The Heraldic icon of cheeky green parrot named CHAUNCEY seems significant as the new Perth label learns to fly.
Both on the brink of shying away from a career in fashion, Perth boys David Jaskiewicz and Mal Harry crossed paths serendipitously in 2005. This chance meeting has since shown to be the start of a fruitful relationship, as well as the birth of a dynamic design team, now known as CHAUNCEY. Over the past two years, they have ridden a slipstream of fortuitous events and navigated their way past obstacles to have now achieved acclaim from fans and peers alike.
With backgrounds in illustration and painting respectively, David and Mal were working on a private commission, shortly after they met, developing striking uniforms emblazoned with their artwork for a new café. This led to the inception of their own range of punchy tees which were eagerly snapped up by several local retailers.
David is thrilled to hear reports of swarms of CHAUNCEY tees being worn at recent local summer music festivals. “That’s great because music plays a big part in how we put our ideas together, whether it’s what’s playing on the computer while we’re designing or dedicating a design to a favourite music artist. “One of our standard questions when we’re assessing a concept is, would Kelis wear it?” he says.
“Even though we were getting a great response to the tees - neither of us felt experienced enough to say ‘Yes, we can call ourselves fashion designers.’ We both have various skills from one end of the fashion industry to the other but we hadn’t been through the traditional channels of work experience.”
"David and Mal each have an acute sense of what works when putting an outfit together. They’ve both grown up giving fashion advice to friends and family (solicited or not) and have been surrounded by women who love and who have worked in fashion."
Friends at Swimwear label Bond+Fredericks encouraged CHAUNCEY to join them in applying to be involved in last year’s StyleAID event. This meant they had to quickly produce a mini range, including men’s and women’s apparel. Both labels were accepted and CHAUNCEY was now officially more than just a great tee shirt label. “Now that we’re doing it, it’s like a crash course; and we’ve already had plenty of little bingles! Some of our strengths have shone through in our abilities to cope and adapt,” says Mal.
David and Mal each have an acute sense of what works when putting an outfit together. They’ve both grown up giving fashion advice to friends and family (solicited or not) and have been surrounded by women who love and who have worked in fashion. As a young lady Mal’s Mother worked in the same Fremantle factory as her own mother who was a leather seamstress. David’s mother is an experienced sewer who is actually head seamstress at the Willetton factory where CHAUNCEY garments are currently manufactured.
A common thread through most CHAUNCEY garments is that they feel good on. The use of various high performance fabrics means there’s a sports feel while there’s usually a little more flesh exposed then your average “tracky dacks”. “Sexed up style” is a phrase that works well to describe CHAUNCEY’s wares.
They’re keen to develop the distinctive colourful repeat prints they’ve come up with for their men’s hoodie and track pants. “Our main objective is to have fun and create outfits people will feel exited about wearing.
There’s always the hint of a further story behind any CHAUNCEY creation “We’ve both got over active imaginations,” says Mal. “When we design we’ll be thinking about something like a dirty underground club with grinding music or it could be a whole kind of mythology we dream up for the illustrations on the tees”
David adds, “We don’t take everything we do and try to tie it neatly together. We don’t have a lifestyle that’s easily defined by a particular look and feel so that comes out in the diversity of our style. I think fewer people are feeling the pressure to assume one identity all the time nowadays. The kinds of people we want to dress tend to avoid the run-of-the-mill.”
The realities of starting a new label sees David working a day job in high end men’s retail, which can provide inspiration, and Mal as a bricklayer. Mal muses, “Manual labour is really grounding and I get a better insight into the machismo we want to tap into for our menswear. The blokiness of the building site is a far cry from most of what happens in the vacuum of the fashion world”.
David and Mal thought they’d take a punt and enter into the Perth Fashion Festival’s WA Design Awards in the “Directional Lifestyle” Category. Judging panellists included Anna Louise Plunkett and Luke John Sales from Sydney label Romance Was Born and the well respected, Wayne Cooper. The CHAUNCEY Boys felt that being nominated as finalists was indication enough that they were on the right track with their designs. However, they won; leaving them a little shocked given the pool of excellent and experienced designers they were up against. Hearing their label’s name called out at the gala event held at the Perth Convention Centre caused an expletive or two to be uttered in disbelief by one of the boys.
Once they’d each regained their composure after the win, the logical question was “Now what do we do with the label?” Like any other fledgling fashion designers, they have big dreams about where they want to take their label but they’re happy to let all of that develop naturally. “We haven’t achieved any of our success so far by setting a plan in stone so we’re comfortable letting fate take its course,” says David.
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