Win for young designer

Designer Adrian Hailwood and fashion graduate Danielle Rollo celebrate the success of his "right-hand girl". Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Auckland workroom assistant Danielle Rollo has won a trip to Britain after being judged the country's best recent graduate fashion designer.

The "right-hand girl" of designer Adrian Hailwood was yesterday named the Deutz Fashion Design Ambassador 2005 in a British Council-backed programme to give emerging talent a chance to travel to London.

The 23-year-old graduate of AUT has also worked as a pattern-cutter for the World design house and is keen to develop her own label, Love & Lewis.

She also gets a chance to show her capsule collection, Diamond in the Rough, at Air New Zealand Fashion Week.

In a leadup function to next week's big event on the fashion calendar, she and 13 other young designers showed their work and were assessed by established designers on their ability to market and cost garments commercially. Juliette Hogan and Tara-Lee Aitken were judged second and third.

Now Rollo's longer-term plan to go overseas and develop her "bold and fun" label has been fast-tracked.

"It's just the beginning of it at the moment," she said over a celebratory drink. "I'm going overseas, I'm going to London and I can do all these great things," she added as she took in that her prize was $3000 expenses and the chance to go to London Fashion Week and meet industry players.

"I can put together a wish-list and they'll help me to do it."

At the Hilton hotel, Rollo's skinny pants twinned with cunningly constructed tops featuring capelets stood out with clever colour combinations of lilac, electric blue and red.

She describes her clothes as "quite high-fashion, but streety", and able to be worn day and night.

Hailwood, who has himself been mentored by Karen Walker to London, was thrilled to see his cutting assistant of nearly two years get the chance to fashion her own success with what is the country's biggest prize for new talent.

"It's a really strong look," he said of her clothes.