Hannah Ongley

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as of May 19, 2012

The 1980s is memorable for more than just Ronald Reagan and Pacman: It was also the era of fluro hair scrunchies, big hairstyles and Flashdance-esque oversized sweaters. Further down the bottom of the globe, little old New Zealand was perhaps a little late picking up on these trends. So when Hannah Ongley was a child in the seaside suburb of Eastbourne, Wellington during the late 80s and early 90s, no one can blame her for taking full advantage of this situation.

Hannah’s earliest fashion memory stems from a severe case of jealousy suffered around the age of seven, when her younger sister Harriet was bought a pair of metallic purple leggings. Luckily, Hannah was a little shorter than her sister and by cutting the ends off these coveted leggings was able to achieve a perfectly customized fit for herself while simultaneously preventing her sister from achieving the same. Combined with a fountain ponytail, an all-the-rage hairstyle which involved piling the hair on top of the head and securing with a fluro scrunchy, these leggings provided the perfect outfit for any occasion ranging from school to building tree-houses.

Besides being, obviously, a knowledgeable fashionista, Hannah’s other childhood hobbies included exploring the outdoors, and reading anything she could get her hands on. When not doing one, she was doing the other. Often absent from family videotapes due to being shut up in her room with her nose buried in The Horse Whisperer, or out in the back-yard constructing an Indian-style Tipi, she was as skilled as any other New Zealand child at creating her own activities when there was little else to do.

At age 13, a little older and a little wiser, Hannah began her first year at the public high school Hutt Valley High. It was here that she truly developed her love for art, fashion and writing. Even lunchtime was not excluded from these activities, and while all the cool kids hung out at The Pavilion her group preferred the art rooms as their hangout of choice. Subjects taken during this period included Painting, Fashion Design, English, Mathematics and Physics. While excelling in some, others were deemed less important and she quickly discovered where her true passions did and did not lie.

In 2005 Hannah began a BA majoring in English Literature and Media Studies at Victoria University in Wellington. Her love for writing grew, and while other students cringed at the thought of writing a 3000 word essay, she secretly didn’t mind all that much. She also signed up to a Creative Writing for Non-Fiction course on the side, just because it sounded interesting. University life was also embraced as a time of freedom from the black, white and grey school uniforms of Hutt Valley High, and during this time she was not often seen without a pair of oversized earrings and at least two cocktail rings adorning each hand.

After gaining her BA in 2009 Hannah couldn’t bear the thought of resigning herself to a nine-to-five office job and, packing up little more than her toothbrush, iPod and favourite pair of heels, relocated to San Francisco, California to pursue her travel and publishing dreams. These days she can usually be found exploring new cities, more often than not inappropriately shod – she still has a penchant for outrageous leggings, but these days tries to leave metallic purple to the models on the catwalk.