Vive La Paisley

Jane Avery / Lapin

Vive La Paisley

Jane Avery / Lapin

New Zealand

Paisley All The Way’ &  ‘Brave New Day’ - two coats fashioned from the same vintage Scottish Paisley shawl, with glass bead sleeve embellishment and New Zealand Wild Rabbit Eco-Fur.

My work as a designer and maker focuses on the creation of couture quality clothing, bringing together the material elements of fur and fabric. Both practical and precious, the Lapin concept features predominantly winter weight coats and jackets. Some are one-of-a-kind pieces while others can be replicated as bespoke commissions.

Lapin embodies the concept of ‘Eco-Couture’, as in highly finished garments made with an abiding commitment to minimising harm to, or indeed assisting with the restoration of our natural environment. My momentum is to utilise the fur of New Zealand wild rabbits. Controlling devastating environmental pests is paramount to the well being of Aotearoa and committing to a zero waste attitude creates new and sustainable pathways. I believe New Zealand’s pest furs can and should be used and marketed in beautiful, practical, fashion forward ways.

Fur is a timeless material used by humans since the beginning of our evolutionary journey. Pertinent questions are rightly posed about the morality and necessity for its continued use. My reasoning considers the contexts of New Zealand’s history of rabbit plagues and our present-day predicament of ongoing eradication. 

My passion for repurposing vintage fabrics also embodies the notion of ‘eco-couture’. The process of creating an engaging and wearable garment from some or all of a pre-loved textile is essentially forward thinking. It propels an existing material into the present and future, in a process that uses fewer resources and causes less stress on our environment. A garment incorporating a precious vintage textile, and treated with the respect demanded by the care and precision of couture creation, is a garment for a new age, where it is imperative to look back in order to move forward.

The Lapin pieces submitted for this Critical Making Symposium are an earnest example of the above thought process. The two coats repurpose parts of the same late 19th Century Scottish Paisley shawl, both have been hand embellished with vintage glass beads and feature strategically positioned rabbit fur for beauty and warmth. The coats are lined with 100% silk crepe de chine and insulated with cotton/wool batting.

While ‘Paisley All The Way’ is exactly that, ‘Brave New Day’ incorporates a body of 100% dark green wool. This piece is named for the new age we are now moving into. The sleeves were beaded during the quiet stretches of the Covid19 lockdown.

As a fashion practitioner my pleasure lies in reimagining beautiful pre-loved materials and in the creative possibilities offered by wild rabbit pest fur. In combining the traditional handcrafts of seamstress and furrier, my slow fashion journey results in innovative and unique garments to treasure for a lifetime.

Bio: Jane Avery

website: www.lapin.nz

email: jane.k.avery@gmail.com

instagram: @lapinnz

facebook: @lapinnz

Jane Avery is a fashion designer, coat maker and furrier based in Dunedin, New Zealand.

With a 25 year background in television journalism and independent media production, she began her label Lapin in 2016, driven by irrepressible creative urges, her need as an ex-Aucklander to insulate herself from the Southern cold and a desire to make good with an under used New Zealand pest resource… namely wild rabbits. 

The result is a business offering bespoke service in the creation of exclusive and made to measure winter coats, jackets and accessories. 

Jane’s garment making abilities were honed over 20 years of self taught sewing and tailoring with recent years devoted to apprenticing in the craft of the furrier at Dunedin’s historic Mooneys Furs.  

Upon the retirement of the Mooneys’ owners this year, Jane has introduced Lapin ReVintage, a service focussed on repairing, restyling and repurposing vintage furs. She also creates decor items such as throws and cushions from  locally sourced rabbit and possum furs. 

Jane works from her studio/gallery at 130 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin, New Zealand welcoming visitors both casual and by appointment as well as long distance commissions via the Lapin website. www.lapin.nz