KEY POINTS:
Straight-shooting world fashion designer Denise L'Estrange Corbet's autobiography has proved too hot to handle for her publisher's lawyers.
Withering references to Karen Walker and other fashion figures were cut or watered down from an earlier manuscript.
But the claws are still out in All That Glitters, which details
catfights off the catwalk and feuds with journalists during L'Estrange Corbet's career.
She told the Herald on Sunday she made no apology for being brutally honest in the book, to be released by publisher Random House next month.
"That's me. I've always been really outspoken," she said. "I know sometimes it's not a good thing, but I really feel it's the best way to be."
She also owned up to disliking some other designers - and the fake nature of the fashion industry. "I've got lots of friends - I don't have to hang out with other designers."
Jenny Hellen, of Random House, said it was standard practice for lawyers to check non-fiction books and suggest changes.
The book still details L'Estrange Corbet's memories of how Walker isolated herself from fellow Kiwi designers at a high-profile fashion event in London in 1998. Walker's personal assistant told the Herald on Sunday she was unaware her boss was mentioned in the book and she was unavailable for comment.
It also recalls bitter incidents with fashion writers such as Stacy Gregg, who once threatened to walk out of a World show because, the author claims, she was upset at being seated in the second row.
L'Estrange Corbet also writes of being disappointed by the lack of adventure shown by some New Zealand stylists and fashion editors.
"There are, sadly, a bunch of fashionistas in this country who have boxed World as whack-jobs, and just won't make any effort to get what we're about."
The designer is equally frank about the frightening experience of being stalked and her battle with depression.
The foreword, signed by Prime Minister Helen Clark, promises that profits from the book will be donated to the Mental Health Foundation.
The 120,000-word book recounts how L'Estrange Corbet and her husband Frances Hooper started in 1989 with virtually nothing before building an internationally successful brand worn by celebrities such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis, Gene Simmons of Kiss, Debbie Harry, comedian Lenny Henry and actresses Joan Collins and Billie Piper.
L'Estrange Corbet is as proud of the finished product as she is with her career, the highlight of which was winning the 1995 fashion award "and being recognised by our peers".