FW Party Diaries: Opening plus Lonely Hearts
The first night of Fashion Week, and it was definitely full of style, glamour and fun. The opening partywas held at the Halsey Street venue and was decorated as you would expect from a fashion party, big lights in huge starlike shapes and a flat water fountain feature that had images projected on to it – beautiful! Champagne sponsor Moet ensure that glasses were filled and bottles flowing all night long…
I arrived with the gorgeous Julie (who was dressed in Sheryl May), and was 'meeted and greeted' by all the darlings and professionals in the industry, first being Rumi Neeley (Fashion Toast), who has been brought over for the week by Anna Fitzpatrick and Murray Bevan, and was dressed in a stunning full length animal print fur coat. Next were the fun Coco PR girls… I managed in all the excitement to nearly knock champagne over one of them! After chatting to James Dobson and Emma Stuart of emmaford the speeches began… there was so much noise and hustle and bustle that the speakers were barely heard and at one point the right hand side of the room had to be told to shut up! They didn't! The awards were next to come and were picked up by twentysevennames and Stolen Girlfriends Club, and, to open Fashion Week, the ever popular Neville Findlay from Zambesi came to stage, full of charm and humour. At this point the crowd did start to quieten down!
After more flutes of champagne and the most delicious canapes that were getting more and more difficult to eat – smoked mussels and hot baked cheese being swelched around the place – I then met the jewellery designer Kat Gee, who was covered from head to toe in sparkles and a beautiful advertisement for her collection. At this point, I left Julie and Kat and decided to take myself off to see if I could find any familiar faces, only to find my dear friend Rachael Churchward (Fashion Editor of Black magazine) struggling with her high shoes, in absolute agony wishing she had listened to her partner Grant's advice and worn flats!
We all then made our way over to Process PR in Grey Lynn to see the Lonely Hearts 'What is your Damage' video installation which was stunning and beautifully set up. The whole place was filled with all the super trendy and young kids about town and the look was skinny legs, whether with jeans or lace leggings and tiny shorts worn with chunky shoes – this look was also displayed in the video, with short floral dresses worn with white socks and sandals which looked gorgeous and bound to be a trend for the following season. I then met up with Rachael again, who had by this point given up with her shoes which were now off her feet. While we sat outside in the rain sipping the delicious vodka cocktails and sharing a cigarette, I overheard one girl shout out in horror that she had 'too much rain in her drink' which I thought was amazing! Five minutes later Bruce, a model, came to Rachael's rescue and, as every gentleman should, got down on his knees and helped Rachael put her shoes on her feet with a cheeky smile – Rachaels response was 'I have spent years putting shoes on Bruce's feet now its his turn to put shoes on me!' Love it….
After chit chatting some more I thought it was time for me to take myself off home and prepare myself for the rest of the week, until Zambesi tonight, see you there! xxx
