This month, we’re talking to Laurinda Ndenzako, co-founder of Collective Closets and one of the creative forces behind our latest collection, Shape Shifters. Usually helping tell the stories of the women in our community, this time she’s stepping into the conversation herself. It comes at a meaningful moment: a return to design, a deeper understanding of herself and a desire to make room for what brings her joy.

Vivacious, determined and always ready for a laugh, Laurinda brings an infectious energy to the people and projects she loves. She’s also in a season of asking what she wants life to feel like. After a year and a half away from design, she’s returning with fresh ideas and a clearer sense of who she is beyond the business. There’s ambition, certainly, alongside a growing willingness to let go, protect her rest and enjoy what she’s worked so hard to create.

Her relationship with style carries that same sense of freedom. Entering her forties, she’s dressing with fewer second guesses and plenty of pleasure. Her mantra? Wear all the things. The colour, the jewellery, the generous silhouette you’ve been saving for an occasion. With Mary J. Blige playing as she gets ready, an ordinary day becomes reason enough. And if everyone else arrives in something casual? She’ll still be glad she wore the outfit.

That love of dressing began with her mother, Stella, whose resourcefulness and pride continue to shape Laurinda’s creative eye. From her red and burgundy nails to her favourite Yves Saint Laurent perfume, Stella understood the pleasure of making an effort. Laurinda carries those memories into the way she dresses and designs, finding possibility in fabric and making something distinctly her own.

Alongside her sister Fatuma, she has built Collective Closets around culture, community and the stories women recognise in one another. Their work draws on their lived experiences as Black women, their upbringing and the relationships that continue to shape them. For Laurinda, that connection gives the clothes meaning: the moment something personal becomes a conversation someone else can see herself in.

More recently, creating Shape Shifters with Mariam Farah the creative force behind Mariimade has brought fresh experimentation and an unexpected opportunity for reflection. Between conversations, fittings and seeing the collection on the Melbourne Fashion Week runway, Laurinda has been reminded to celebrate along the way. Her word for the year is audacity, and she’s discovering that it applies as much to honouring her own needs as it does to pursuing a creative idea.

Below, Laurinda shares the women who inspire her, the lessons of building a business with her sister and what returning to design has taught her. It’s a conversation about being seen, trusting yourself and making room for a life you have time to enjoy.

Describe yourself in three words.

Vivacious. Determined. Playful.

Who taught you style before you had the words for it? What do you carry from them into the way you dress and create today?

My mother, Stella, who is no longer with us, was the very first person who taught me style. Like so many women in our culture, she could turn very little into something beautiful. Resources could be limited, but she was always impeccably dressed. She loved getting ready, she loved smelling good -Yves Saint Laurent’s Rive Gauche was her favourite perfume -and her nails were always painted red or a deep burgundy.

She encouraged us to dress up and make an effort. Watching her, I learned how much pleasure there could be in taking care with how you presented yourself. There was creativity, dignity and a real sense of pride in it.

I carry that with me every day. Dressing for myself brings me a joy that is difficult to explain, and so much of it comes from her. I inherited her eye for possibility: looking at a piece of fabric or a garment and imagining how I could make it my own. My creativity is one of my biggest superpowers, and I see Stella in it all the time.

What’s your current style mantra or motto?

Wear all the things. Wear it all. Don’t hold back.

The colour, the volume, the jewellery, the outfit you’ve been saving...put it on. I want to enjoy my clothes while I’m living my life. An ordinary day is enough of an occasion.

How has your relationship with getting dressed changed as you’ve grown into yourself? What makes an outfit feel like you now?

Getting dressed has become a real love letter to myself. There’s so much pride and a stronger sense of who I am in how I choose to show up.

Entering my forties, I definitely give fewer fucks. I’ve always had my own ideas about style, but now I feel even more comfortable following them. I’m leaning into what I love, dressing for myself and designing from that same place.

When you live somewhere where casual dressing is so normal, it can be easy to save the things you love for another day. But I enjoy making an effort. I enjoy the ritual and the feeling it gives me.

I no longer ask my friends what they’re wearing before an occasion so I can work out how dressed up I should be. I just show up as me. An outfit feels right when I recognise myself in it-confident, affirmed and dressed for this season of my life.

If your personal style had a soundtrack, what would be the opening song — and why?

It would be a toss-up between “Just Fine” by Mary J. Blige and “Joy” by Diamond Platnumz.

Both carry the joy, happiness and energy I want to bring into my day. There’s something about music that helps me come back to myself, and those songs capture the pleasure I find in getting dressed and enjoying my own company.

Music is part of the ritual. I’m putting an outfit together, moving around, trying things on and getting into the mood. By the time I leave the house, I’ve already had a little celebration of my own.

You co-founded Collective Closets with your sister Fatuma. What has building something together taught you about yourself, and what do you each bring out in the other?

Wow. Building something with my sister has been life-altering. It has challenged me in ways I could never have foreseen, and we’ve experienced a real rollercoaster together. There have been sacrifices, difficult decisions and so many moments that have asked us to grow.

It has shown me how resilient and intelligent we both are, and how much work we’re willing to put behind something we believe in. When we’re on the same page, we are an unstoppable force.

Fatuma reminds me to dream bigger. She’s bold, persistent and doesn’t readily accept a “no”. She has taught me so much about pivoting: being willing to change the approach, find another way and keep moving. She also keeps bringing us back to our customer-who she is, what she needs and how we want her to feel.

I bring a strong creative eye, a love of the details and the ability to take our conversations and turn them into something tangible. I love working through how an idea becomes a garment, an image or a story. Together, we bring imagination and determination to the same table. We’re still learning how to make the most of that, and I’m proud of what we’ve built.

Culture, community and storytelling are woven through Collective Closets. What parts of your own story do you find yourself returning to in your work?

I keep returning to the women around us and the ways we see ourselves. As Black women, Fatuma and I bring our own lived experiences into everything we create: our upbringing, our family, our relationships and the different worlds we move through.

There’s so much richness in those everyday stories. The way a woman gets dressed, the confidence she carries, the things she’s navigating and the joy she makes room for- all of that interests me.

We begin with something personal, and then someone in our community recognises a part of herself in it. That shared dialogue is such a beautiful part of Collective Closets. Clothing gives us a way to begin the conversation.

Storytelling and centring community keep me grounded. They bring me back to the people at the heart of the work and remind me why we started.

You’ve described the women around you as your muses, whilst also claiming yourself as your own. What does a muse embody for you beyond what she wears?

A muse, to me, is someone whose way of living makes me feel more possibility in my own life. I’m drawn to women who are fearless in expressing themselves, who pursue what matters to them and who have the courage to be seen while they’re still figuring things out.

It’s their confidence, curiosity, humour and conviction. What they wear can be an expression of that, but what stays with me is how they move through the world.

I see that in Mariam, in my sister, in my friends and in women like Dunya Mudesir Bedi Othow and Lillian Ahenkan aka Flex Mami.  Different women remind me of different possibilities. Sometimes it’s the freedom to be playful; sometimes it’s the courage to take up space or stand firmly in your point of view.

And yes, I’m my own muse too. I can look at my own life, what I’ve overcome, what I’m creating and the woman I’m becoming, and find inspiration there. I’m proud to be able to say that.

Shape Shifters marks a return to design for you. What were you coming back to, and what had changed in you along the way?

I was coming back to the courage of creating with more freedom. I wanted room to follow an idea without needing to control every outcome or have everything dictated by a season.

After a year and a half away, I was excited to explore fabrics I hadn’t worked with through Collective Closets, play with exaggerated proportions, which have such a special place in my heart - and work alongside an incredible designer.

That time away also made me realise how much of my identity and personality had become tied to Collective Closets. The pause gave me space to understand who I was beyond the business, and how I wanted my work to fit into my life.

Coming back meant bringing that understanding with me. I could love the work deeply and still allow myself long periods of rest and reflection. Shape Shifters tested me, but it also gave me space to reconnect with my taste, trust my instincts and enjoy creating again.

What did collaborating with Mariam on Shape Shifters bring out in you that you might not have discovered working alone?

I had no idea I would learn so much about myself through this collaboration. Mariam brought so much joy, and some of the most meaningful parts happened through our conversations.

We talked about being called loud, the labels people give us and what it means to be seen. I think you can become so used to anticipating how you’ll be received that you start editing yourself before anyone has even said anything. Am I being too much? Am I taking up too much space? Those conversations made me think about where I was still doing that, even as someone who considers herself confident.

There’s something powerful about working with someone who sees your vision and gives you room to express it fully. With Mariam, I felt comfortable being excited, opinionated, ambitious and still figuring things out. We could challenge each other without losing that sense of care. She is fearless in so many areas of her life, and deeply grounded in her faith and community. Being around that encouraged me to trust myself more.

And despite our age gap, there were lessons I very much needed her to teach me! We both have an incredible work ethic, but working with Mariam reminded me that some days you just have to pack it in. Go home. Eat something. Rest. The garment will still be there tomorrow. Apparently, you don’t have to earn your rest by reaching the point of complete exhaustion...who knew?

She gave me permission to take better care of myself, sometimes simply by taking care of herself. It helped me see that we could be deeply committed to the work and still recognise when we had nothing useful left to give that day.

But perhaps the biggest lesson was learning to celebrate our wins. I hadn’t realised how quickly I was moving from one thing to the next. A sample would arrive, and my brain would already be making a list of what needed changing. We’d finish something, and I’d be thinking about the next deadline. There was always another job waiting.

Seeing it through Mariam’s eyes made me slow down. Her joy when the samples arrived, her pride as we moved through production, those moments of looking at a finished piece and realising that something we’d talked about was now there in our hands -she helped me appreciate all of it. Then seeing the collection on the Melbourne Fashion Week runway together, we needed to actually let ourselves feel that.

I realised I was giving the to-do list far more attention than the achievement. Mariam reminded me to stop long enough to say, “Look at what we’ve made. We did that.”

The collaboration felt organic because we were both bringing our lives into it. I can see our conversations in the clothes, but I also carry them with me beyond the collection. I came away feeling creatively challenged, deeply seen and reminded that I’m allowed to enjoy the things I work so hard for.

The collection gives the wearer freedom to change the silhouette and make it her own. What do you hope a woman feels when she steps into one of these pieces?

I hope she sees the possibilities - in the garment and in herself. I want her to feel powerful, comfortable and curious enough to play.

She might gather the fabric differently, loosen the silhouette, layer a strapless dress over a crisp white shirt or wear a sheer piece in a way we haven’t imagined. That’s exciting to me. I want her to feel invited to participate, to trust her eye and discover what feels good on her own body.

There’s room for drama, softness, ease and whatever mood she’s in that day. She can take up space. She can change her mind. She can wear the same piece differently as her life and style evolve.

More than anything, I hope she recognises herself in the way she wears it. We’ve brought our creativity to the making; I want her to feel the freedom to bring hers to the dressing.

Shape Shifters is about leaving room for change. What are you making room for next, in your life and your creative work?

More possibility. More new experiences. More opportunities to test an idea simply because I’m curious about where it could lead.

But making room also means letting go. I’m thinking about the things I keep carrying that no longer serve me: expectations, habits, commitments and ideas about who I’m supposed to be. Some things have had their season, and I’m learning to recognise when holding on is keeping me in the same place.

My word for this year was audacity. The audacity to back myself, to try something before I have every detail worked out, to say what I want and give myself a chance to pursue it. Shape Shifters has been part of putting that into practice. After time away, it took courage to return, share my ideas and allow myself to be seen in the work again.

I’m also discovering that audacity can look like saying, “Actually, that doesn’t work for me anymore.” It can mean changing my mind, protecting my time or resting when there are still things on the list. I have plenty of experience pushing through. I’m interested in getting better at knowing when I don’t need to.

This season, I’m paying closer attention to what I want for myself and what brings me joy. I want my yes to mean something. The creative endeavours I take on need to be things I feel passionate about and want to give my energy to - and I want enough room in my life to enjoy them.

There may be more collaborations. There will hopefully be more experimenting, more laughter and considerably more sitting down. I’m open to being surprised. I want to keep creating a life that excites me, whilst giving myself permission to leave behind what’s holding me back.

Laurinda’s approach to style and creativity carries the spirit of Shape Shifters: the freedom to evolve, trust your eye and make something your own. From the creativity she inherited from Stella to the life she’s building now, there’s a thread of resourcefulness, pride and joy. This chapter finds her backing her ideas, letting go of what holds her back and learning to pause long enough to celebrate. There’s audacity in that, too.

As she puts it, “I want to keep creating a life that excites me, whilst giving myself permission to leave behind what’s holding me back.”

Discover Shape Shifters, our limited edition collaboration with Mariam Farah, through Collective Closets, or follow Laurinda’s personal journey on Instagram at @aunty.ri.ri.

All images taken by Michaela Barca, featuring pieces from the Shape Shifters collection.