Fashion Week all business for city store

You might think it's all air kisses and champagne but for Tauranga fashion store Idiom, New Zealand Fashion Week is the busiest week of the year.
New Zealand-designed garments are the mainstay at the Devonport Rd store, which is owned by husband and wife team Chris and Rachelle Duffy.
And while this fashion-forward couple say it's a fun week, it's also a lot of hard work.
Each day of Fashion Week they will start work at 8am and work through until midnight or 1am.
Their days will be spent attending shows and meeting designers for private showings.
"Sometimes you might see something on the rack and it's much different than on the runway," Mrs Duffy said.
"Sometimes the stylist has styled the clothes on a runway in a way you would have never thought to do, and interpreted it in different ways."
An although it's only natural to want to buy, buy, buy, Mrs Duffy has to keep her inner fashionista in check.
"Sometimes I go, 'oh I want to buy everything' but I have to be business focused and think about what's going to sell in Tauranga."
The typical fashion-forward Bay customer knows her trends and wants something "a little bit different but not too different", Mrs Duffy said.
"Tauranga is coming a long way. They follow the trends in magazines and they come in and say 'I want this'."
The couple are excited about seeing which trends are in store for winter 2011. Last year, it was all about blazers and lace, they said. The week is so busy, it's easy to get confused between all the designers.
"The ranges all merge into one. You do get asked to go to different shows, but we have learned over the years that if you don't need to go, it's best not to."
The couple is most looking forward to seeing shows by Hawke's Bay designer Salasai and Stolen Girlfriend's Club.
"That's a show in which you are always left guessing, in the sense that you never know what you are going to get."
This will be Idiom's third Fashion Week as buyers and Mrs Duffy said it was one of the most important weeks of the year for the business.
"Not only are we looking at what we are buying for winter the following season, we are also building relationships with our suppliers and other people in the industry. It's a really good week for everybody in the industry to get together."
And the work continues when they return to the Bay - it takes at least a week to collate their orders.
Tauranga designers Chaos & Harmony, Riddle Me This and Blak Label will all show at Fashion Week, which runs from September 21 to 25.