Editor-at-large Julie Roulston brings FashioNZ readers the very best from her fashion beat, each week…
DAME OF THE WEEK
Dame Pieter Stewart
Imagery by Hannah Richards for Remix Magazine
You’ve all be aware that New Zealand Fashion Week founder Pieter Stewart was made a Dame Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday – Diamond Jubilee Honours announced on June 4. Our research shows this may be the highest honour ever accorded, for services to the fashion industry. Straight from the Department of the Prime Minister and of the Cabinet, click here for a handy list of honours connected to their recipients’ roles in the fashion industry, over the last 10 years.
RETAIL FORMAT OF THE WEEK
The pop-up is so last season! Fashion industry entrepreneurs and creatives have taken it down another level and it’s the fashion(able) market that we’re all popping down to on our restored cruiser bicycles.
New Zealand Fashion Week Venue Coordinator Anya Vitali and creative Jamie Lee Harding held the second “Made & Found’ at the Grey Lynn library hall this past weekend. “We both wanted to try do something to get creative people a platform. There’s a whole resurgence in reusing stuff and being aware of how you spend your money…coming back to your granny’s handmade, passed-down things that will last the distance,” says Vitali.
Also in Grey Lynn, FLAGSHIP staged its first market about six weeks ago, followed by a photography exhibition in late May. It’s the brainchild of design and arts students and graduates Jackson Roy, Thistle Brown, Glen Prentice and Paris Kirby who, together with young stylists, photographers, designers and bloggers like Pebbles Hooper, Emma Gleason, Areez Katki and Hannah McArdle, sell their own designs, fabric offcuts, wardrobe castoffs, art and crafts. “It’s about being involved in a community, using the FLAGSHIP space, and trialling new things” says Roy. “The drive to make money is parellel, but I certainly wouldn’t highlight it.”
Emma Gleason, Jackson Roy and Pebbles Hooper at FLAGSHIP markets
Imagery by ragpony.com
SPORTY FASHION OF THE WEEK
Adidas NZ is soon to launch a multi-platform social media campaign which will see Sara Tetro (62 Models and New Zealand’s Next Top Model), Nicole Whippy (Nothing Trivial, Outrageous Fortune), Honour Dillon, Natalie Medlock (Shortland Street) and others getting together to record their fitness pursuits in the leadup to the Auckland Marathon in late October 2012. A Facebook page will be made live in the next few days, and if you’re interested in “women leading healthy lifestyles/promoting confidence in active pursuits” you can follow the hashtag #mygirls.
Nike She Runs the Night event, May 2012, Sydney
Meantime Nike has been active with fashionable types, too. Fashion and fitness media were brought together last month to test the Nike Free Run+ range, including a training session from US-based Nike Master Trainer Marie Purvis. And in a real display of commitment to her client brand, Raw’s Jade Hurst ran 13km at night in Sydney’s Centennial Park (also last month) as part of Nike’s “She Runs the Night” event. Jade says they ran “in solidarity, with no fear” and mentions DJs dotted around the track, beautiful light installations, and massages for runners on completion of their run.
We’re likely to see a lot of sports-fashion associations in an Olympic year. The Guardian’s Hadley Freeman quipped today: “Because of the Olympics, we are being led to believe that sporty fashion is in, and because sporty styles tend to look awfully similar to plain sports clothes, this is, strictly speaking, correct.”
RETAIL EVENTS OF THE WEEK
MAYBE: It’s strongly rumoured that Dan Gosling will bring Alexander Wang to The Department Store in November of this year, to be sold at Black Box Boutique.
Alexandra Wang Spring 2012
VERY SOON: Karen Walker is about to release a small range of higher-end gold filigree sunglasses. The gold filigree design is developed from the designer’s latest collection of filigree jewellery, and the eyewear styles themselves have been are a selection from some of the collection’s most popular recent frames. They're a limited edition element of Walker’s Candy Bar collection which popped up first in Tokyo's Restir Department Storen and has just appeared in LA's TenOverSix. After stops in NYC, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Shanghai, The Candy Bar will be coming to New Zealand in November.
Karen Walker Gold Filigree Sunglasses
NOW: In what must be the ultimate fast fashion – we reckon no more than four hours post development, from checking the recipe to finishing the decoration – The Caker’s collaboration with Lonely Hearts Club is The Lonely Garden Cake. It's lemon-y almond with rosewater cream, pistachios, candied rose petals and turkish delight, and it’s available from today (Monday 11 June) at thecaker.co.nz.
– Julie Roulston