FREE|STYLE
Editor-at-large Julie Roulston brings FashioNZ readers the very best from her fashion beat, each week…
FRONTING IT
Miro in action at the recent Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival Sydney
Image c/- Romualdo Nubla/Mirohouse Facebook
Dashing Miro Kubicek of Mirohouse will once again be flying in from Sydney to run Front of House at New Zealand Fashion Week 2012. Many love the glamour he brings to the event, and Fashion Week clearly value his professionalism – Mirohouse also runs front of house for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, as well as the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival and Dubai Fashion Week.
Not one to rest idle, Miro has a Paris division of Mirohouse, and will be opening an LA branch after NZFW. He also has his own men’s lingerie brand ‘Miroslav,’ which you won’t be surprised to hear he fronts himself – its online store is due to open next week. Ogling from afar is all that’s allowed – Miro is to be married in June 2013.
Before Miro, equally dashing Ricardo Simich (now SPY co-Editor) and FINZ founder/PR Paul Blomfield had their turns wrangling the front row. FREE|STYLE asked them to share their favourite memories:
Paul Blomfield, Miro Kubicek and Ricardo Simich, NZFW 2011
Ricardo Simich: “My favourite would be sitting a bunch of celebrity blondes together (including Nicky Watson, Kate Hawkesby, Rachel Hunter, Aja Rock, Petra Bagust and her mum) side by side, all in a row. None of them knew I’d done it but the women’s mag paps loved it, and loved me for doing it.”
Paul Blomfield: “My favorite was seating the Trelise Cooper show, in the old days when New Zealand Fashion Week was at the Town Hall. We were getting close to the show starting and backstage was yelling at me through the comms to get the show started.
I sat someone (I can't remember who) in an empty seat in the front row to hurry things along, when a dapper, but odd looking man came up and said "that is my seat" – pointing at the woman I'd just seated. I asked the original woman if it was ok to move her somewhere else and sat the man down in the allotted place.
Lucy Lawless
It wasn't until after the show that someone said to me that the man I'd seated wasn't a man – it was in fact Lucy Lawless in drag, suit, moustache, sideburns and all. I felt such an idiot! But it was all in the heat of battle.”
AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE!
Emily Fang of Australian blog Little Black Book is the most recent International to be confirmed for New Zealand Fashion Week. Fang was here briefly last year as a guest of Air New Zealand and Tourism New Zealand, but 2012 will see her attend Fashion Week from start to finish.
Alice Williams
Also coming from Australia are Anne Fullerton (Yen), Patty Huntington (Frockwriter), Georgina Safe (Sydney Morning Herald) and freelancer Alice Williams, whose presence may see New Zealand designers featuring on exciting online platforms like The Vine and Pedestrian, among others.
WE ALL LOVE KAREN (AND LIZ AND MARGI AND HELEN AND KATE…)
Sunday night saw the first Marr Factory show at Golden Dawn (CLICK HERE for review and gallery), and last night Zambesi took the floor.
FREE|STYLE can’t but rave about last night’s event – super-cool venue, interesting crowd, white hot show. A really fresh format and an all-round great time.
Many of the Marr Factory key players are also well involved in Fashion Week and will shoulder a fair share of the workload generated by both events: Stephen Marr Creative Director Lauren Gunn and other stylists; M.A.C’s Amber D and makeup artists; PR Murray Bevan and Zambesi itself. Guess it’s the old adage – if you want something done, ask a busy person.
– Julie Roulston