Millie Pux-Askew, winner of the Ballantyne’s Emerging Designer competition from last year’s Fashion Week, has produced a collection that is ‘natural, creative’ and very now. Cityscape caught up with Millie ahead of launching her Millie Askew collection exclusively at Ballantyne’s Contemporary Lounge and online.

Congratulations on taking home the Emerging Designer crown – how has that experience been for you? It was pretty unexpected, to be honest. I entered on a whim, really, and got the project together two weeks before it was due. It’s been a pretty crazy couple of months since, with lots of late nights sewing and learning – so much learning, stuff they can’t teach you at university about how to get a business together and designing for a business. The biggest challenge has probably been managing all the other people. When you do things on a bigger scale there are a lot more people involved and there’s a lot of multi-tasking to make sure things arrive on time.

What’s your modus operandi for designing? I guess my designs start with a bit of a feeling or a mood and it develops to taking bits of things from everyday life and talking to people. I find an idea that resonates and through trial and error it kind of pushes you to make something.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your designs? I’m inspired by the people around me. I might see something a friend is wearing and take parts of that, or get inspired by their creative practices. I look at New Zealand designers. If you’re selling in New Zealand it’s important to know what are others are working on and how they’re portraying their work. I’m obsessed with Penny Sage at the moment, and Ovna Ovich. And I’m loving Harry [Harriet] Were at the moment – she’s got these cool jumpers that are handmade.

You’ve got a real focus on sustainability and ethical practices. Where did that come from? I think it’s really important to consider how things are made and where they’re coming from. I work in a fabric shop as my day job, so textiles really resonate with me and I love unique fabrics. I source handmade cottons from India that are hand loomed and naturally dyed – or not dyed at all. It’s a really slow way of making because it can take one or two months to weave the fabric, but it becomes a product that no-one else has which gives it a real value and its own life. I think it’s impossible to not think about sustainability and ethical practises now. It was really drilled into us at university, that it should always be at the back of our minds, the implications the creation of your clothes make.

What are three words that sum up your collection? Rural, retro, farmer.

What does the rest of 2019 hold for you and your career? After the Ballantynes stint, I’ll keep making clothes. I’ve just got some new fabric that is arriving from India and being delivered so I’ll be straight back into it. My aesthetic is always changing and evolving so it will have the same feel but be different.

Who would you most like to dress or see wearing your garments? It’s going to sound odd, but Helen Clark. I had an idea a while ago to make a jumper with a print of her face on it.

Instagram: @millieaskew