Expert Eye: Stolen Girlfriends Club

A model showcases designs by Stolen Girlfriends Club at Fashion Week. Photo / Getty Images

"That was amazing, No more Stolen Ideas Club," was the verdict from a top Auckland fashion identity immediately after the late show last night.

For the hip label that has had a strong following for a few years now, the view the collective hasn't always been the most original outfit may be heresy, but having sat through a few of their shows I take the point. (Sometimes it doesn't help to have a memory that stretches back more than a decade or so).

Perhaps that way why I was a slow-starter getting myself up to Newton to see "Welcome to Nowhere." Truth to tell, I'd been given a heads up the show would be at least an hour late. So working on fashion time, I threw in another 10 minutes.

A Stolen Girlfriends Club show is a bit like going to a gig, plenty of standing around, having a few, while the atmosphere builds. By the time I squeezed my way in, the action was already underway. Declaration time: This isn't a review, I didn't see enough to form an opinion (so check out Viva fashion writer Zoe Walker's take or our photos to make up your own mind).

I did see some interesting looking knobbly knits, distressed black denim, skinny stripe leggings and tops, and a jacket pieced together from a pale denim vest with tan leather sleeves. Then there was the tattooed chap who finished the show in his jeans topped with a giant Dreamcatcher on a hula-sized hoop.

The after-show buzz was palpable, but I headed off in search of takeaways.

For the many in party mood, the night was still young.