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Stolen Girlfriends Club NZFW 2012 Review

  

 

I overhead a Stolen Girlfriends’ Club naysayer this week claiming that the label could send a garbage bag down the runway to applause. She might have had a point, but it wasn’t the criticism she intended. To say Marc Moore and Dan Gosling have got the Midas touch sounds too sparkly for a brand that’s built itself on edginess. But there’s no denying it: these guys are cool.
 

 

 

No one was surprised last night then to find themselves crammed into a car park to witness the Winter 2013 collection, Dead End. To kick off, the 500-plus crowd were plunged into darkness before being asked to light up their mobile phones. As they did, four broad-shouldered figures could be seen stalking through the shadows. Lights, action: enter a procession of black-booted models to the beat of a marching drum.

 

 

In this collection, SGC played with materials moreover than colour. The first few outfits alone presented a huge textural range: ribbed wool, tweed, nylon, pleather, and ponte knit jersey. Tying it together was a neutral palate of black and tan. From there, a short-sleeved skivvy paired with patent trackpants introduced the signature print, a darkly psychedelic mix of purples, greens and browns that up close revealed itself to be a teaming tangle of snakes.

 

Another print on a white ground I couldn’t quite figure out – but it looked like little bits of roadkill, speckled across shirts and elastic-waist trousers. If I’m correct on that, it would be just the sort of twist that SGC fans will lap up, as they’ve done previously with prints featuring cigarette butts and opium flowers.

 

Breaking up the neutral shades were splashes of lemon-yellow. I particularly liked the slinky shirt paired with a mid-calf skirt, slit high at the back. It’s all about the sex appeal, of course. It wouldn’t be a SGC collection without the full-length zips, body-con, and stretched-out armholes, and to that end Dead End delivered in spades.

 

There’s something like a ‘new nineties’ vibe to SGC’s collections. But while there were links with a past decade, there was nothing nostalgic about Dead End: this is the look of the moment for a large part of New Zealand. SGC therefore holds a special place in kiwi fashion, not only capturing but creating the zeitgeist. Expect to know this collection well by next Winter’s end.

CLICK HERE to view Stolen Girlfriends Club NZFW12 – Runway

– Delaney MacDonald

Images: Giana Patel

 

 

 

 

 

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