"Shining a light on the edge of the world"
Oyster takes a behind-the-scenes look at the "Invisible Heroes" of NZ fashion. Featured are Benny Castles and Lou Davies (Assistant Designer for WORLD Man and Woman respectively), Jenny Cook (Karen Walker), Gregory Brooks (Nom*D), Sally Wilson (Kate Sylvester), and Tulia Wilson (Zambesi). "NZ has a dark aesthetic, by that I mean moody," says Tulia Wilson. "Climate, isolation, and a pioneering spirit have a lot to do with this. Also as a relatively young country, with a really interesting cultural mix, there is a lot of freedom of expression and an egalitarian attitude which values individuality and creativity." Edge theory in a nutshell. 
(March 2005)
  

Aotearoa in vogue
The November issue of Australian Vogue contains a sumptuous 30-page spread on NZ. Topics include our "so hot right now" film industry, the best places to eat and drink in Wellington, Auckland, and Dunedin, fresh Kiwi beauty products, and the cream of our ever-growing crop of luxury retreats. Also featured are furniture designer David Trubridge, artist Peter Stichbury, musicians Scribe, Brooke Fraser, and The Veils, and fashion luminaries Marilyn Sainty, Karen Walker, Kate Sylvester, Zambesi, and Tanya Carlson. Read PDF of New Zealand Explored here.
(November 2004)
       

It's in the bag
NZ designers, Emma East and Nicky Harris, have taken their successful accessories line Rosa Bespoke Bags across the Tasman. The pair arrived back from a trip to Europe determined to oust the black leather tote-bag from its position as the Kiwi woman's mainstay: "[We] found women in Europe dressed in a more celebratory way than they did back in Auckland." Their lush feminine designs are well-received down under with Sydney bag ladies  coveting the "whimsical range" that uses beading, prints, and patch-working amongst its detailing.
(2 September 2002)
    

Penning style
"New York-based Kiwi designer Sally Penn is making her mark on the international fashion scene with her range of innovative, urban designer clothing. At 31, Penn has come a long way from her small town beginnings in Hamilton, New Zealand. Now working from a loft space in Brooklyn, she’s gained a loyal following among fashionable New Yorkers."
(Summer 2001)
         

Kiwi couture
Kiwi fashion editor of the Daily Telegraph, Hilary Alexander, pushes the New Zealand Edge into euro-fashion: "[NZ] may be half a world away from Europe and America, but its half a year ahead with its fashion." While the rest of the world has just finished showing their summer collections, designers at the first L'Oreal New Zealand Fashion Week in Auckland are showing off what could be the big trends of Winter 2002. All the collections are shown to rave reviews, especially Kate Sylvester's preppy school-inspired collection.
(25 October 2001)
             

Bax facts
"I am a supermodel. I worked damn hard to get where I am. I’ve been on many Vogue covers. I’ve done all my jobs well, and I worked damn hard to get that title. So I don’t correct people and act all humble and say, ‘Just call me model.’ But you don’t have to call me a supermodel. I am who I am. I’m Kylie and I damn well deserve all of what I’ve got."
(December 2000)

Taylor tailor
"Citrus silk wool bell-bottoms, lilac silk lace cardigan and a soft grape lace print cami-dress with lavender shearing were eternally pretty," in Kiwi style-queen Rebecca Taylor's New York Fashion Week show.
(22 September 2000)
           

On top of the brief
The Times profiles New Zealander Carrie de Duluin, Personal Assistant to Serena Rees and Joseph Corré (son of Vivienne Westwood), creators of Agent Provocateur, the label that gave new meaning to "naughty, but nice" underwear chic. Rees describes her as a second version of her: "one in a million and she is very discrete, so I trust her completely. I don't suffer fools gladly and she certainly isn't one." 
(26 July 2000)

Australian Fashion Week: "the All Blacks are well ahead of the Wallabies"
Karen Walker and Collette Dinnigan's shows at Fashion Week gain the highest praise. Among those gushing were eminent Sunday Times fashion historian Colin McDowell, and fashion director of Vogue Nippon Kim Stringer.
(10 May 2000)
      

Sweet child China Rose heads for seedy weekend in Brighton
New Zealander Kate Sylvester was one of the week's most thoughtful designers, declaring a Graham Greene inspired theme from her Brighton Rock "no cigars or pipes please" invitations to the cried myself to sleep makeup. Seedy seaside glamour mixed with modern lines and a Guns n' Roses soundtrack marked an intelligent and well crafted show. 
(11 May 2000)
   

Playing possum with beachwear
New Zealand has finally found a use for their pesky marsupial pest.  Possum leather bikinis are the sexy, fashionable and expensive Kiwi import about to hit Australian beaches.
(1 April 2000)
 

WOWed by India 
Wellington's annual Montana Wearable Arts Awards continues to entice greater number of international participants to enter in the "ultimate arts competition". A recent preview of this year's competitors saw the final design entries from India which will participate in the 2008 extravaganza. In 2007, 12 Indian designs were showcased, with a number winning in their categories. Creator and director of World of Wearable Arts (WOW), Suzie Moncrieff says, "I can see that many fashion students in India are very talented and are ready to make their mark internationally." The Awards' nine two-hour shows will be held in September and October.
(19 April 2008)

Company in LA 
Auckland artist Misery, aka Tanya Thompson, best known for her work with New Zealand clothing label Illicit, is part of group show Anything Could Happen... at Carmichael Gallery in West Hollywood. For the exhibition, Thompson created a series of paintings in which Misery characters are lost in the unknown, revelling in the haunting beauty and sadness of their environment. Formally a prolific graffiti artist, Australian-born Thompson, has exhibited her work internationally. In an interview about beginnings with Idealog, she said: "New Zealand is a really good place to start. It's small enough to get known really quickly if you're doing something interesting." In 2006, an award-winning film documented the success of her first Auckland solo show and toy range at the Taipei Toy Fair. In 2004, she opened Misery Boutique on Karangahape Road. Anything Could Happen... runs through 20 April. 
(19 March 2008)

Debuts, divas and dark designs 

Sideline venture
NZ’s best known sportswear brand, Canterbury of New Zealand, registered on leading international trend analysis site WGSN’s radar with its entry into the US market. “In a sea of denim and tees, Canterbury of New Zealand is something fresh in the marketplace. The shirts are a natural progression from polos,” says marketing manager Colin Gillooly. The premium men’s range will offer everything from traditional home and away jerseys to Canterbury’s famous “Uglies,” the one-of-a-kind jumpers made from leftover fabric pieces.
(10 August 2005)
    

Frock stars
NZ designers made one of their strongest showings yet at this year’s Mercedes Australian Fashion Week. Sales for NZ’s top brands were well up, with Kate Sylvester now believed to be Myer’s highest designer women’s wear earner, and Trelise Cooper ranking in the upper few at David Jones.
(5 May 2005)
    

Je le prends = I'll take it
NZ fashion labels Sabatini White, Nom*d, Ng, and WORLD staged an acclaimed joint exhibit at the prestigious Tranoi trade show in Paris. Sabatini White was particularly successful, securing orders of more than $110,000 and picking up new accounts in Japan, the US, Italy, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Beirut, Ireland, Sweden, Britain and France. Nom*d gained two new US accounts and one in Italy.
(14 March 2005)

Hot stuff
Alice Goulter, Wellington fashion grad and newly appointed womenswear designer for Mossimo Australia, makes Cleo’s monthly hot list. “Expect to see a difference when her designs hit stores in October.”
(September 2004)
    

Fashion's high fliers
Air NZ has launched a much-needed overhaul of its flight attendants' uniforms (last updated in 1991), with Elisabeth and Neville Findlay of Zambesi at the helm. The airline was recently announced as the new naming-rights  sponsor of NZ Fashion Week, so obviously needs to look the part.  
(4 May 2004)

Teen queens fly high
The latest designs by Deborah Sweeney and Karen Walker feature in Oyster magazine’s August/September issue. Sweeney’s aviatrix-inspired ‘Fli-Girl’ collection – a salute to original fly-girls Amelia Earhart and Jean Batten - teams mini parachute dresses with vintage plane print tees. Walker gets Yankified with her ‘Ready and Able’ collection, bringing together frothy prom dresses and high school football jackets in candy-coloured fabrics.
(August/September 2003)
  

Zambesi: the story of a New Zealand river
Australian Financial Review Magazine devotes 5 pages to edge fashion label Zambesi. "They have been called the Belgians of the Asia-Pacific region [by Harper's Bazaar fashion editor Jane Roarty]. Over a quarter of a century, cult fashion label Zambesi has turned 'quirky, cerebral and dark' into an international brand." Co-founder (with partner Elisabeth) Neville Findlay locates their success on the edge, finding their uniqueness has much to do with their relative remoteness, and "because New Zealanders had to be self-sufficient for many years [owing to] import restrictions, we have developed an individuality." After conquering the Australasian market, success in the UK (Selfridges, House of Fraser, Question Air), they're now looking to the US market. The Findlays are conscious of not betraying the roots of their "unswervingly original vision ... their strong philosophy is said to be not just about the clothes, but about where they come from and their culture."
(29 August 2003)
     

Walker's goes awol
Nylon magazine is all praise for Karen Walker's gender-bending Runaway collection, calling it "a perfect blend of daddy's old fishing jackets and backless chiffon mini-dresses." Based in Auckland, Walker attributes her edgy designs to her isolation from the fashion world's major centres: "I think that not being in the fashion scene all the time and not getting hooked up on it too much is actually quite liberating."
(June-July 2003)
   

Karen at the cutting-edge
Work by leading NZ fashion designer Karen Walker is currently on show at Seattle's Bellevue Art Museum. Walker is featured alongside fellow rule-breakers John Galliano, Issey Miyake and Alexander McQueen in Fashion: The Greatest Show on Earth, a high-tech celebration of "runway spectacle." Says Walker; "The exhibition explores the relationship between fashion and performance art. It's a really nice confirmation that our ideas are valid and valued by the fashion community." And crossing the art-pop border again: a "stunning" black satin Karen Walker prom dress helped Kelly Osbourne steal the spotlight at the MTV Awards, and Walker is currently dressing Liv Tyler and Kate Winslet.   
(26 April 2003)

Street eyes
Pavement regular, fashion and portrait photographer Derek Henerson, is showing at Sydney's 2010 gallery. The images in the collection, entitled with sweet melancholy, I Don't Feel Alone, are described as, "contemporary landscapes and cultural geography." Taken in NZ and Australia, Henderson brings the personal to the portrait, "these are things I just see and love and want to record for myself."  
(29 April 2003)
     

Sheep shearer's delight strolling the Paris catwalks
Watch out Rod: "you wouldn't want to mess with a girl like Rach. She is an Alp of a woman. Throw in the facial features of a young Judy Finnegan, a formidable Sports Illustrated embonpoint, liberal amounts of Sylvania Waters sex appeal, a weird, whiny mid-Pacific accent, and you have the kind of lofty, shopping-mall dominatrix who would stop traffic in Basildon, but wouldn't get a look-in on Sloane Street." 
(6 August 2000)
    

At large in Sydney 
New Zealand is well represented at this month's Australian Fashion Week with thirteen fashion designers joining together to create a formidable showroom line-up. These include Kate Sylvester, Cybele, Lonely Hearts and Stitch Ministry. Sylvester opted for a more unusual invitation this year, sending Australian editors small ceramic printed teacups. She returns to the runway with a solo show. Sylvester is winner of the recent NZI National SME Emerging Sustainable Business Awards and told the Dominion Post she is not a green campaigner who started the business to promote a cause. "What we are trying to do is bring sustainable practices on board as part of how we run our business." 
(12 April 2008)

Stamp of approval 
NZ label Untouched World is about to become the first fashion company in the world to carry a United Nations sustainability logo. Untouched World has been given UNESCO approval to attach the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development logo to its clothing line. "This is the first time a New Zealand company has been invited to use the label and it will put Untouched World and New Zealand on the map in taking sustainable business seriously," says Peri Drysdale, chief executive of the Christchurch-based company. Untouched World is one of only six organisations worldwide to be given permission to use the special UN logo. 
(21 December 2007)

Designing women 
New Zealand Herald writer Fiona Hawtin reports on the unique nature of the NZ fashion scene for the International Herald Tribune. "Of the 45 labels showing at the seventh New Zealand Fashion Week ... 39 of them are designed by women and almost all are owner/operator businesses," she writes, noting the stark contrast with the traditionally male-dominated fashion industries in Europe and the US. High-profile examples of this trend include Karen Walker, Kate Sylvester, Elisabeth Findlay (Zambesi), Helen Cherry and Trelise Cooper. "Boundaries don't exist so much for women [in NZ]. We can excel in the arts as much in business sectors," said Wellington designer Alexandra Owen who, together with Chelsea Thorpe and Kirsha Whitcher, is part of a new generation of NZ women running their own fashion labels. 
(12 September 2007)

Jeweller finds Wonderland in NZ
British jeweller Alice Hughes has created a range of bespoke pieces inspired by NZ plants and sea life. She established Alice in Wonderland Jewellery in 2004 after undertaking an apprenticeship in NZ, where she worked with NZ jewellers Ray Mitchell and Peter Elsbury. Mitchell found international fame after designing the "One Ring" for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. "When I arrived in New Zealand I was overwhelmed by the nature," says Hughes. "I found it really energising and the whole idea of combining the natural elements with jewellery really came together in my mind." Hughes now runs jewellery house parties in her home town of Liverpool, selling her pieces directly to customers: "I always turn up with a couple of bottles of New Zealand wine which is always a help, too." 
(20 June 2007)

Tee king 
New Zealander Glenn Jones has won the US-based Threadless t-shirt design competition a record 17 times. Jones, the creative director at Auckland's Dashwood Design studio, gets regular fan e-mail and has been featured on the cover of the NZ's ProDesign magazine as the "King of the Tees". Founded in 2000, the Threadless website allows users to vote on t-shirt designs submitted from all over the world. The winning designs are printed and sold in batches of 1500, and earn their creators US $2000. Threadless has been hailed as a prime example of the growing shift in consumer control from experts to the masses. 
(8 July 2007)

Zambesi marches on Moscow 
NZ fashion label Zambesi has netted its largest ever international account. Zambesi will be stocked in Moscow's soon-to-open Cara & Co concept store, which describes itself as a "deluxe boutique for intellectuals." Label owners Neville and Elisabeth Findlay have refused to disclose the size or dollar value of the order Cara & Co have placed. "What I can say is that they are our biggest export client so it is pretty serious stuff," said Neville in Wellington's Dominion Post. "This is a real thrill for us, especially for Liz, whose parents have a Russian connection." Cara & Co is the brainchild of Russian-born Rosa Kamenev, who has recently moved back to Moscow after 17 years in Sydney. Kamenev is reportedly a huge fan of Zambesi, which will be stocked alongside Australian labels Akira Isogawa and Ksubi, and designer brands from Denmark, Portugal, Belgium and the US. "A passion for fashion lives in every Russian woman," she said. "It's born out of the past shortage of consumer goods in the USSR." 
(2 April 2007)

Sweet success 
Wellington-born designer Rebecca Taylor won over crowds and critics at this year's New York Fashion Week (NYFW), with a collection described as a "standout" by industry bible Women's Wear Daily. A graduate of Wellington Polytechnic (now Massey University), Taylor has been showing her feminine designs at NYFW since 1999. Her celebrity fans include Jessica Simpson, Cameron Diaz and Ashley Judd. Taylor also showed at Russian Fashion Week for the first time this year. According to Fashion Wire Daily, "Taylor's brand of party dresses, big-flowered prints, crocheted white cotton cocktails and snug jackets and boleros has won a strong following among local gals."
(24 October 2006)

Power couple 
Hamilton-born Nicole Colovos has been appointed joint design director of Helmut Lang with husband Michael, making her the first Australasian designer in history to head a major international fashion label. After fashion editing at Australian Elle and US Harper's Bazaar, Colovos founded premium denim label Habitual with her American husband in 2002. Austrian Helmut Lang spearheaded the minimalist movement of the 1990s before selling his business to Prada in 1999. Helmut Lang is now owned by Tokyo-based company Link Theory Holdings. "We're not Helmut Lang and aren't trying to recreate what he did," stated Colovos in Women's Wear Daily. "There's room to inject your own idea into it, and there's a thread we will follow." 
(16 May 2006)

Must-see designs
An impressive write-up in hip Italian trend forecasting magazine, Sport&Street, describes Air NZ Fashion Week as “a must-see fixture on the international fashion calendar.” Highlights include Zambesi (“Elisabeth Findlay, the epitome of an individualist spirit, redefines conventions and transforms fabrics into cult status collections”), Nom*D (“with traditional couture garments alongside vintage clothing for a deconstructed, cautiously androgynous look”), Karen Walker (“her recurrent theme is the forced meeting of extremes”), World (“irreverent and innovative … teeming with ideas and experimentation”), and Kate Sylvester (“a sophisticated, original, classic vision.”)
(Spring - Summer 2005)
    

Survival of the hippest
Karen Walker continues her reign as NZ's leading fashion export, scoring extensive coverage in some of the international media's hippest publications over the past month. She was profiled in i-D as one of their favourite designers, featured in Time Out London as one of the top six designers showing in the capital, and has received glowing editorial coverage in Sleaze Nation, Dazed and Confused, UK Vogue, The Face, UK Elle and Nylon.
(April-May 2003)