Expert Eye: Pammy - the clothes?

A model wears a creation by A*Muse. Photo / Getty Images

"Do not complain about or criticise the clothes or you will be immediately dropped from the show."

That was the word from one Auckland model agency to its walkers before the Pamela Anderson/Richie Rich A*Muse show.

The mixed bag of models in the Friday night flash-fest seemed to be having a ball - surfer Maz Quinn was, after all, singled out by Pammy as the hottest Kiwi guy she sized up - but as to the clothes?

Well, there wasn't much to most of them, obviously.

Published pictures mostly show Anderson flashing her boobs and booty, and of busty models and hunky men in A*Muse's skimpy club-kid bright swimwear.

But the label's co-founder and Warhol wig-wearer Rich has a fashion history dating back to when he founded Heatherette in 1999 with then boyfriend Travers Rain.

This after super-stylist Patricia (Sex and the City) Field admired his outfit and wanted 20 of them.

The likes of the Hilton sisters, Gwen Stefani and Nicole Richie were clients and drag queens sometimes models.

Heatherette was wound up last year when it lost its financial backing, but in February Rich showed solo in New York.

He intends to continue doing this, as well as working with Anderson on A*Muse, and ultimately other muses.

As his business partner she will remain involved, especially as she is the driving force behind the brand's eco-friendly ideals.

There's also a lot of Anderson in the clothes.

Rich is no stranger to eye-catching and outlandish getups, but usually there's a bit more to them.

One garment took me all the way back to Baywatch, minus CJ's famous red swimsuit.

It was a tie-dye bikini topped with a big white shirt that you could imagine a younger Anderson shrugging over her golden shoulders.

The droopy-drawers overalls in pink and black might have been something Rich was forced to wear in his earlier life as a travelling member of an ice-skating troop (guess that's where he got his ability to gig down the runway on rollerskates).

More Richie was a graphic black-and-white knickerbocker all-in-one with an asymmetric top - she after all prefers to be naked than dressed - and so too was a fuchsia lurex tutu and a long electric blue satin slip.

A hot-pink and black print bandeau bikini with boy leg pants might have been a bit too much of a beach coverup for Anderson, but on a chilly Californian night perhaps she'd slip into one of the oversized T-shirts or the pink and black cotton-knit extended boob-tube of a dress that might just cover her g-string.

For dress ups she might like the black-and-white zigzag patterned harem pants with matching cami-top.

The Heatherette pop culture influence showed in the various screen-printed T-shirts emblazoned with repeated images of ghetto blasters and the words A*Muse Me, A*Muse World Tour or Malibu Baby combined with images of Anderson and Rich himself.

The new label seems as much about branding as clothing.

Chatting with A*Muse's brand manager, Clif Loftin this was reinforced.

I asked if the range was in store and was told "end of October, early November" in the States. They were hoping to get a distributor here also.

From New Zealand the label will be shown in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. It may not be quite market ready, but it sure is marketing ready.

Pamela's people have been talking to Bono's people about some of the issues he and wife Ali Hewson have faced with their socially conscious Edun clothes line.

A*Muse's environmentally friendly pitch (organic cottons, no animal products etc.) is Anderson's contribution, but get specific and the answer is: "We're exploring that."

Plans are already afoot to expand, Loftin says. "The brand is more than apparel."

Talks have been held on launching an organic champagne, cosmetics are a possibility.

In November, in department stores across the States, a Pamela perfume will go on sale called Malibu.

Beachgirl bedhead was also the theme for hair in the show.

Makeup was post-punk hot, though a friend reckoned the purple eyeshadow and shocking pink lips were more Barbara Cartland-esque.

The most "designed" garments Richie Rich showed featured asymmetry. They stood out among the rebellious teen undie parade.

A one-shouldered outfit with billowy harem pants came in transparent black and a flowing silk maxi dress featured a riotous print of giant butterflies.

Men were clearly there as Pam-Candy, though it was Rich who did the hands-on backstage dressing.

There wasn't a lot for them to wear, except the budgie smugglers decorated front-of-house with sequins and mirrored tiles. And leggings, in turquoise dance-length and white knee-length ones with cut-outs slashed down one thigh

One garment that it's hard to see having much of a shelf-life, is Anderson's A*Muse scarves.

Two "malfunctions" two days in a row, suggest the hoops of fabric would not make the ideal beach coverup - unless you're invited to a very A*Muse-ing party.