be too in your face or self-promoting. Which is nice.
Natalie: I don’t think people from Australia or New Zealand are any more successful than any other country, people who are good at what they do get successful, it doesn’t matter where you are from.
What are you wearing right now?
Natalie: A stripey jumper, black Bassike high-waisted jeans and APC moccasins.
Zoe: Karen Walker denim skirt, a Kate Sylvester cardigan and my pyjama singlet.
Who else do you like to work and collaborate with?
Zoe: Natalie and I want to do lots of projects together; we've talked about doing everything from a book to a fashion label to opening a store. But there are others who I'd eventually like to collaborate with. Working with Stacy Gregg when she launched Runway Reporter was inspiring for me and I would love to work with her again. I’d also like to eventually work with Rachel Morton from Fashion Quarterly, stylist Dan Ahwa, photographer Olivia Hemus and some of my favourite local labels, like Juliette Hogan, Lonely Hearts or Twenty-seven Names.
Natalie: I like to work with my friends. I loved working for Lucy Marr at Stephen Marr and Lucy and the Powder Room; for Evie Bear at Management and Publicity in Sydney and for Tara Riddell who is an amazing producer at Curious Film. I get excited about writing for Russh, but I love to work with Zoe most of all.
How do you collaborate and work together?
Natalie: We email each other about fifty times a day until things are sorted. In terms of the blog, we give each other the freedom to do whatever we want. I do the design aspect of it, but the content is separate. We don’t have any rules and if we’re working together we just get things done. If we have a big task it’s generally helped along with wine and sugar.
Do you have a favourite character from any novel?
Natalie: I love the narrator in Francoise Sagan’s Bonjour Tristesse, but not enough to remember her name.
Zoe: Maybe Roald Dahl’s Matilda. I love that she was described as being "sensitive and brilliant".
What do you fight about?
Zoe: We don’t really fight, it's more bickering. Most often over something silly, like lost car keys that turn up in Natalie’s pocket…
Natalie: I was drunk.
What or who inspires you?
Natalie: Often novels, at the moment it is Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea. Nature. We’re both inspired by women who are achieving the things we want to - talented creative women with brains, like Karen Walker, Leith Clark, Grace Coddington, Stella McCartney and Hadley Freeman.
Zoe: Right now, I'm also really into old-fashioned girls' annuals and I Love You and Paper Planes magazines. I'm also really inspired by friends who create beautiful things together.
How did you get started on your career path?
Zoe: I feel like I’ve just been incredibly lucky. I finished my journalism course and two days later Stacy Gregg rang up my tutor and said she was looking for an assistant. We met, had a coffee and the next day I had a job. My jobs since then have 'just happened' really.
Natalie: My family is really huge on reading, I was obsessed with magazines and writing from a young age. I studied English Literature, then postgraduate journalism. I worked for Stacy too, which was really inspiring, then Lauren Quaintance at Metro, then moved to Sydney and wrote more.
How did you two become friends?
Zoe: We first met at Runway Reporter, I had been working there for a while and Natalie came on board as the website’s "party people" photographer. At first I thought she was so cool and scary because she went to fashion parties and knew everyone and she drove a cool scooter. We eventually bonded over the fact that we were both dorky girls who didn't take fashion too seriously.
Natalie: We ended up living together too. We probably spent 12 hours a day together from the time we met!
What do you like about blogging?
Natalie: I don't really. Blogging seems a bit masturbatory to me. And the word blog is so ugly. It’s a nice sideline for us, and I like that it makes people happy – it’s all positive and lighthearted – intentionally so rather than being wimpy and weak. It’s about sharing nice things we like, that’s all. I guess I like the proliferation of blogs as they are naturally quite democratic – good ones become successful, it’s about how much time and effort you put into it, rather than resources.
Zoe: I like that it is so instant and intimate. It’s almost like reading someone’s diary. I like blogs that are personal, but not too personal. I guess there is a fine line that hopefully we haven’t crossed. Natalie and I have intentionally never put photos of ourselves on So Much To Tell You because it seems a little bit indulgent. Which is kind of funny because the whole concept of blogging can be a bit self-important. We have a love/hate relationship with blogs…
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