Masami designer Julie Puddick is part of The Shelter’s designer breakfast at NZ Fashion Week Kahuria on Saturday August 30; tickets $45 from here

Carving your own path isn’t just bold, it can be an act of self-devotion. For Gisborne Tairāwhiti-based designer Julie Puddick, founder of ethical fashion label Masami, that quiet drive has helped her shape a life and brand built on authenticity, earning her a loyal following and recognition among The Shelter by Taylor’s top brands.

Now 65, Julie is creating with more vitality than ever. A single mother turned designer, she left Melbourne’s fast-paced creative scene for the wide, windswept calm of Gisborne where she eventually launched Masami – a label named for its Japanese meaning: gracious beauty, true self, becoming beautiful. 

“The ‘Masami woman’ is a feeling I want my customers to have when they wear my pieces,” says Julie, whose garments are made by hand and saturated in soul. “They leave with a newfound sense of strength and confidence – elegantly bold.”

The first time I stepped into Julie’s studio in the summer of 2022, it was clear that this was a woman living passionately. Sunlight streamed across wooden floors, where three 1940s sewing machines stood proudly against a tall red brick wall. Around them, a gallery of draping velvets, delicate silks and sculptural cottons. 

Her studio has since expanded alongside her following. Now nestled in a loft space with the same essence, her haven is decorated with vintage school lockers rescued from rubble, old-fashioned magazines and modern lookbooks piled high, adorned with sentimental trinkets and artefacts. Plus a special corner for her furry sidekick, Winston.

Julie’s instinct for fashion revealed itself early. Growing up in Wellington, she swapped the standard-issue dresses for her grandfather’s vests to wear to school.

By 19, she was living in a Melbourne share house where a seamstress flatmate spread her collection of fabric, buttons and half-finished garments throughout the house. It was inspiration Julie couldn’t ignore. "She had buttons and cloth and all these amazing resources, and I realised this is me. I like fashion. And I never looked back." 

She later returned to New Zealand with a suitcase full of ambition, and in the early 1980s found herself apprenticing under revered Wellington designer Chrissie Potter among other creatives. This sharpened Julie’s technique and ignited the distinctive elegance she carries into Masami.

"People loved watching us sew the designs they were purchasing, like watching a top chef cook your meal right in front of you,” Julie remembers of those early days. “It helped towards the allure and the magic of Chrissie’s brand. Word of mouth would spread, and people came from all over, drawn by her mastery of the craft and eager for a glimpse up close." 

Life, however, would ask more of Julie. She became pregnant with her son Olly and faced divorce in the same year. With few options, she returned to hands-on, made-to-measure work from home, slowly but steadily building a loyal clientele through reputation and resilience. Her earlier brand Rubies Design would eventually evolve into Masami, which launched in 2016.

"It taught me how to be resourceful," Julie reflects. “I hand-made my entire business, right down to the fabric labels and individually stamped business cards.” 

Those formative years shaped Julie’s outlook on life and bestowed her ritual to slow down, and live with intention. "There’s a hidden blessing in the uncertainty of not knowing your truth. It encourages you to slow down and discover it intuitively. Allow yourself to feel into the story that is yours, rather than being overwhelmed by a catalogue of endless choices.” 

Her design process echoes this. Julie doesn’t force creativity; she allows it to speak through her as it wishes. Often, the fabric leads. “Sometimes, I’ll sit on a certain fabric for years before I know what to do with it. Then it hits me. It’s an intuitive gut feeling.”

Julie’s dedication to resourcefulness remains one of her defining traits. She collects vintage buttons from secondhand shops, repurposes styles and acquires fine secondhand textiles from all over the world. 

"Even in a hard economy, you can make things work. I don't buy much fabric. I’m always looking for ways to reinvent," she explains.

Her belief in intuitive living and style extends into how she invites her customers to connect with her garments. "The garment chooses you. Slow down, touch it, feel into it,” she says, smiling. "I’ve always said I wish I didn't have to put numbers on my tags – who cares what the size is! If it's yours, it’s yours. You’ll know.

"It doesn't matter how old, new, tattered or conventionally 'ugly' a piece is. If you love it, it's yours.”

For Julie, making something your own is true style. She recently bought a “gorgeous” shirt but hated the buttons, so updated them with recycled ones she preferred.

"Buttons can make or break a garment. They’re the finish," she says. “We shouldn’t be afraid to adjust or change things until they feel right for us. That’s how personal style is meant to be. A reflection of you." 

This wisdom is the result of Julie’s evolution as a self-made creative. At its heart, Masami is an ode to this evolution of wisdom: to the long road of stepping into a fully embodied you, and a nod to women who are redefining what it means to grow older with agency.

“Helen Mirren once said, ‘as you get older, you become a woman of wisdom.’ You just do, and it’s the wisdom of getting closer to who you are and have always been. Embrace it!”