By ARNOLD PICKMERE
Fashion designer of Taumarunui. Died of cancer.
Taumarunui, the epitome of a sleepy rural community, is not a place many would pick to have a top-class fashion boutique. But Michael Mattar designed dresses in his hometown for more than 50 years.
At the height of his fame in the 1960s women would travel from Auckland and Wellington to be fitted for exquisite cocktail gowns.
The designer produced classically elegant dresses with a touch of Hollywood glamour and earned himself a respected place in the country's fashion history.
Mattar had recently retired and was believed to be in his late 60s, although he was reticent about his age.
His interest in fashion started when he was 10 years old.
"I just used to love going to the movies in the Taumarunui Hall and admiring what people were wearing in the films," he told the Herald in 1990.
He wanted to study fashion design but in the 1950s there were no fashion schools in New Zealand. Instead, he experimented by making outfits for his sisters, Zeph and Adele.
"They used to wear the outfits I'd made in Taumarunui," he said. "People would ask them where they got them from and that's how people started coming to me for dresses."
In 1968, Mattar won three of the four categories at the Benson & Hedges Fashion Awards: evening wear, creative design and the supreme award.
He always had a passion for the classic line of fashion.
"I've never followed trends and I don't like to dress down at any time," he said last year.
Mattar found women's fashion today "too laid-back".
"It's too easy to put on a pair of slacks and a boob tube. People have got to be brave and dress up.
"I'm all for femininity. I like to celebrate womanhood."
Illness prevented Mattar from attending the opening of Auckland Museum's "After Six Before Eight" cocktail dress exhibition last year. Two of his signature little black dresses were included: a 1961 silk cocktail number and a 1969 silk crepe and lace cocktail mini-dress.
He is survived by Zenk, his partner of 50 years.
<i>Obituary:</i> Michael Mattar
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