The A to Z of Fashion Week

This silk velvet handbag is a collaboration between Trelise Cooper and Moet & Chandon. One hundred will be given away during Fashion Week. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

A All systems are go

At 10am Tuesday, October 18, Insidious Fix has the honour of being the first to show at New Zealand Fashion Week. The trade event, held in Auckland until October 21, is a chance for more than 42 labels to show their autumn/winter 06 ranges to national and international buyers and media as they roll up for the country's biggest frock show, sponsored by Air New Zealand. They don't do it purely for fun. The idea is to pick up new accounts.

B Biggest

Trelise Cooper never fails to amaze with her super-sized shows. Last year she set a fashion week record showing 120 outfits, and this year she's super-sizing that with a 2000-strong guest list, although outfit numbers have dropped back to 70. To manage the volume, she's holding two shows, packing the largest venue (The Tent) to its 1000 capacity each time. As well as the usual buyers and media, the remainder of the seats will be filled with close associates of Trelise Cooper. Rumours of a trapeze artist and horse featuring in the show are untrue, but Cooper has just scored a couple of impressive orders from the US. Saks 5th Avenue want 1000 pieces from her spring/summer 2006 range and Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks has ordered five Rear Admiral jackets for her and her band to wear on tour.

C Come on down

The shows may be primarily trade but there are plenty of ways to be involved. All up, there will be five Best of Fashion Week shows on the Thursday and Friday where you get a chance to see the pick of the week's gear. Tickets are $45 or $35 for students from Ticketek. Then, there's the Catwalk Club lunch on the Thursday at the Hilton. For $130 you're fed and watered and get the chance to hear VIP guest Cameron Silver, hailed as vintage stylist to the stars, speak. There's even a goodie bag. For tickets, phone Raquel on (09) 377 8033 or email raquel@nz fashionweek.com For party-minded types, the official wrap happens on Friday at 4:20 and Rising Sun where there should be wall-to-wall beautiful people. Tickets are $30 from www.ticketek.co.nz or text NZFW to 858 on a Vodafone phone.

D Drinks

Fashion is thirsty work. Thank goodness there will be plenty of drinks to make things easier. Champagne is, of course, practically water to any fashion insider. So are cocktails. The ones created by some of the Fashion Week designers in the annual competition are on the menu at the Hilton's Bellini bar, including Murray Crane's winning Ginger Ninja.

Another one that took our fancy - for the cute baby pineapple garnish - was Insidious Fix designer Kylee Davis' Progressive Addiction. If you're keen to break out the old cocktail shaker at home, the recipe is to the right.

E Emerging talent

Buyers and media will have their eyes wide open for the next big thing. Newcomers include funky Wellington label Lonely Hearts Club, designed by Helene Morris and Aimee McFarlane, and Rayma, by former Levi's jeans patternmaker, Rayma Stirling. Deutz likes to splurge some of its money on the emerging talent, running a competition each year to find a Deutz Fashion Ambassador. The lucky winner, typically a graduate or new fashion entrepreneur, receives a return trip to Britain for a design-related visit and $3000 towards expenses.

F Fashion

Oh, it may look like it's just one long party, but Fashion Week is actually hard work and the star of the week is the fashion. Usually, what is about to go on the runway is classified - and if we told you we'd have to kill you. We have managed to get a few things declassified though. This is what we know. Hailwood's men's range Berlin and womenswear collection Dancing in Berlin is quite gothic and without the usual 80s colours Adrian Hailwood is known for. Instead, its rich browns and black and patterned fabrics are worked into clothes inspired by David Bowie in his late 60s, early 70s Berlin period. Caroline Church decided it was time to unleash her hidden flamenco dancer with Reason to Rejoice. Many lessons and a pair of castanets later, Church decided to use it as her design muse with heavily embellished pieces that are quite sexy and include more masculine garments. "I tried to move away from that mother-of-the-bride thing everyone thinks I do." Claire Kingan-Jones' three labels RJC, Edge and the new Kingan-Jones have spawned the Socialites collection. Miss Crabb's It's Time for Pritika uses the prints of artist Pritika Lal on her cutting-edge gear. Liz Mitchell's Night Flowers of the Pacific promises to be all about her signature red carpet couture, sumptuous fabrics and attention to detail. And Kate Sylvester's Stop Your Sobbing has a teardrop motif running through it. Sylvester was interested in the romance of grief and solitude, as well as the fact that you feel so much better after a good sob. Fashion people take a hankie.

G Goodie bags

You can't do anything these days without providing some loot for those who deigned to come. Why, any mother knows that not providing a goodie bag at the end of a birthday party is just inviting mass tantrums. It's getting that way at Fashion Weeks. The booty on the seats of the favoured are always keenly anticipated by some. So much so that one year a respected international delegate, not happy with the haul from her own, was caught rifling through the unclaimed bags around her.

H Happy Fifth Birthday

This is New Zealand Fashion Week's fifth birthday. A landmark because there was many a doubting Thomas who didn't think the event would make it to five. It's a tribute to managing director Pieter Stewart that it has gone from strength to strength. She wanted a platform for New Zealand designers to showcase their talent and believed so strongly in it, she even mortgaged her property to make it happen in the early days.

I Inkroom

Some fashion people really do have pampered lives. There is such a thing as the New Zealand Herald Inkroom, where a select few VIPs and celebrity guests are granted access to a special room and preened as much as they want. Napoleon is doing makeup, Servilles Ponsonby is doing hair, OPI is doing nails and beauty products are from Guinot. Theoretically they could go in looking like something the cat's dragged in and emerge ready for the runway.

J Jobs

In theory, walking a straight line down a catwalk sounds like the easiest job in the world. Au contraire. Models also have to look bored and beautiful at the same time as they show the clothes off to the best of their advantage. Models must be able to whip one outfit off as soon as they've stepped off the runway and get into another at great speed, then take another turn down the runway looking like it's a walk in the park. We certainly wouldn't want to do it. And their work is not over until the last garment at the Karen Walker's Karen in TV Land show has been sent down the runway.

K Kiss Kiss

Air kissing is compulsory at Fashion Week. To the casual observer, the greeting could be perceived as shallow and empty, but as any seasoned show-goer knows, the lack of flesh-to-flesh contact is for lipgloss protection. Once, always with an unenthusiastic expression, is usually enough. At the very most, an air kiss on each cheek is acceptable, though across the Tasman, where the fashion-seekers consider themselves a wee bit more cosmopolitan, our Australian cousins have been known to do it in threes (right, left, right or left, right, left).

L Location

For the second year, the event is being showcased to the world from Auckland's Viaduct Harbour Marine Village. Having outgrown its original Town Hall location (home for the first three years), Fashion Week has taken over the former America's Cup bases at the viaduct. The City of Sails gets to live up to its reputation to overseas guests, though some of the local fashion herd have been known to complain that they miss nibbling sushi between shows at the array of Japanese joints near the Aotea Centre. This year though, at least they'll have something to look at. Telco Design is responsible for glamming up the venue with chandeliers for Africa. There's one room appropriately called the Chandelier Room that will have 16 suspended. One is a $60,000 job. And the entrance will involve a giant hinaki net leading into a huge kete.

M Missing in action

Although there are plenty of designers lining up to show, there are some old favourites who will be sadly missed this year. World's crazy, theatrical shows for one. This year World designer Denise L'Estrange-Corbet says moving the workroom, showing in Paris and selling in Melbourne made them over-committed. And, not having Dunedin designer Tanya Carlson is a crying shame as she usually does one of the most-talked about shows of the week. Also absent

N Number-crunching

More than 12,000 people are expected to put in an appearance this year. There will be 20 drivers, 50 ushers and 70 dressers to help get the models ready. At least 10,000 canapes and 15,000 drinks will be served. Last year more than 9000 people attended and more than 600 delegates registered from 11 countries for the 32 shows featuring 47 labels. It costs designers $5000 plus for group and new generation shows and for an individual show prices start at $10,000 and up to $18,000m excluding GST. For that, they get a show producer, dressers, ushers, lighting and the sound system but they still have to cough up for models and makeup artists.

O Offsite

Despite the best intentions of Fashion Week organisers to stage the event in one spot, there are always mavericks who prefer to show their collectionselsewhere. Turet Kneufermann, of IPG, has gone for a moody outdoor location transforming Victoria Park Market into the back streets of Buenos Aires for her tango-inspired show, complete with string quartet. The Auckland designer is hoping for fine weather but she's got Plan B in place if it rains - all 500 goodie bags include an umbrella. Zambesi is showing at the St James, and though Insidious Fix and Nom*D are showing off-site, they're keeping the location top secret.

P Paris calling

World is not the only label showing in Paris instead of Auckland. Sabatini's popular show will also be sorely missed as they also take up an invitation from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to showcase their range during Paris Fashion Week in October. Ng, by Sharon Ng, has also chosen to do the European thing this year instead. Nom*D, bless them, are doing both.

Q Quirky

Quirky is a theme that plays over and over in the work of New Zealand's top designers. Isolation is perhaps the single most recurrent reason why they are so inclined toward adding unexpected twists to their collections. Far from the rest of the world, Kiwi designers have developed their own style that thumbs it's nose at mainstream fashion. With the growing international interest in our labels, it appears that the niche marketing concept is working.

R Rookies

The future of New Zealand fashion is also on show. It's the first time the AUT final-year design students' show has officially been part of the schedule and is a response to buyers wishes to see emerging talent. Around 35 students are showing their apparel, knitwear and costume designs.

S South Island

There is no official data, but anecdotal evidence points to the number of designers per capita in the South Island as much higher than it should be. Despite its isolation, or perhaps because of it, the South Island has produced a batch of highly talented and original designers. Nom*D and Carlson have put Dunedin on the fashion map, while Barbara Lee, Caroline Moore and Sakaguchi proudly fly the Christchurch flag this year.

T TV

Fashion is a spectator sport and if you get down to Freyberg Square, there will be live broadcasts of the on-site shows on a 20 sq m screen from noon-7pm each day. Being a couch potato never looked so good.

U Underwear, is it fashion?

We're not convinced that sending models down the runway in bras and knickers qualifies as fashion. But james&august, the undergear label launched by Sally Ridge and Nikki Blackley, is back - much to the delight of the straight male photographers. Usually dressed in khaki combat-style vests with multiple pockets (very Rambo) they can be seen battling for position to get the best shots of models in varying states of undress. Hope they're not disappointed this year. Word is that james&august have added long-sleeved T-shirts and long pants to the range.

V VIPs

So just who's coming? Vintage enthusiast Cameron Silver for one. Another notable is the mantilla-wearing blogger Diane Pernet. The Paris-based writer and former fashion editor has her own web log (www.nokia.com/lifeblog). Peppe Orru, writer for fashion bible Collezioni is also making the trek, as is Japanese Vogue, and Christopher Blomquist, the editor of American Sportwear International magazine. Which is all very well and good for prestigious media coverage but designers are more interested in buyers. Included in the lineup is New York store Scout, London's Koh Samui, Beams from Japan, MFG from China, D-Mop from Asia, Joyce from Hong Kong, Trixillini from Singapore and Australia department store Myer. That should fill the front row nicely. On the subject of VIPs, there will be a few celebrities on the catwalk. We can confirm former Miss Universe Lorraine Mexted will be in Petrena Miller's show and golfing supremo Michael Campbell and the twinkle-toed Norm Hewitt will be making a guest appearance in Charmaine Love's.

W Wellington

The stuffy capital also has its share of highly creative design talent. One designer, Charmaine Love, has even caught the eye of Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, who has worn her label to red carpet events. Love, who's featuring in the Westfield Style Pasifika section, also designs golfing gear worn by Michael Campbell. Other Wellington names to watch out for at fashion week are Deborah Sweeney and Lois Phin, both first-timers.

X X amount of money

Exactly how much Fashion Week pulls in to the country's coffers remains unclear because the designers keep their sales figures close to their chest. But Fashion Week officials commissioned research into the 2003 event and estimated it to be worth $23.2 million to the New Zealand economy. While sales figures from last year remain, as always, the business of the designers, feedback to the organisers has been overwhelmingly positive. Anecdotal evidence points to growth of up to 300 per cent for some designers.

Y Youngest Designer

One of the youngest designers taking part is Michael Pattison. He might be new to fashion week, but he is no stranger to winning competitions. We suspect he looks rather good in a bathing suit, given that he was Mr Gay Wellington, Ms Drag Wellington and a finalist in the Cleo Bachelor of the Year competition - all in the same year. "This was an unusual series of events which I drunkenly found myself bound up in ... then promptly left the country," explains Pattison, now 24. We can't wait to see his collection, which promises fine tailoring and innovative design for men and women.

Z Zambesi

They have been at Fashion Week every year and it just wouldn't be the same without them. We're especially excited because this year will be the grand unveiling of the label's new uniform designs for Air New Zealand staff. We can hardly wait. Imagine we'll all want to work for the airline now.