LONG LIVE KATHRYN WILSON
Kathryn Wilson and her PR maven Murray Bevan raised the bar with last Thursday’s ‘Evening Fit for a Princess’ – a fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House, for which Kathryn is a recently-minted Fashion Ambassador.
Guests arrived at a suitably tone-y destination from 6.30pm (the room was full when we arrived just before 7pm), and were greeted with Veuve Cliquot. The invitation had specified ‘cocktail’ and for once virtually all had respected the dress code.
At the head of the room, knockout lit cases displayed masked models in just Pleasure State lingerie to offset shoes from the Winter 2012 Kathryn Wilson collection.
To one side a wig-wearing string quartet played, and the body of the room was filled with four rows of the night’s co-stars: artworks created to the theme of “women’s love affairs with shoes.”
The atmosphere was electric: I put it down to a heady mix of wealthy men and pretty woman, but wit Zoe Walker pointed out that the considerable representation of wealthy women and pretty men had a little to do with it, too.
Long story short: Kathryn Wilson raised just over $22,500 for Ronald McDonald House, with one of Olivia Hemus’ works fetching the highest price at $5757.
Kathryn Wilson (wearing Adrian Hailwood) with Henrietta Harris, one of the event's artists
It’s not just a oncer for Kathryn Wilson, either – you’ll be impressed to know that $10 from each sale of full price Kathryn Wilson shoes ex her website, goes to Ronald McDonald House. And if you get along to her Summer catwalk shows (at Soul on 24 October and SPQR on 15 November), $10 of the ticket price will go to Ronald McDonald House, too.
PAY IT FORWARD
Here’s your chance to be a patron of fashion and help a talented young New Zealand designer further his career.
Since graduating from AUT, Glen Prentice has been working as a freelance designer while continuing to further his own body of work. In just a few week’s time he’s moving to New York on a graduate visa, to take part in fashion internships and to gain as much international industry knowledge as possible.
There is considerable expense involved with the move so Glen has set up a PledgeMe project, CLICK HERE. You can pledge as little as $5, and there are rewards available for bigger pledges.
The clincher is, Glen is almost halfway to his target with 39 people having pledged at the time of writing, but he only gets the money if his target of $3K is reached. Go on, help the man, and enrich our fashion industry’s future while you’re at it!
NO EVA, BUT PLENTY OF SAM
The Shopping Channel seemed to turn its back on fashion media when Eva Longoria came to town – to FREE|STYLE’s knowledge, Stuff’s Bronwyn Williams was the only fashion writer to be invited to Eva’s press conference. Woman’s Day had exclusive photo rights which meant even Bronwyn’s colleague Amanda Midgely, social writer for the Sunday Star Times, couldn’t justify attending.
Samantha Hannah
Photo: Mondegreen/Facebook
So far the fashion offering on The Shopping Channel is limited, but if former FQ Editor and media maven Christina Wickstead is involved, we will keep the faith. And meantime, if you want some more fashion on your small screen, Wellington stylist Samantha Hannah is a host, field presenter and stylist for Brunch – a new daily show hosted by April Ieremia and Josh Kronfield which screens on Choice TV (Freeview 12, SKY TV 78).
Even closer to Sam’s heart we suspect, is her show Starting Over, which will air on Sky TV’s Vibe from February 2013. Starting Over is a career makeover show which sees Sam and two other experts take eight women through “a massive journey of change.” “Each lady on the journey has a completely different story.” says the stylist. “All had different style personalities, with different body proportions.” Samantha is very well liked and respected in her home town and is a fitting fashion personality to be the latest to go national.
– Julie Roulston