twenty-seven names

twenty-seven names is an independent New Zealand womenswear label founded in Dunedin in 2005 by Rachel Easting and Anjali Stewart, now Anjali Burnett. Working from a shared flat while Easting completed fine arts at Otago Polytechnic and Stewart had recently graduated in fashion design, they launched the business as Love Lies Bleeding with the collection Dog eat Dog. The name changed after an American rights claim: TWENTY-SEVEN NAMES LIMITED was registered on 21 June 2007, while Love Lies Bleeding continued to appear publicly into February 2008. Easting and Burnett remained the label’s joint creative authors throughout the transition.

After moving the business to Wellington, the founders built twenty-seven names through wholesale, direct retail, seasonal campaigns and selected runway shows. A cat may look at a Queen opened New Zealand Fashion Week in August 2018, bringing the label’s tailored womenswear and custom prints to one of its most visible domestic runways. In June 2026, the 60-look What is done in love will last forever retrospective at City Gallery Wellington surveyed two decades of work. The label continued in 2026 with online sales, its 27 Ghuznee Street store in Wellington and a national stockist network; Doom and Bloom AW26 was released in five drops, concluding in May.

Easting and Burnett work as a design pair, combining fine-art and fashion training within one shared practice. Tailored jackets, dresses, shirting and knitwear form a recurring wardrobe, animated by custom prints, florals, collegiate references, pop-cultural memories and occasional slogan graphics. Proportion and fabric keep these references grounded: a season may move from romantic florals to darker graphics or heraldic motifs, yet the clothes retain a recognisable balance of structure, ease and everyday wear.

Local production is part of the same design system. twenty-seven names manufactures its mainline in Aotearoa through specialist pattern-makers, cutters and machinists, with sourcing that includes deadstock textiles and natural fibres such as cotton, linen, silk and ZQ Merino. Recent seasons are frequently released in measured drops, giving each fabric story or group of garments room to enter the collection gradually. Stable joint authorship, local manufacture and a disciplined seasonal wardrobe have carried the label through its rename, changing retail footprint and successive shifts in the New Zealand fashion market.