A Fine Balance

Bright lights, big city meant nothing to a Gisborne designer who turned her back on the big time

Sheryl May is a Kiwi fashion designer who made a name for herself overseas, but she missed home too much. She returned to her home base in Gisborne, where she works hard on making her fashion label work from out of the main centres of the country. Her Magazine finds out how.

Sheryl May knew from an early age that her destiny was to design beautiful clothes for exclusive clients. However, after 16 years running a successful label overseas and garnering an impressive list of patrons such as Annie Lennox, Nicole Richie and Penny Lancaster, she felt so homesick she chose to return to New Zealand and the laidback lifestyle she had so desperately missed.

“Moving away from a hub of international fashion to create a career in her hometown of Gisborne has proven to have a unique set of challenges,” says May. “But I was determined to prove that it’s possible to have success in a career as a fashion designer while still being able to call New Zealand home,” she says.

Her unique journey began as many other famous Kiwi designers did – by studying Fashion Design and Technology at Wellington Polytechnic, (now Massey University), where alumnus include the likes of Kate Sylvester and Helen Cherry. But then May took a different path, studying Spanish and psychology at university and moving to live in Spain.

Over there, May was lucky to work for a trend-forecasting agency in Barcelona before going to London to pursue her design career. “Fashion is understandably very difficult to get into on any level there, because usually work experience positions and jobs go to students from their fashion colleges,” she says. “But I was lucky, quickly securing a job.”

The experience May gained during that time helped her enormously when she launched her own label in 2000. “I got into quite a few groovy London stores and by the end of 2002 had a stand of my own in the exhibition hall at London Fashion Week.”

However, despite her meteoric rise and subsequent success, May began to pine for home and family. “The industry over there didn’t allow me any time for a life,” she says. “I was working ridiculous hours in multiple countries, and desperately missed my sisters and their kids. I had been away from them for so long,” she says. 

In 2007, she made the decision to return to our fair shores, keen to introduce her label to the country from the town she calls home. “It took a while to get set up, as sometimes Gisborne has relatively limited options,” says May. “I can’t just pop out and pick up any fabric or incidentals I might need, so I have to be super organised,” she says. “Proper planning became key.”

For three months twice a year, Sheryl returns to the fashion Mecca of London to conduct shopping trips and contract herself out for design work. However, these days she abides by a strict schedule, even though a typical day involves leaving home at eight in the morning and rarely returning back before ten or eleven at night.

“The work I do over there is pretty high pressured, be it last minute refits prior to the Burberry London Fashion Week show, on set alterations for a Marks and Spencer’s shoot, Project Runway type one-off last minute jobs for a Virgin ad or sorting out my own buyers and production for the UK market,” she says.


To ensure she doesn’t slip into her old habits, Sheryl ensures that on these sojourns she also plans time to catch up with friends, teach salsa and try out fabulous cafes and restaurants. When she returns, she uses all aspects of her journey to evolve themes popular over there to fit New Zealand styling for her self-titled label.

“I am continuously on the go while there, but I love the pandemonium of the London lifestyle knowing that soon order will resume when I return to Gisborne,” she says. “Back here, weekends are no longer spent checking out the galleries, visiting markets, shopping or tripping to Barcelona or Paris for inspiration – but chilling at the beach, spending time with family or driving around the block three times until I find a park out side the store I want to visit!” she says. “At home, my bedroom is three doors away from the studio where I work – over there, I have to walk 15 minutes, catch the tube at peak hour, standing crushed with my nose in someone’s smelly armpit for another 20 minutes, and then walk some more to get to my base.”

Living in Gisborne for Sheryl May means starting work at 8am and finishing at 5pm with no strenuous travel involved, leaving her free to spend her precious time doing whatever she chooses. The balance she has found in being able to go from one extreme to the other is what keeps the momentum of her label going year round. “There is the madness of grey London at one end and laid back sunny Gisborne at the other,” she says. “When I made the decision to come home, I wanted my life to echo the motto ‘work hard, play harder’,” she says. “And I stick to it.”

Attuned to the London ways, May anticipates her busy schedule and says that, as a result, she has become highly programmed for maximum efficacy in London, inevitably taking a few weeks to readjust to the Kiwi way of life. However, with all she has achieved, it comes as no surprise to people what Sheryl can accomplish in a short amount of time.

“Despite sounding a bit foreign, I am, at heart, a Gisborne girl and really excited that I am finally designing for New Zealand women,” says May. “Naturally I adjust my designs because the UK focuses more on smart day, cocktail and occasion wear, and women over there wear garments that are softer and more feminine,” she says. “But I believe New Zealand women want to be more in touch with their feminine side, so I will help them bring sexy back!”

Sheryl’s tips for achieving work/life balance
• Slow down!
• Life is simply too short, so take steps to stop and enjoy the things and people around you. Schedule more time between meetings; don't make plans for every evening or weekend, and find some ways to distance yourself from the things that are causing you the most stress.
• Work smarter
• Rather than a career change, consider less stressful options within your chosen career. This change may involve working with your current employer to identify a new position, getting a new job in your field or becoming a consultant to freelance to other businesses in the same industry.
• Learn to better manage your time
• For many people, most of the stress they feel comes from simply being disorganized. Learn to set more realistic goals and deadlines – and then stick to them.
• Get moving
• It's hard to make time for exercise when you have a jam-packed schedule, but it may ultimately help you get more done by boosting your energy levels and ability to concentrate.
Remember: a little relaxation goes a long way!

Christina Roys
www.sherylmay.com