Jessica Beachen, owner of Jessica Flora Super Club Series
There’s a new kind of supper club in town, and it’s delivering everything from soulful dining to thoughtfully designed and curated fashion. Say hello to the Jessica Flora Supper Club Series, winding its way around New Zealand, with Oamaru-based designer and foodie Jess Beachen at the helm.
The talented creative is breathing fresh life into the concept of a supper club, delivering a series of unique one-off events that are a delightfully unexpected blend of slow fashion and slow dining.
While merging fashion and dining isn’t a particularly new concept, what makes this Supper Club Series stand out is the fact that Jess is both the chef (and when events are close to home, the grower of ingredients also) and the fashion designer.
The 33-year-old may be based in a small rural town (Kurow), but she has big ideas. She’s successfully combining her two great passions in life – fashion and food. Already this year Jess has hosted sell-out events in Oamaru and Auckland, serving supper club guests with a three-course menu (prepared and cooked by herself) as well as a viewing of Jessica Flora designs, focused around natural fibres and made-to-order pieces from across the collection.
A desire to pursue fashion has been her career path for as far back as she can remember, however, after studying Fashion Design at Massey University (2008–2011), Jess spent the next decade working across different sectors, starting in menswear, before moving into sports merchandise and then onto a multi-brands company that focused on activewear and womenswear.
With a wealth of experience behind her, Jess finally launched her own Jessica Flora label in 2021.
“It’s clothing that celebrates the good – our earth, our makers, our friends, and ourselves,” she says.
Using only natural fibres, all offcuts and waste are composted thanks to Jess’ favourite creatures – worms! Her worm friends consume paper and fabric waste into a highly nutrient-dense vermicast, which is then used as compost to grow more beautiful things.
Along with fashion, food and gardening have been a lifelong love for Jess. Having grown up on a Hawke’s Bay farm, she is deeply connected to the land and nature.
“Basically, I love cooking as much as design, so if I’m not designing, I’m in the kitchen cooking, or in the garden growing produce.”
And thanks to the lifestyle she has created for herself, there’s now a seamless connection between all three.
Having officially launched her Jessica Flora business last year, her brand is enjoying slow organic growth, which is perfectly aligned with Jess’ personal philosophies and also ensures that she can still offer a completely personalised customer service. Her team has expanded to include other talented females helping with various aspects of what is essentially a made-to-order concept.
Each Jessica Flora series is a carefully considered range of small-run garments, released only a few times a year. Within each series, selected garments are customisable, offering variations on the fit and function to work for different body shapes.
Think flattering dress silhouettes in soft cotton poplin, organic hemp or linen (each design with customisable details – i.e. an open back, custom length), dreamy gingham skirts, and a particularly luscious collection of delicate blouses with fun detailing – loop holes, gathered panels, scooped bias, yoke panels, and frills. It’s the detailing that elevates these pieces and the fact they can be custom-made (and customised) for each wearer.
Jessica launched her own Jessica Flora label in 2021
Where your business is based and the team around you?
Based in Kurow, we’re currently in the process of getting together a studio, which will be opening in a few months. The business started off with just me on board, with a contract manufacturer where we both make every piece to order. It is slowly growing to the point where we have a couple of part-time gals helping as we grow, both in the studio and another few manufacturers on board.
Describe your working environment and what you most love about it?
Being in a rural area has been an amazing way to hold balance in a busy business. The town itself is small but mighty and is home to many talented rural businesswomen. So we have an incredibly supportive community within the business sector, where we are quite often catching up at the café and helping grow and push each other along. I am a big foodie, hence the Supper Clubs, so the days we do have staff on, is often a day I cook up a big lunch.
When and why you started your brand?
It was definitely something I’d always wanted to do ever since I was a little girl. But I’m glad I worked across many different sectors in the industry before going out on my own. In 2021 (Jessica Flora recently turned one, woohoo), we launched. I definitely knew I wanted to focus on bringing a brand together that valued my own morals and care for the earth.
I learnt a lot about the industry and how destructive it can be without really realising but always found myself asking questions around practices I knew didn’t feel right. Jessica Flora is a chance for me to change the wheel on how the industry runs and share that as we grow.
What inspires you in this space?
Creating something that has a lighter footprint on mother earth, and sharing this knowledge with consumers. I love the opportunity to push boundaries in the circular space and share as we grow.
What sparked your original passion for design?
It started when I was young. Mum is quite creative, so always allowed us to paint and draw and create so many things. This slowly turned into clothing ideas and making from scratch during my primary school years.
What aspect of designing and making clothing gives you the most joy?
Creating a pattern and sampling and tweaking till it’s a really beautiful fit.
What aspects of your business are non-negotiable?
We have a rule that all fabrics have to be compostable.
The Jessica Flora Super Club Series combines the 33-year-old’s passion for food and fashion
Some info on your fabrics and designs
We source hand-block printed fabric from producers in India. The rest is all natural fibres, linen, cotton, and silks.
Who are your designs aimed at?
We have a broad demographic, I think in part to our wearable styles. We focus on targeting the 25–45 age bracket who are looking to push their boundaries on buying towards better environmental choices.
What sizes do you cater for?
Being made to order, we have the beauty of being size inclusive and can make to whatever size they are after.
How did your supper clubs come about and what was the idea behind them:
Food has been a massive part of my upbringing. Mum is an incredible cook, and we learnt a love for food from her. Cooking for people and bringing everyone together around the table is always a dream occasion for me, so to be able to incorporate that aspect into the brand is a way to make the brand truly unique.
It works synergistically with our brand ethos, where we can focus on using local, seasonal food and use the food scraps along with the fabric scraps to create nutrient-dense soil to grow beautiful things. It helps bring the whole system full circle.
We started hosting them in my house when I lived in Christchurch. My big long and wide hallway provided the perfect spot to host our first few. We have now taken them on the road and embarked on a wee New Zealand tour as part of our Spring/Summer range release, which we are super excited about.
I am the ‘chef’ and creator of all the food that goes on the table, but thankfully have amazing people to help for each one. I try to engage with the customers on the day, so having great help means I can share who we are and get to know guests throughout the evening.
What is behind your passion for composting fabric back into the earth?
I have a huge love for soil and how it is an integral part of the earth. So the fact we can bring that aspect into the brand, given that natural fibres grow in the soil, is an amazing way to create a more circular system. It also provides me super amazing nutrient-dense soil that I can use to grow all our yummy vegetables and flowers.
What has been most successful about your business?
We recently won the Best/New Emerging Business at the Waitaki Business Awards, which was such a surprise as we have so many incredible businesses doing amazing things in this area.
It’s such a good boost to the brand and acknowledgement that we are building something amazing.
What’s something about our brand people might be surprised to know?
We are about to open a shop, which is super exciting. Our studio space will become a shop front in Kurow and stock a handful of our favourite businesses. In Good Company will be the shop front to showcase Jessica Flora and other local talent.
Images supplied