KEY POINTS:
Francis Hooper has always intrigued. As irreverent and colourful as the clothes he creates he is, according to his business partner - and, until recently, wife -Denise L'Estrange Corbet, a creative genius and workaholic who never really switches off.
Over the past 20 years World has marched defiantly to the beat of its own drum, defied the critics, annoyed a few people along the way, yet still created a world of dedicated fashion followers. "You have to be a strong person to wear World," explains Francis. "It's not a label for shrinking violets."
We're sitting in the meeting room at the World headquarters - a beautiful 150-year-old former Wesleyan chapel tucked away behind a mess of giant billboards metres away from the madness of Spaghetti Junction.
There's a sense of calm chaos in this former place of worship. Rolls of fabric lean against the brick walls, benchtops are covered with patterns, scissors, pins and glittering trims. Rails of garments jostle for attention; an over-the-top gold baubled jacket leaps out amongst the riot of colour.
The room where Francis and I are drinking tea is hardly big enough to swing a cat and full of oddities such as a giant World carry bag, a pair of antlers and Christmas decorations. Francis is talking 19 to the dozen. Words spill out of his mouth faster than a spool of unwinding cotton. The "creative genius" jumps from topic to topic, laughing along the way, "Sorry I'm being so random in my answers" as he leaps on to another subject.
I'm trying to pin him down to talk about World's much-heralded return to Air New Zealand Fashion Week. When it was announced they were back, after a hiatus of four years, there was a wave of excitement: World are renowned for putting on elaborate and entertaining shows.
"We just don't do a show that shows the clothes, we're quite opinionated that way," he admits. "If we made a collection and wanted to sell it that way, then we'd just give you a lookbook and say there you go. To us a show is all about expressing our ideas, our dreams, our wish of what life would be like if it was a world of World."
It was back in 1995, at the then Corbans Fashion Collections, that World first rocked the runway, to the sound of Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man with models wearing Pacific-inspired garments and defiantly carrying a "Nuclear Free Fashion" flag. Until that point the action on the runway had been entirely predictable. The crowd sat up in their seats enthralled.
Over the years World's shows have always created a buzz for their creativity - incorporating everything from drag queens with over-the-top wigs and costumes to alien models in prosthetic masks.
World was one of the first New Zealand designers to show at Australian Fashion Week and was part of the New Zealand Four (with Karen Walker, Nom*D and Zambesi) who were the first to show at London Fashion Week in 1998.
World has always worked with the same creative team for shows, headed up by New Zealand hairdresser Brent Lawler who is now based in New York where he works regularly for Italian Vogue, has just completed the recent Dolce & Gabbana campaign and has worked on the Valentino shows in Paris.
Francis's enthusiasm flows over as he spills about the show. "The collection is called There Is No Depression In New Zealand. It's a tongue-in-cheek comment on the current climate right now, as well as ... Well, you can take it any way you want..."
One guess is he's referring to Denise who has suffered depression for most of her life and bravely became one of the public faces for the illness in a television campaign in 2006. She writes openly about her experience in her revealing autobiography All That Glitters which hits the stores, with perfect timing, just days before the show.
You can't imagine Francis ever getting depressed. In his woolly Louis Vuitton ski hat and an oversized bowtie - "Everyone should wear one, men and women. They're so theatrical and colourful and they make people smile" - he burbles on with an almost child-like enthusiasm.
"I love New Zealand but, God, we get so depressed over everything. So this collection is like `snap out of it and enjoy life'.
"... World has never been about a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, or the look of the season, or the derivative of something else. I mean we get inspiration, don't get me wrong. We're not in a bubble that creates pure creation. I just find that more and more fashion is just about pleasing the customer and we live in a time that feels so bland and so produced and over-thought. And everything is a product.
"Fashion is dying in its mainstream terms. I mean all the big chains are coming in and passing themselves off as high-fashion-fabulous and I think it's a culture of exploitation and rip-off.
"I mean the poor workers in China getting paid next to nothing, well that's what I call obscene. And then a woman in Auckland pays $300-$400 for a product that's made in China that is a derivative and totally pedestrian and suburban. I find it really ... We create ..." He's on a roll. Words pour out of his mouth. I'm finding it difficult to keep up.
Francis is head designer at World where he works collaboratively with Benny Castles who designs the menswear and Lou Davies, who until recently designed the womenswear. "But she's left. Gone to London for love. Bless. So this will be entirely my collection of womenswear at fashion week."
Denise runs the business side of world and is the tailor who takes their designs and ensures they can work. "She sits there and goes `What are you doing?' Review. Review. Review." She's been away a lot this year writing her book, which has been scary."
On their separation? "That's life. We have a huge respect for each other and will continue to work together," says Francis with a subtle I'm-not-going-to-say-any-more shrug.
"The reason why we haven't shown at New Zealand Fashion Week for the past four years is because we have been focusing on growing the brand internationally," he explains.
"We couldn't grow our company and have all our dreams that we want just selling in New Zealand."
World travels to Paris four times a year to sell their collections. They take a `salon' or stand at Trannoi during the various fashion weeks and, says Francis, the buyers come because it's the place to buy high-end fashion. "They get us. They get our humour and irreverence. There's the Asian, Arab, European and American markets all coming together. You really get a sense of what's happening planet-wise. It's exhausting. We don't have an agent and do it all ourselves. But then we can customise things for clients.
"As a designer and creator I really respond to travel," says Francis.
"I am a very much a visual person, so I react to everything I see everywhere and anywhere. Honestly, I could be serving in a shop and hot funky guy or girl could walk in they've just put themselves together in a way that's inspiring and I'll just log it into my thick skull.
"I'm not an internet person and one thing I don't do is buy magazines. I get inspired a lot by the team around me and we have a lot of fun, we play. And out of the play we structure very sharp, edited collections for the modern woman. Because at the end of the day it is a business."
Does he ever switch off?
"Well, I love music. Ultimately I'm a music person and every Saturday I do a show on GeorgeFM with Reece Jensen.
"I find fashion and music very similar, they entertain the mind, and I couldn't live without either."
Francis Hooper certainly dances to his own tune and for that we should all be grateful.
He's wonderfully honest and I learn while reading Denise's book, that in the early 1990s, when the business was going through great change, he suffered from the rare condition Ramsey Hunt Syndrome (a remnant of chicken pox) which among other things affected the nerve and muscle control in his face, and today explains his reluctance to smile for photographs.
Over the years World has changed, grown, stumbled, and got back on their feet again.
Denise has received the NZ Order of Merit for her services to fashion, the Auckland Museum held a retrospective of the label in 2005 and their garments can be found in museums including Te Papa and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
People are going to love our show or hate it," Francis says, finally getting back to why I'm here.
"That's okay. I've been in this business long enough to know how it works and I've hardened up to that. I'd rather be a designer who gets a reaction and gets people talking than not, no matter what they're saying."
And with World, you can bet next week they'll all be talking.
