Fashion Week got its pretty on with lacy lingerie, bridal gowns, a garden of models – and a bona fide celebrity bachelor – on the Wednesday runways.
Featuring: Lucilla Gray, ITZME, Julian Danger, Her Apparel, Willa & Mae, the Weddings Collection, Clavon's Wear, Gally Nine, Kharl-William Wirepa, Harman Grubisa, Annah Stretton and Stolen Girlfriends' Club.
NZ Buyers Club: Stolen Girlfriends' Club showed by far the most easily commercial look of fashion week so far, with '90s grunge/early 2000s emo streetwear looks, bold florals and a crowd-pleasing panther print. Speaking of crowd pleasing, these guys know their demographic, gathering in St James Theatre was like attending a concert and the vibe was oddly similar, right up to one of the models stage diving off the runway and confetti cannons to mark the end of the show. Way to sell it, Stolen Girlfriends, way to sell it.
Bonus points to the Stolen Girlfriends' Club model who fearlessly stage dived, and gracefully landed back on the runway to continue her walk - all done with a smile. Also, happy 10th birthday, boys.
Loved: Willa & Mae's "Mae" collection of outer and sleepwear featured long, sheer, cotton shirt dresses styled withLittle House on the Prairie bowed collars. Sweet, sweet dreams. The Julian Danger show proved you can do chic and sexy without wearing all black.
Make it pop: Two designers in the second New Generation group show of the week really took a chance and went bold. Second-time Fashion Week designer Kharl-William Wirepa showed his range of glam couture, with bright coloured, sequinned pattern pieces, while New York designer Clavon's Wear showed a youthful, fun men's wear range with bold prints and pops of bright colour to liven up each suit.
Congrats on your self-esteem moment: The models walking for Her Apparel were fearless. Strutting their stuff on the runway in barely-there sheer underwear, resorting to nipple tape to stay family friendly. Hats off to any woman confident enough to bare all in front of a roomful of strangers who have lined up purely to stare at them. We salute you.
As seen on TV (sort of): Imagine Storage Hunters, but then the garage door rolls up to reveal a garden planted with thin people wearing beautiful clothes. Inside, instead of bumping each other with their beer bellies, the hunters sip tea, eat cinnamon and chocolate madeleines with praline cream and photograph the models on their cellphones. That was Massey University graduate Lucilla Gray's Fashion Week debut and it was fresh and so, so pretty.
Best use of a button: ITZME designer Shuai Zhang went 1960s-meets-1970s with short v-neck tunic dresses, luxe piped velvet, a shirt named for Twiggy (model face of the era) and – everywhere – big round buttons.
Model moments: In the 1980s and '90s she modelled in Paris, London and Milan. Now aged 55, Mercy Brewer was class personified – even in a dressing gown – at Willa & Mae. The label's luxe sleepwear collection was liquid and languid. (Also, apparently, it's a "robe" – not a dressing gown).
Overheard: "My selfie function is broken!" fashionweekDISASTER
Unexpectedly pretty: The bathrooms. Both the men's and women's are awash with orchids.
Best foot forward: Fashion is hard. At ITMZE, a strappy candy pink shoe was adorned with a floppy candy pink stress ball.
What the boys wore: Short pants. In the NZ Weddings Magazine show, the trousers for Crane Bros and Working Style just skimmed the ankle.
Celeb moment: It was a wedding show – and The Bachelor, aka Art Green, was in full force for Working Style. No sign of Matilda Rice (the woman who won his reality television heart). She was, he thought "at lunch".
The "don't try this at home" hair and makeup look: The flip sides of Annah Stretton wore zombified white faces and greyed-down hair – and elaborate, multi-hued side pieces.
An expert opinion: Those short pants, explained Fashion Week ambassador Colin Mathura-Jeffree, were a nod to the early '80s. And why not? "Men have good legs." Meanwhile, 8-year-old blogger Harley McVicar (and granddaughter of Fashion Week founder Pieter Stewart) said she liked the construction of the shirt-dress-met-night-wear at Willa & Mae.
Coming up today (Thursday): Francis Jerard, the Miramoda Group Show, Confitex, Ivy Blu, Sean Kelly, Hailwood, Ruby and Zambesi will complete the forward season line-up, before Fashion Week segues into the publicly ticketed, buy-it-now Fashion Weekend shows.Read more at:www.mariepromdress.co.uk/short-prom-dresses
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