KEY POINTS:
Last night in St Paul's church, every nerd's dream came true.
Although the geek doesn't usually get the hot girl, the finale of a fashion show held by local labels Mala Brajkovic and Little Brother had the assembled crowd of around 600 Aucklanders thinking that they just might.
The two labels didn't show their winter collections at Air New Zealand Fashion Week late last year, which may have been part of the reason for such a big turn out of local followers of fashion.
Brajkovic started the show with sexy "hoochie mamas" - the models had their hair in cornrow braids and a fake tear tattoo painted onto their cheeks and stalked the runway, which ran through the middle of the church, to old fashioned rock'n'roll.
And the clothes themselves are bound to become a cult label, with more fans both here and overseas. Various items had all the trappings of hot bogan style (think Outrageous Fortune) with black lace, leather ties, denim, rivets and printed pin corduoroy that looked like that old bogan tradition, velvet.
But the mini skirts, laced up bodices and one daring body suit were cleverly offset with pretty elements, like scalloped edging on jackets, simple petals of ruffles, tiny paisley prints and the season's own, bite-sized signature print.
And even though the clothes had been styled for the runway, for maximum hoochie effect, it was also clear that there was plenty in the range - called Pepe's Revenge - for everyone, with the zip front minis for younger Brajkovic fans and jackets with a difference, brightly coloured pencil skirts and tailored dresses for everyone else.
Following closely on the wenches' heels came an army of misbehaving geeks for Little Brother.
The boys' hair was slicked back, some wore jam jar glasses and some carried school books and bags selfconsciously.
During the show, set to more of a punk soundtrack, the good boys quietly morphed into bad, painting coloured streaks in their hair and eventually turning up shirtless and big booted.
It's hard to change too much about menswear - the guys don't like something different every season the way the girls do.
But these days New Zealand men are getting more adventurous with their outfits and Little Brother are doing their darndest to go boldly where they may not have gone quite so much before, making a few careful forays into transformative and deconstructed garments.
Most strikingly they're adding elastic! This meant you got a tailored skinny trouser that, if you pulled on the elastic, ruched the side of the trouser and became a far more interesting pant. The same, smart move was used on jacket lapels.
Obviously there was also a ton of stuff for the smart lad about town - bomber jackets in a distinctive pinstriped wool, tuxedo-style jackets and a selection of cool shirts, everything from a splattered midnight blue T-shirt to collared shirts halved by two differing fabrics.
But the best was yet to come - for the nerds in the audience anyway. As a sort of brief finale, the hot girls returned to the runway again arm in arm with the nerdy boys.
Can't wait to see exactly that look on couples out on Auckland's streets this winter.
