Designing women - five of the best at NZ Fashion Week

Barbara Lee is a veteran of fashion shows in this country.

Old Hand: Barbara Lee

And then there was the time she put men on the runway dressed in tights, their upper bodies oiled, their manhood packaged in leather codpieces.

"Oh, it was a disaster," says Christchurch-based Barbara Lee. "It went down like a lead balloon. I don't know why. I had thought the women in the audience deserved a little bit of something else after watching all those beautiful women. But I think they were shocked. Although the guys did dance nicely."

Yes, well. Lee is a veteran of fashion shows in this country. In the past the designer, who puts on a show for her clients in Christchurch every year, has used real-life sailors in her shows. And a partially-clad Nicky Watson wore the Lee frock that won Best Gown at the Miss World competition in 1997.

Lee's clothes are always possessed of a sense of drama.

She has been in the business since 1978, during which she's shown at Fashion Week three times. Lee says she's a sucker for a fashion show.

The designer says it was her delight in runway extravaganzas that led her to show again several Fashion Weeks ago, after having not done any wholesaling for a decade.

"It's both a terrifying and exhilarating experience. But there's just something about putting a collection together, then putting the clothes on those beautiful girls and watching them all walk down the runway. Then you see your garments looking exactly as you dreamed they would."

Despite being an older hand at this runway thing, Lee says she has the same worries each year. First there's the shifting of half the contents of her Christchurch workroom to a small hotel suite in Auckland for a week.

"The check-in people at the airport just look at us in horror when we arrive with all our paraphernalia, sewing machines and all. It's such a circus."

There are other worries, too. Major ones such as how to create a collection and a show that impresses both the media, who may be inclined to focus on any catwalk theatrics, and the buyers, who basically are there to see clothes they can sell.

"You're only ever as good as your last frock and you're constantly putting yourself on the line. And that is the trouble and the joy with fashion."

Favourite Fashion Show: John Galliano and Trelise Cooper, "because I love the theatre of it all".

Comeback Queen: Angela Lewis

Like a goddess of mythology, this is Angela Lewis' third reincarnation. No, not on Earth, but at Fashion Week where designers get to reinvent themselves. For almost three decades Lewis has been involved in the industry, and over the past few years the canny businesswoman, who comes from a family of fashion manufacturers, has been heading her own clothing company, Lewis Design.

For her firm, she has sold the American label ABS in New Zealand as well as putting her own mainstream brands, Saga and Soulo, on the market.

Her own labels have been seen on local runways several times, including Fashion Week.

Earlier this year, Lewis started another fashion label, again under the umbrella of her company. Called Angela Lewis, it's "more about my own expression", she said at the launch, and she has gone further with creativity, more expensive fabrics and interesting ideas.

That's why Lewis' outing at Fashion Week will be just a little different. "We are approaching things differently," Lewis says, "because this label is about my personal passion."

She and her team have had to be what she describes as super-organised because they have three labels to put on the runways. But they're well ahead, with everything running on schedule.

Lewis has found there's a big difference between bringing brands to world attention and fronting something that bears your own name.

"When it's your own label it's much more personal, much more about going forth and shaking hands and being there. It seems to make it more real [for onlookers]."

However that doesn't mean the relatively sedate Lewis is prepared to come waltzing down the runway, gesticulating wildly and throwing confetti, at the end of her eponymous labels important debut at Fashion Week.

It's resulted in her production team expanding and her coming into contact with a new group of skilled professionals.

But coming to terms with having her own name on a label has meant some readjustment, because now she no longer has the "freedom of anonymity" and says: "I'm not sure I was ever that worried or nervous before."

Favourite Fashion Show: Chloe. Because they're about the garments and the designer's influence comes through. It's not just about what a stylist has put together on the day.

High Flier: Kristine Crabb

Although this is Auckland-based designer Kristine Crabb's first outing at Fashion Week it's not her first fashion show.

She's been producing her own designs - all with vampish sex appeal, smouldering irony and slightly twisted glamour - for several years now, starting with a store called Rip Shit and Bust above K Rd, where alongside some of her work she also stocked locally-made clothing, in particular vintage garments that had been remodelled.

The warehouse-sized boutique had stylists visiting every day to find clothes and became legendary among leaders of style as the place to find items you wouldn't come across elsewhere.

Crabb, originally from the Waikato region, is bringing a some underground flavour to this year's Fashion Week.

"For the past year I've just been selling out of my store on Ponsonby Rd, but this just seems like the perfect opportunity to tell people I'm going to start wholesaling.

"I'd also like to meet some new people in the business, like-minded buyers and the media."

Fashion Week also gives her the opportunity to participate in what the organisers are calling a Contemporary Salon.

"Basically this is like a smaller show tailored for people like me with smaller businesses."

The salons are ideal for newer designers with a particularly strong idea about how they want their wares to be displayed and they are not compelled to be part of a group show where mediation may be needed if the members all have really different looks and want different hairstyles and makeup.

Although she's not giving much away about what to expect, Crabb says all her models will have platinum-blond or red hair.

And she's doing it all with a little help from her friends.

A collaboration with artist Pritika Lal has resulted in an amazing printed fabric; friends at Mt Eden salon Helmet are doing the hair; another friend's company, Phoenix Cosmetics - one of the country's few privately-owned beauty brands - will sort the makeup; and another friend, DJ Jizmatron, will provide the music.

Although the framework for her show will be of a very professional standard, it will also have a laid-back approach.

Favourite Fashion Show: Alexander McQueen. Because a couple of them were so over the top and would have been so expensive to produce, but they were so beautiful and simple at the same time. It showed you can do a really strong show but still keep it simple.

First-timer: Petrena Miller

Petrena Miller's clothes are described as ultra-feminine, gorgeous and luxurious.

And although many New Zealand guys out there may not know it, they've been wearing her work for quite a while, because before starting her own business, Miller worked for two of the country's best-known sportswear firms.

First came Canterbury of New Zealand and then Line 7, where she designed outfits for the All Blacks and America's Cup crew.

In 1991 Miller decided to start her own label, beginning with designer golfing clothes "because most people just seem to play golf in their gardening clothes".

Miller's had major success with this range and those to appear in her gear include former United States President Bill Clinton and New Zealand's top golfer Michael Campbell.

Four years ago she began designing women's clothing under her own name.

"Sportswear today is fun to make but it's not as much fun as womenswear."

Miller, who has run her own successful business for 15 years, seems well prepared for the trials and tribulations of a group show at Fashion Week.

The most exciting thing for Miller about showing on the Auckland runway is that she will be able to go a little wilder with her designs than usual.

"We are classic with a twist really. But going on the catwalk means I've had to lift my act - which has been a great excuse to make some showpieces, to do some wonderful creations without worrying too much about price. And I'm absolutely loving it."

Favourite Fashion Show: Christian Lacroix. I love the luscious fabrics and the brilliant, vibrant colours and the way they put things together with such imagination on the runway.

Designer to the Stars: Charmaine Love

For a first timer at Fashion Week, designer Charmaine Love has a long list of celebrity names wearing her clothing.

The Wellington designer will be launching the first collection of her eponymous label on Auckland runways next week. With her husband Dan, she's already in charge of two successful clothing ranges. One is Kia Kaha, a sports clothing and streetwear label with a distinctly Maori flavour. The other is Cambo Clothing, a line developed in association with New Zealand golfing star, Michael Campbell. After years of sponsorship from Nike, Campbell approached Charmaine and Dan and together the trio started up the new label. And it managed to get huge international exposure earlier this year when Campbell made sporting history by winning the US Open.

His shirt, on the day of that victory, was one featuring a contemporary Maori design that incorporates the mango pare, or hammerhead shark. After that, the phone lines and website at Kia Kaha went wild with international customers wanting a replica of the shirt.

Also recently clad in the distinctive Maori designs are folks like musicians Ben Harper, Robbie Williams and hip-hopper 50 Cent. Fergie, the female vocalist from best-selling pop group, The Black Eyed Peas, wore a Kia Kaha on the red carpet at Australia's ARIA music awards.

And while the clothes Love shows at Fashion Week won't resemble sportswear, that unique flavour will still be there.

The self-taught and self-effacing Love, who is still too shy to call herself a fashion designer despite having won some major fashion prizes, including the Style Pasifika Supreme Award last year, will be making garments more high fashion than street.

"I've tried to design in [the unique Maori aspects] in a more subtle way.

"I am looking forward to the experience because I'm passionate about Maori art and design and my big focus is to see it out there in the international arena."

Favourite fashion show: Liz Mitchell, for a couple of reasons. I love her feminine looks and classic tailoring. She's helped me out with some mentoring and is amazing.