Fresh from designing for New Zealand Fashion Week, Dunedin children’s clothing designer Anna Peacock talks to Katie Day.
With a desire to clothe her daughter in fresh, easeful pieces, Peacock founded Sienna Blair, a Dunedin-based children’s lifestyle brand.
The idea sprouted to life in her home by the beach.
Peacock’s mission is to create cool, comfortable basics for kids, that parents and children alike reach for.
The brand came to fruition three years ago, although was many years in the making.
Peacock spent her early years in Christchurch, drawing her fashion foundations from her mother, a woman she described as "a great sewer".
"She always sewed and used to make all of our baby clothes when we were little."
This desire to create was passed from mother to daughter, the designer catching the sewing bug in her teens.
"I would make tops here or there or would make costumes when we were going to dress-up parties as teenagers."
While she had a foundation anchored in creativity, Peacock developed a diverse knowledge base.
She dived into the sciences during her university years, gaining a master’s in audiology.
Her educational journey eventually led her to Dunedin.
"I actually moved to Dunedin for my audiology job when I graduated, which was about eight years ago."
The cool Southern city quickly became home.
"We came down just thinking we’d stay for a few years and then fell in love with Dunedin."
Nestled in a beautiful home by the beach, Peacock and her husband welcomed their first daughter, Sienna, three and a-half years ago.
"I’ve always been really passionate about fashion, so when I had my wee girl Sienna, I began to look for something else. I feel like when you have a 3- or 4-month-old, you’re at the point where you’re thinking about what you can do.
"I wasn’t really keen to go back to audiology and at the time there wasn’t that much out there for kids and I just started from there. I wanted to create something different and create something that I myself would want to wear but in a mini version."
With an eye for fashion and a desire to find special clothes for her daughter, Peacock alchemised the intention into reality.
"I started off by designing two pieces and got them manufactured in China ... I worked out of the spare room in our house and it’s organically grown from there."
The business launched into the world through online platforms such as Instagram, which helped to connect the pieces with a broader audience.
"At the time a few bigger influencers in Auckland got a hold of our products and quite organically posted about them and our following grew from there."
The brand now sells online through its own website and has found a home stocked in multiple children’s wear boutiques across the nation.
"It’s been a long journey and we’re in our third year now and there’s been a lot of learnings over the three years."
The effortlessly cool children’s brand seemed to be a magnet for opportunities, and early last year, Sienna Blair was approached by New Zealand Fashion Week to share a collection in the NZFW children’s show.
Though the show could not go ahead due to global health concerns, the event required a range of looks, creating a design playground for Peacock.
"For our fashion week show we had to do 14 different looks and I really played around with different textures and fabrics that I wouldn’t normally work with. I thought, ‘Why not? You might as well explore something that you wouldn’t normally do and play around with things’."
The range includes a plaid shirt, colourful tracksuits, printed T-shirts, a denim jacket, cargo pants and an oversized cardigan in pretty pinks and lavender.
There is no shortage of inspiration for the designer, who finds creative sparks in everyday moments.
"I have this folder on my phone and I will see a cool colour combination, it could be from a curtain or a tea towel or a book that I’m reading and I’m like, ‘Man those colours look really cool together!’. So I have this album of all these random snaps of things."
Peacock also gets idea from social media.
"I also get a lot of inspo from Pinterest and other Instagrammers who are into fashion and just from everywhere, you know."
"I am realising now that my Sienna is 3 and a-half, they [children] want to dress themselves. So I’m now creating pieces that they want to put on as well.
"She loves the bright colours, hot pinks and anything with cute little hearts or butterflies. So I am working a lot more with prints now, which is so interesting as the business evolves and as Sienna grows up, I am realising what the older kids are into as well."
As the business grows into its fourth year, expansions are on the horizon.
It is transitioning into a lifestyle brand with a strong demand for womenswear pieces to pair with its children’s clothing.
"We had these cool checkerboard children’s sets and then we did women’s knit checkerboard shorts and they were so popular, so I am really enjoying delving more into the womenswear side of things," Peacock says.
"We’ve got a lot in the sampling phase in Indonesia at the moment for women’s knitwear and dressing for comfort for mums as well."
With care given to the garments’ effects on skin and the environment, the brand is also developing an organic baby range.
"At the moment, we are also looking at using organic and natural fibres. That’s really important and people really want to know where their clothes are made and the fabric composition and new mums definitely care about what touches their babies’ skin."
Situated near the expansive outlook of the beach, Sienna Blair is shaped by the environment in more ways than one.
"Dunedin is a really cool backdrop for the business and I’ve met some really amazing people who have had such an influence on the business as well.
"We all get coffee by the beach each morning and it’s so inspiring talking to them and they always have great ideas and they have helped me a lot with things."
