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Fashion milestone for Nom*D
The more elderly followers of fashion among us may not be so keen to reveal their birthdays to the world, but you'd think it would be okay for a 21-year-old to do so. Yet one 21-year-old hipster has been keeping the anniversary fairly quiet. It turns out that Dunedin label Nom*D turns 21 this year. The street styling label has been around for more than two decades.
"Yes, we've been typically low-key about it all," says designer Margi Robertson, laughing over the phone from the wintry south. "Until 1998 we pretty much produced knitwear only," she says, explaining her label's history. "Often the collections were shown only in black and were one size only. From 1999, when we were asked to be one of the New Zealand Four at London Fashion Week, producing garments to complement our knitwear became important. And we've never looked back."
Which is why after the new collection, which will reference elements of Nom*D's past, is shown next Monday evening at Fashion Week, you shouldn't be surprised to hear a whole bunch of black-clad style mavens singing happy birthday to their favourite brand.
Rachel's in the swim
Rachel Hunter is taking Fashion Week very seriously indeed. First she was a special guest of naming rights sponsor Air New Zealand. Now, as a designer of her swimwear range Lola, she's going to be showing her togs off on the runway for the buyers and media on Thursday, then as part of the public day Air New Zealand Fashion Week 4U on Friday. What's more, she's going to be hosting the event. Busy girl.
Sporting success
Local designer Charmaine Love is bound for bigger and better things overseas, even before her Fashion Week show next week. Love has recently been reporting the sort of success in the sporting arena that many a New Zealand designer would love to equal in the mainstream field. She has been supplying America's largest golf retailer, Golf Galaxy, for three seasons, and sales are apparently equalling brands such as Nike and adidas.
Love has also been making sporty outfits for American giant Anheuser Busch, which makes Budweiser beer. They include bamboo shirts and organic cotton polos to go with two new premium vodkas the company has just launched. World domination - well, in the golf clothing area - doesn't seem far off for this plucky New Zealand brand.
Rising star
New model on the block Derya Parlak is this year's flavour of Fashion Week, reports her agency, 62 Models & Talent. Designers like Parlak's versatile but modern look - she's been shot for various local fashion mags and the Kate Sylvester lookbook - and now she's being booked for more runway shows than most of their other models. The leggy Auckland teenager has been modelling properly for only about six months.
Almost as good as being there
With local broadcasters restricted to two minutes of runway video a day, the best place to see the whole shebang will be online at the sponsor's website.
Air New Zealand has built a micro-site for the event that will feature all sorts of video footage, including highlights from the shows. An email notification service will let you know when the show you wish you'd been invited to is playing. Check www.seeairnzfashionweek.co.nz for more.
Also on this website is information on Air New Zealand's clever way to give Fashion Week, quite literally, a flying start. A flight takes off on Sunday from Sydney and arrives in Auckland in time for Fashion Week's opening ceremony. What's unusual is that, mid-flight, the passengers will be treated to a fashion show, a sort of preview at 9000m. You can find out more about how to become a passenger on this unusually glamorous flight at the same website.
Celebrities on the catwalk
As New Zealand designers prepare for their big moment on the runway, in America some of the biggest labels in the world have just finished that nation's major garment industry event, New York Fashion Week.
While a lot of the usual suspects have appeared, a couple of eagerly awaited new celebrity lines have made their first showings at the event. The small, stylish Olsen twins launched their range of clothes, and Chloe Sevigny has revealed her own line of outfits.
Guests of honour
Here are the people who will be sitting in the front rows this Fashion Week and whom we should all be nice to if they're to say pretty things about NZ style.
Collezioni, the Italian fashion trade mag that features all the runway shots of all the important international shows, is sending Stefan Hoffinger Behmer.
This is his second trip here and with any luck New Zealand designers may even get a mention in the international style magazine he founded, Gatsby.
Also returning is the genial Christopher Blomquist, the North American bureau chief for fashion business magazine Sportswear International. This chilled-out chap from New York already rates local fashion highly.
Paper magazine is sending Carol Lee, its creative director, for the first time. Lee writes a lot of its major feature stories and seems to be a bona fide New York hipster, art lover and all-round nice person.
American Elle will be represented by Carol Han, the website's market editor and a regular blogger. Han's something of a social blogger - her web log is called Girl About Town and she writes about the parties she's been to and the clothes she's seen rather than straight runway reviews.
Peter Davis is another socialite-style blogger; he comes to us from the Fashion Week Daily website. This is a site set up by the founder of the more serious, news-focused fashion website Fashion Wire Daily. Rather than runway reviews, the Daily focuses on celebrity and fashion industry gossip. Not sure if they'll find too much of it here . Still, apparently it's very influential and widely read.
And Jason Campbell, founder of the JC Report, is also back for another round.
This regular newsletter, one of the first decent fashion websites - it was founded in 2002 - is read by stylists and fashion insiders and his runway reviews are always balanced and knowledgeable.
Equally serious is writer Fiona Harkin, who's representing influential trends forecasting site Worth Global Style Network. This is the website big business subscribes to in order to keep up with fashion movements.
Harkin also writes for other publications such as the Financial Times of London.
Australian David Bonney is more of a stylist than a writer. The former fashion editor of yen women's magazine is crossing the Ditch to represent various hip, cool magazines and the Sunday Telegraph. Also on that flight from Australia will be Natalie Shukur, news editor of one of the coolest Australian magazines out, Russh. This title has always been very supportive of local designers.
