Wednesday 23rd September – Party Diaries
Kate Sylvester – Diamond Dogs
Wet, rainy night in Auckland. Not a good start to an evening bound to be full of fun and sparkle! Met Julie outside the Westin Hotel in central Auckland at 8.30pm. We planned on making it to the Trelise Cooper afterparty before the Kate Sylvester show, but unfortunately, due to the delayed earlier shows, the afterparty was also delayed and we had to scoot off to make the Kate Sylvester show, named 'Diamond Dogs', at 9pm. After hunting down some food before the big event, we made it, to find the place alive and packed full to the brim with all types and ages.
It was a fantastic venue on Wellesley Street, set in an old warehouse decorated with huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. After grabbing our mini bottles of champagne, we managed to find our seats in the second row. The front row was filled with the usual set, including the gorgeous Checks, Chris Lorimer, Zoe Walker and Nom D designer Margi Robertson. The collection inspiration came from Kate Sylvesters' muse – 80s girl Judith Baragwanath, models wore black lipstick and were dressed in a mixture of naughtly school uniforms, military jackets and soft feminine silk nightdresses with lace detailing and ruching… a contrast of posh and punk, boy meets girl and even cross-dressing – (as one of the male models walked out wearing one of the silk night dresses). The outfits were styled with gold chains and sparkling jewellery, ankle boots with studs and fur rucksacks. It was a fun show that stayed true to the Kate Sylvester brand.
I was dying to find out where the afterparty was being held, and after bumping into the adorable Russ Flatt (freelance photographer) and co, I gathered that the party was actually at the venue itself so no travelling in the rain – amazing!
The alcohol was still flowing – beer at one end of the room, bubbles at the other. It was now a much younger crowd, and the place looked like a very cool school disco, girls wearing short prom, frilly dresses with cropped blond hair and boys very dapper in mod like suits and quiffs. I decided to go the route of bubbles and bumped into Kate Sylvester herself on the way who was looking for somewhere to get a drink (I couldn't believe that no one had got her one already), I also came across a poor fashion boy who had fallen asleep on a chair oblivious to everyone around him. It was obviously all too much!
The next bizarre event that took place happened all in a short space of time in a small corner of the room – first of all a group of men (yes grown men) decided to pick up their chairs and dance around with them. Next my friend ran around kissing most people in sight and to finish off the nights events, I spotted yet another grown man doing starjumps on the centre of the dancefloor…
It was definitely a more eclectic and colourful bunch than previous nights and the people seemed to be bolder and were properly letting their hair down and having a good time dancing to the music being played ranging from the Archies 'Sugar Sugar' to The Cure – look forward to seeing what happens tomorrow night at Stolen Girlfriends Club X
– Lucie Marquis