TV stars Petra Bagust and Sonya Wilson are willing to take the clothes off their back for a good cause. The Breakfast host and 20/20 presenter are two of the best-dressed women on the box, but learned everything they know about style from their op-shopping student days.
These days both women have designers begging for them to wear their clothing, but Sonya (34) and Petra (40) were quick to donate their gorgeous threads to the Give It Up for Hospice campaign. However, when it comes to parting with their children’s baby clothes, both women are more sentimental.
“I don’t mind getting stuff out of my own wardrobe, but I almost feel like shedding a tear folding up my baby’s newborn clothes,” says Sonya, who is mother to one-year-old Arthur. Petra, mother to Venetia (8) and sons Jude (6) and Theo (5), agrees. “I think most mums will keep mementos of a certain era.”
“I get attached to the story of the clothes but actually it’s a really good thing to give them up – it’s quite cathartic,” says Petra.
Both Petra and Sonya say it’s easier to give up their own clothes – and buried in the racks of clothes at Mercy Hospice Shop on Ponsonby Rd, Auckland, are some of the treasures they’ve relinquished for the campaign.
There were still memories in some clothes they passed on for the charity drive – Sonya found it hard to part with a dress she wore when she started 20/20, while Petra struggled to let go of a prized, but barely worn, pair of Kenzo pants.
“I get attached to the story of the clothes but actually it’s a really good thing to give them up – it’s quite cathartic,” says Petra. “It’s definitely liberating because you don’t feel guilty for not wearing it.”
Sonya earned her fashion stripes hunting for cardigans in the 1990s, while fashionista Petra still has a cream men’s jacket she got from a charity shop decades ago.
Phase two of the campaign urges New Zealanders to get into Hospice shops to buy a few goodies to help Hospice New Zealand raise the $30 million it needs to help maintain its services for the terminally ill and their families. Petra has a personal connection to Hospice, where she visited a neighbour who was dying from breast cancer.
“Coming here today is a bit of a revelation, not just about the clothes but also the sense of community. It’s true to the philosophy of Hospice – it’s not just about caring for people physically as their life comes to a close, but also emotionally. That’s the vibe in here.”
