Chanelle Shibata was wearing her own nightdress when she described why she built Mirukī - a detail she offered without thinking, and the most honest thing she could have said. Because that's the whole story, really: a woman who made the thing she needed, then never took it off.

It started the way a lot of good things do - with not being able to find it anywhere. After her first daughter was born, Chanelle was sore, exhausted, leaking, and completely fed up with the two options available to her at 2am: sleep in a bra, or drown in oversized pyjamas that made her feel even less like herself than she already did. "I just wanted something beautiful that actually worked for motherhood," she says. When it didn't exist, she decided to make it.

What happened next is the part you can't fake. She had two babies in two years, and the second pregnancy became the ultimate wear test. She designed, tested and genuinely lived in Mirukī through another round of bump, birth, postpartum and breastfeeding, refining every detail against the real thing: the changing body, the night feeds, the leaks, the sore skin, the very sweaty postpartum nights nobody really talks about. "So much of Mirukī was developed during nap times and night feeds," she says, "while I was right in the thick of the experience I was designing for." 

It didn't just come from her experience of motherhood. It grew alongside it.

You can feel that in the details, because every one of them is answering a real problem. The concealed feeding access, so a night feed doesn't mean undressing in the cold. The three washable breast pads that adhere straight to the garment - one to wear, one to wash, one spare - so she can stay leak-free and, blessedly, bra-free overnight. The breathable natural fabrics for the sweats. The silhouettes that adapt and move with a body that's still changing. And the thing Chanelle is quietly proudest of: that they're lovely enough to be seen in. "Those early days involve a surprising number of people turning up at your door while you're still in your pyjamas," she points out. So Mirukī is built to survive the doorbell - to carry her from bed to sofa to front door to coffee without her once feeling caught out.

If you ask Chanelle to name a favourite, she goes straight to the Sakura Set. The Sakura Sleeved Top she calls "the perfect statement pyjama" - though she'll happily wear it out of the house (me too…) - soft built-in bust support that makes her feel "supported, comfortable and a little more 'done' without actually having to do anything." Paired with the Sakura Lounge Trousers, chosen, she admits, largely for the pockets. "As a mother you simply never have enough hands. Whether it's your phone, a dummy, a snack or nipple cream, there's always something you're carrying." That's the Mirukī signature in a sentence: genuinely luxurious, and every detail secretly working to make her life easier.

Ask her how she shows up for the people she loves, and a different picture emerges - but the same woman. She's the cheerleader, she says. The one on the sidelines celebrating the big wins and, just as loudly, the little ones that might otherwise go unnoticed. "I always want the people closest to me to feel the thought behind it - to know how loved they are and how genuinely proud I am." It's the same instinct that runs through the brand: the belief that people should feel seen, especially in the seasons when all the attention naturally rushes to someone smaller.

Which is exactly why she says yes to We Are The Helpful. "It's a total honour to be part of a platform that truly puts a value on care," she told us - "exactly what I would have loved to have had during my own pregnancy and postpartum journey." A place that makes it easier to look after the mother going through it, not just the new arrival. "So much of what We Are The Helpful stands for aligns with why I created Mirukī in the first place." And then, because she's Chanelle: "quite honestly, the gifting platform of dreams."

We think she’s a maker who understands our whole reason for being in her bones, because she lived it, designed it, and is probably wearing the proof right now.

Welcome, Chanelle. We're so glad you're here, and absolutely adore what you do.

Explore the Mirukī collection for thoughtful, helpful and beautiful gifts ideas for pregnancy, postpartum and beyond.