The boys' night out at Fashion Week

A model wears an outfit from label Little Brother during day two of New Zealand Fashion Week 2005. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

The men in the audience had more to choose from when Fashion Week's streetwear shows last night departed from the feminine glamour of the daytime and returned to edgy, original apparel.

Established labels Nom*D, and Workshop, Workshop Denim and Helen Cherry pleased their loyal followers who packed in to venues at Auckland's St James theatre and Viaduct Marine Village.

Emerging exporter award-winning designer Murray Crane of Little Brother -- one of the country's sole menswear designers -- also brought to the stage his relaxed and discreet winter 2006 collection.

Polish buyer Piotr Kreft said discovering "original" designers was the purpose of his mission to New Zealand.

"There's a niche in the European market -- it's needing something new," Kreft said, referring to the social group throughout the Continent who work hard and party hard.

"They like hip bars and a high-class atmosphere. They can all wear Gucci and Armani -- but it's just boring now."

His team at Head Hunters Music Company in Warsaw all agreed New Zealand fashion week may be their answer to a new style for European DJs and "clubbers" and he said he hoped to speak with designers including Nom*D, Zambesi and IPG over the four-day Fashion Week.

"New Zealand is perceived to be extreme over there."

Dunedin designer Margarita Robertson's Nom*D label would not have disappointed anyone in search of originality.

Robertson's show was a visual experience with dark oversized ensembles cloaking models with white spray-painted foreheads, dwarfed by a giant screen playing abstract images behind.

There was a party atmosphere in the audience, and they seemed to appreciate the reinvented vintage coats with tartan layers over tights and heavy black boots.

Patriotic wolf-whistling erupted when an ankle-length New Zealand flag-cape was modelled on stage.

Husband-and-wife team Chris and Helen Cherry offered a more conventional, but sharp, steel-coloured urban streetwear with their three lines -- Workshop, Helen Cherry and Workshop Denim.

Other labels on show yesterday included; Annah Stretton, Pearl, Petrena Miller, Madcat, Lois Phin, Deborah Sweeney, Virginia Poppe Silk Attraction, High Society and james&august.

- NZPA