A life-long fascination with the sculptural qualities of clothing, and the ways that textiles can be engineered around the body, prompted James Bush to venture into the fashion world.
Despite attending a traditional all-boys high school, Bush took a leap of faith after graduation by enrolling into Massey University's fashion degree course. When he finishes his tertiary studies, Bush moved to Europe, first residing in Paris, then Brussels, London and Geneva.
During his time in Europe, he worked in a number of different roles from commercial sales and pattern making, to being a film costume tailor and designer for men's and women's lines. Bush also obtained a Master of Arts at London's University of Westminster.
After spending the majority of his twenties learning from designers and being immersed in the fashion world, Bush reached a point where he felt he had gathered enough experience and knowledge of the industry to create his own label.
Now, Bush has moved back home to Wellington and launched his own eponymous fashion label, which focuses on creating high-quality, sculptural pieces that blend menswear tailoring with feminine draping. He is also teaching part-time at Massey University.
Describing himself as an old-fashioned designer who is focused on engineering, Bush explained that his label creates garments with intrinsic design value.
"My way of designing is perhaps at opposites to the move towards product design that is permeating the industry at the moment."
His training at the University of Westminster strongly influenced his focus on garment engineering and construction.
"The U.K fashion education system has a really strong focus on developing primary research as the starting point of any collection. This has become the basis of my design practice and is something I am putting into my teaching work at Massey University."
For all of Bush's garments, his starting point for designing is rooted in architecture and sculpture, which he integrates with 3D experimental research and detailing. His final designs are the culmination of three channels of research - conceptual research, garment research and customer research.
"These days the majority of designers use styling as a huge part of their process, but that doesn't work for me and I end up feeling very lost if I try and go down that route," commented Bush.
For Bush, understanding oneself and maintaining a healthy level of objectivity is the most difficult part of working in the fashion industry.
"Designers are often portrayed as dictatorial figures expressing their divine vision, but this is so far from reality for most people. I try to push my students to understand what they are actually looking at and figure out why something inspires them," said Bush.
"I really believe that design is a science that involves study, feedback and analysis. My advice for budding designers would be to get over yourself and listen to the world around you."
Bush's dedication to honing his design language and cultivating an understanding of who he designs for over the last couple of years have certainly paid off.
"Unusually for a business of my size, the majority of my sales are direct to consumers and I've already established a loyal customer base."
Looking ahead, he hopes to move into wholesale expansion beginning first in New Zealand, before going abroad in a season or two.
