Personal style can be influenced by so many things but for many, one of the first times we see how clothes can be used to express a sense of self is through the mother figure in our lives - whether it be your mum, aunty, grandmother, family friend or another woman you respect and admire, who is there to nurture and support.
With that spirit, we asked a few Ensemble friends to share a cherished family photo of their mother figure, and share their memories of how they’ve shaped their sense of style today.
Anjali Burnett (co-founder of Twenty-seven Names) and Sandhya
Here’s my mum, Sandhya, with me and my brother Jase at Wellington airport, sometime in the late 80s. Honestly I think we were dressed up like this just to pick someone up and that is definitely not our car behind us. Sandhya was well-versed in the art of dopamine dressing, she is responsible for my love of pink and covering myself head to toe - as illustrated!
As a little kid I adored the rare occasions when she dressed up, watching her emerge downstairs in some glamorous shimmery number with shoulder pads and heels - what a sight to behold. To me, in these moments she was the most beautiful mum I'd ever seen. I'm grateful she taught me the patience and thrill of op-shopping - in her own unique way she taught me the joy clothes can bring to both yourself and those around you. Thanks mum!
Zoë Bell (actor) and Tish
"Sweeter than honey, as fiery as cheap tequila."
A quote dear to my heart. Not my words, but so my mum. So very Tish. The world is a better place for having had you in it. Wo ai ni Muma.
Kirana Gaeta (actor) and Ratih
Here is my mum Ratih and I on holiday in Australia in the early 2000s. This photo is one of my favourites because it captures both of our styles so well. Y2k at its finest!
In a family full of men, mum and I had some serious fun dressing up (still do) and bouncing inspiration off each other. My mother enjoyed me being her only daughter a lot, showering me in all shades of pink, frilly dresses, ribbons in my hair, tutus. But, she also always had the Black Eyed Peas, Missy Elliot and Ciara playing in the car, so naturally we would dress in Adidas tracksuits (with the Superstars to match) on the days we were feeling more fierce. I still carry both of the styles very prominently with me today.
Eda Tang (Stuff Pou Tiaki journalist) and Helen
This mother’s day I am thinking of a very special hāpu māmā who is due for their pēpi any day now, if she hasn’t already landed earth-side onto the sunny lands of Guam. Since meeting, Helen Yeung and I have been mothering one another of our disenfranchised grief as daughters of immigrants.
It surprised me to hear that Helen used to be a full-time goth, even though the Emily the Strange hair lives on. They are now donning Gorman prints, androgynous patterns, and usually a pair of culottes and Doc Martens, giving off a small auntie - big vision kind of energy. We write together, eat together, and make art and zines together. Regardless of how cavernous these mother wounds are, Helen has so much strength and love to tend to each fibre of tissue to all those who look up to her.
Ophelia Mikkelson Jones (artist and photographer) and Beth
Now that I am a mother too, I look at this photograph in a different way. I noticed things I hadn't seen before - like the truck? How did I miss that? That tender piece of wrist outstretched. The magnolia. Our matching ankles.
This is my mother. My mother before she was my mother, a mother to four boys. I was still in the wings, waiting to join them. Now I look at her, I see what I never could have seen before now: that her eyes, in profile, look just like my son's.
Rebecca Wadey (Ensemble co-founder) and Barbara
My mother was a teacher so she was always around for school holidays, most usually spent at our bach at Ōpito Bay which remains my favourite place on earth. Rules at the bach were simple: no screens (I remember one particularly miserable summer when mum caved and rented a black and white TV from Whitianga that we had to put high on a coffee table in the garage as rain was pouring in under the roller door) and two hours ‘quiet time’ after lunch so my parents could nap.
During this time, when we were supposed to be reading, we would set up intricate pulley systems with buckets and pen and paper, or flash cards and binoculars with distant neighbourhood children, also trapped by the quiet time rule. The wild, wet days on the beach were just as much fun as the time on the boat or being thrown around the surf by my father, and I particularly love this photo as it reminds me of lots I have of my own family now. Although I’m sure my children aren’t that cheerful in them. Also, I look like my mother’s favourite here. Which I surely am.
Kim Crossman (actor and presenter) and Jill
My mother is the most beautiful woman inside and out. My sister and I feel like the luckiest humans on the planet to have the mother we do. She is always my number one supporter, and makes sure I am set up for success everyday and always taught me to give everything 110%. I was blessed to have grown up watching the way she strives for her own goals, is compassionate and completely selfless. On top of all that she is also super fun and will always get involved. If I grow to be half the woman she is, I would be extremely happy.
Zoe Walker Ahwa (Ensemble co-founder, Stuff style editor) and Lynley
Mum does not like a fuss, or the spotlight, and so was/is not often found in front of the camera (like mother, like daughter…!). I don’t actually have heaps of photos of her - we didn’t even get a photo of the two of us together at my wedding - but I love those that I do have of her, especially in her teenage years and early 20s.
This picture was taken when she was about 16, during a trip with friends to Waiheke. Shy smile, cute pigtails, no makeup or bra: that laid-back approach to life and style was something she held onto as she got older and had a family, and is something she passed on to my sister and I throughout our vaguely granola childhood.
