Rotorua stylists to shine at Fashion Week

Salon St Bruno's stylist off to Fashion Week. From left, Amy Greenaway, Gemma Agnew, Marie Farquhar and Olivia Adams. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

Rotorua's Salon St Bruno has scored a coup by winning assignments to do hair for two catwalk shows at New Zealand Fashion Week.

Four stylists will be working with the models for Rotorua designer Kharl WiRepa and New Zealand designer Rochelle Goodrick at their shows in Auckland tomorrow.

"To be doing this in the top league of a fashion show in New Zealand is a real coup," said salon owner Hilda Dufty. "Just to be part of it is huge and to be part of two stand-alone shows is even bigger for us."

The stylists taking part are Marie Farquhar, Olivia Adams, Gemma Agnew and Amy Greenaway.

Ms Dufty, who set up Salon St Bruno 14 years ago, said the opportunity had come about because Ms Farquhar had been part of the L'Oreal Technical ID dream for the past two years at Fashion Week.

"She'd been helping out and she knew the running of it."

Mr WiRepa, an up-and-coming local designer who has taken part in Fashion Week for the past couple of years, is doing his first standalone show this year.

"With Kharl getting in, he asked us to help out and we jumped at the chance," said Ms Dufty. "Especially since this time Marie will have a chance to direct the running of the hair for the shows."

The Salon St Bruno team was then asked to also take care of the hair for the show by Ms Goodrick.

Mr WiRepa said he was a satisfied customer of the salon during the past 11 years.

"In the past, I've had bigger international hair brands working with my label," he said.

"This year I chose Salon St Bruno to work with me because I wanted to promote local business and the local fashion industry, and because they have the skills, and the quality at a world class level.

"Salon St Bruno deserves to be working on the New Zealand Fashion Week catwalk. "

Ms Dufty said anybody who was anybody in NZ fashion would be at Fashion Week, which started yesterday and runs until Sunday.

"It's the elite of the elite and is huge for us."

She said she would be attending the shows, but would be "the gofer", doing all the running around.