Jenny’s love of fashion and design started right from her first year at Hutt Valley High School when she studied clothing and textiles, complemented by design and photography in her senior years at secondary school.

The natural progression was to study towards a Bachelor of Design (Fashion) at Massey University in Wellington. Jenny graduated in May 2002, and is proud of her accomplishment. The workload and pressure was intense but you had to work through it. The programme prepares you for the industry – there were always deadlines, it taught you that time management was essential, to get up and give presentations all the time, and you had to learn to speak in public and be willing to take criticism.

Jenny worked in retail part-time all through her studies first in Hallensteins for two years, and then moved to Cue (womenswear) on Lambton Quay in Wellington. In May 2001 Jenny started with Andrea Moore Design as the assistant manager in the Wellington store in the Old Bank, and just two months later was promoted to manager. Jenny has enjoyed the retail side of the industry as the work revolves a lot around what she has learnt e.g., knowledge of fabrics, fitting, alterations to stock garments, plus the made-to-measure aspect of the business.

Jenny’s next move is to become Catherine’s production assistant early in 2003, moving away from retail into production is where Jenny is keen to be. Her ultimate dream is “to be a stylist, to do my own thing, it would be absolutely amazing seeing people wearing your clothes and enjoying them”.