Future fashion

Lonely by Lonely Hearts. Photo / Supplied

Lovely knickers

Lingerie from local fashion label Lonely Hearts will finally be available to buy mid-January, when it launches its online store. We predict big things for the Lonely by Lonely Hearts line - made in New Zealand and so beautiful you'll want every style. Sheer floral print bra? Strappy nude bodysuit? Frilled pastel knickers? Yes, please. The first collection will be followed by an eagerly awaited second collection in February. The first month of the year is set to be a good one for lingerie lovers - Stella McCartney's line will finally be available from Bendon stores then, too.

Happy birthday

Air New Zealand Fashion Week celebrates its 10th birthday next year, so what now for the annual fashion event? Fashion week organisers Pieter and Myken Stewart are set to launch an autumn fashion festival come March, an event that will make fashion more readily available to the public. They hope to hold a range of events throughout Auckland, including group shows that showcase in-store collections (see the clothes on the runway, go buy them straight after), seminars, parties and more.

Single and ready to mingle

Tom Ford revolutionised fashion in the 90s with his distinctive blend of sex and glamour, and shocked the industry when he announced his resignation from Gucci in 2004. Since then he has gone on to launch a menswear label, open boutiques and launch various fragrances. Now he has turned director with the film A Single Man. An adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel, Ford's film stars Colin Firth, as a gay British college professor living in southern California in the 1960s, alongside Julianne Moore. Critics have noted its meticulous attention to detail - figure-hugging suits for Firth, sweeping gowns and hairdos for Moore - that will make fashion and Ford fans swoon. (The same production design team worked on Mad Men). It premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September, with the release date for New Zealand set for early May 2010. We can't wait.

Shoe porn

Heels may have reached scary new heights this year with skyscraper stilettos that could instil fear in even the most practised heel wearer, but 2010 is set to be the year when we come back down to earth. Flats have appeared all over the runway recently, with, of all things, kitten heels at Marni and Missoni and short platforms at Marc Jacobs (and his younger line Marc by Marc Jacobs). Perhaps designers have taken a cue from Vogue's Andre Leon Talley, who wrote earlier this year that he was "over the mania for the high, high heel.

"Too many career women look like a herd of fashion beasts, aping one another in impractical shoes... Can't anyone take a cue from First Lady Michelle Obama, in the elegant low-heeled shoes she always wears? A flat would be nice."

Elegant isn't exactly how one would describe clogs, but they're also set to make a comeback next year. Marc Jacobs continued his love for flat shoes with his clogs at Louis Vuitton - his were adorned with fur and hardware - while Karl Lagerfeld's stacked platform clogs at Chanel came embellished with pearls and camellias.

Bye bye frou frou?

Recent trends have been all disco sparkle or grungy rips, but clean-cut lines and simplicity are set to make a return next year. Think of the no-fuss streamlined looks Phoebe Philo designed for her first collection for fashion house Celine - sharp skirts, simple leather T-shirts, crisp modern interpretations of the classic shirt, high-waisted pants, beautifully simple long-sleeved tops in various shades of camel, beige, white, and black.

And all, shock horror, opaque - a welcome refrain from the recent trend for sheer fabrics and lingerie-inspired clothes. They're wearable staples that women can actually wear.

Play time

The theatre gets a fresh and sexy makeover come February, with the opening of The Lover at the Basement Theatre. A dream team of local creatives will bring their talents to the play, including director Caroline Bell-Booth, set designer Katie Lockhart, costume designer Kirsty Cameron, photographer Derek Henderson, hair salon Stephen Marr, producer Tara Riddell and actors Craig Hall and Michelle Langstone. The one-act play, written in 1962 by Harold Pinter, follows a bourgeois couple, with the audience led to believe that the wife is conducting an adulterous relationship. "It is revealed, however, that her afternoon lover is in fact her husband, role-playing: he is her lover, she is his whore. But when the game gets out of hand, an erotic battle for dominance begins." The play runs from February 3-13, with tickets available from iticket in January.

Turquoise dreams

Pantone predicted mimosa - or a sunny shade of yellow - to be the colour of 2009, and we certainly did see a lot of yellow-hued clothes around. So who are we to argue? For 2010 they are putting turquoise forward as the colour we'll be wearing and seeing on the runways. Proenza Schouler has already done so, with a youthful spring 2010 collection that looked to the sports of surfing and skating for inspiration and featured various gorgeous shades of blue. So why turquoise? Pantone's executive director Leatrice Eiseman explained that the shade is "inviting, serene, invigorating and luminous", and provides "escapism and freshness after a tough year".