Fashionistas' frocks in a twist

Denise L'Estrange Corbet (L) and Myken Stewart have delivered Fashion Week's first catfight - before a single pose has been struck. Photos / Herald on Sunday

World designer Denise L'Estrange Corbet has accused Fashion Week organisers of "bullying" a sponsor into pulling out of a business deal because her company decided not to show at the event.

L'Estrange Corbet said the five-star Westin Hotel approached World two months ago about designing bow ties and a cocktail for the event. She had designed the fabric for the ties and was set to get them made when a call came in from the hotel, in the heart of Auckland's Viaduct.

L'Estrange Corbet said World was told the Westin was having problems because Fashion Week management was worried about the hotel working with a company that wasn't involved with the event. She said she believed the hotel had been "bullied". Although the Westin was "really sorry", L'Estrange Corbet said it had been "incredibly unprofessional" and "weak" to "bow down".

L'Estrange Corbet, who started World with Francis Hooper in 1989, sought a meeting with Fashion Week brand manager Myken Stewart and managing director Pieter Stewart, who is Myken Stewart's mother, to discuss the situation, but she said Myken did not attend and Pieter denied Fashion Week had interfered. L'Estrange Corbet said she had requested Pieter set up a meeting with all the parties involved to sort everything out, but this had never eventuated.

When phoned for comment, Myken said she did not know what the Herald on Sunday was talking about. She said World had "nothing to do with Fashion Week" and hung up.

Pieter Stewart later provided a written statement in which she said that Fashion Week had no issue with World working with the Westin and had made that clear to the hotel.

Westin sales and brand marketing manager Rachel Harmon said the hotel decided not to proceed with the bow ties and cocktails because it wanted to be seen as "neutral".

Asked if internal or external influences had played a part in the decision, Harmon said "a bit of both".

"We just didn't want any negative reaction from the other designers. That was the feeling we would've got - that it might have been unfair."

She said it was a shame the partnership had not gone ahead, adding World was a great brand, but it was the hotel's "ultimate decision not to proceed".

Zambesi, which is showing at Fashion Week, had designed an installation into a water feature at the hotel, Harmon said.

Hooper said he was "sick and tired of the pettiness" over the saga.

World returned to Fashion Week in 2008 after a three-year break. L'Estrange Corbet said in May the label would be unlikely to return this year because the cost wasn't worth it.

"There's not enough international interest at New Zealand Fashion Week for us. We put on very big shows and there's a recession and we have to decide where we're going to put our money."

She said Fashion Week wouldn't be a priority if she was launching today.

"A lot of young designers think it's really glamorous but it's not like that. No one in the fashion industry has money to splash around. I don't care who they are and how famous and fabulous they think they are."

L'Estrange Corbet has pulled no punches in her appraisal of the local fashion scene. In her autobiography, All That Glitters, she details catfights off the catwalk, feuds with journalists and her dislike of 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," she said.

World will design cocktails for TwentyOne bar at SkyCity instead.