She is the creative force behind the sold-out Tarnished Frocks and Divas; and Judith Bell's Mount Maunganui vintage-inspired home is the perfect sanctuary for both magic and mayhem
Step inside Judith Bell's 1953 house and hold your breath.
Not because of the Tulasi rose incense burning - but because of the lavish wonderland that unfolds as you move from the corridor into the enchantment of her living room.
French cafe music is playing; perfumy smoke spirals high. A lamp has its curled head set upon diamonds that spill over vintage cases. Hanging dresses block an entire window; and a red wall is scribbled with notes - some in foreign languages - from visitors.
Eleven-year-old Missy, the black-and-white cat, is sitting on the kitchen bench, and Bell, who navigates her way around a pantless mannequin, is going like the clappers to get things done.
Rows of vintage clothing
There's no time to sit down for this interview.
Her abode, set on a rise in Mount Maunganui, is a girl's dream. Just when I think I've seen enough dresses, coats and skirts (there was a whole rack in the corridor as well), I'm shown a wardrobe that would rival the size of the Duchess of Cambridge's.
There's just enough space to shimmy between the rows of vintage clothing pressed like dominoes on portable racks - like a long legged lady, each daringly exposes just a hint of what she has to offer.
Then there are the hats - on stands, on the wall, in chests.
Bell, who is wearing a vintage dress with black lace stockings and long, purple David Elman boots, apologises for it being freezing cold in the room - normally there's a heater running. I'm too awestruck to notice.
She stole his name
For those who haven't heard of Bell, she is, among many things, a mother of two, wife, former primary school teacher, creative director of Tarnished Frocks and Divas, and she is also the daring woman who changed her name to Stephen Robert Tindall shortly before a 2004 court case where she alleged Tindall's company, The Warehouse, had broken a contract to buy her LPG cylinders.
Within four years of securing a contract with the company, she and husband Nelson Bell lost almost everything. So, she stole his name.
She did it to draw attention to The Warehouse's business practices but eventually lost the court battle with New Zealand's largest retailer.
"I became really aware how important productivity is and keeping money within the local community."
Her view blew air on the fiery passion she has to support New Zealand manufacturers and as a result she wrote a book called I See Red. This year Bell plans to offer the book to the international literary community with geographic changes, to give it more universal assimilation.
"This will be a based on a true story offering as I believe the effects we felt are even more prevalent today both in the microcosm of New Zealand and in the macrocosm of the USA and Europe - as shown by record unemployment, civil unrest, currency and market instability."
Fashion gets her going
She also intends to write I See Red as a screen play to allow it to reach an even wider audience.
The book sits propped up in her hallway, underneath a side table. Above it is a card carrying the words of Winston Churchill: "Never, never, never, never give up."
"That was another life," she says.
Nowadays - with her name changed back - it's fashion that gets her going. That, and collecting gorgeous things. She trawls Trade Me daily looking for bargains that she hasn't already found in one of the Bay's local op shops.
Outside she has "French-ified" her garden into an area reminiscent of a French cafe: a little table, chairs, and an abundance of willowy greenery. An artificial kotuku, white heron, is poised in flight.
It's the perfect spot for lazing on a balmy Mount Maunganui evening with her husband Nelson, who she met while hitchhiking to Mount Maunganui in 1978 - he picked her up.
This is for the queens
Every inch of their house oozes character.
Now aged 52, Bell has been a peruser of op-shops since she was 15.
And it was in her garden last year an idea sprang for this year's Tarnished Frocks and Diva's creative theme - a Magical Feast of French Fashion.
Continuing on our tour; Bell points out her "stocking department" and a little Chanel outfit. "It was just a gorgeous little 60s blouse that I added this to," she says, touching delicate embellishing on the sleeves. An accompanying white hat features an elegant band of Victorian lace.
"Come and have a look at the wigs; aren't they amazing? I mean look, don't tell anyone, this is for the queens," she says, selecting a large green wig with two woven cones sticking out from either side. She pops the wig on and admires her reflection; red lips curling into a smile.
"We have a queen section ... There's six here and 12 to come. Can you imagine?
Something gorgeous
Then we're in the lounge again.
"I keep all my bits there so I can accessorise," she says motioning to the jewels lying atop an embroided tablecloth.
There are hair pins and brooches, earrings and rings. There is also a 1940s French beret, a 1930 art deco buckle, men's collars, and a basket of ribbons from the 1920s.
"You can smell them, there's something gorgeous in them, old and beautiful. These were from the Fox Studios," she says of the ribbons - a Trade Me bargain.
Bell has been involved with Tarnished Frocks and Divas since 2005 - she was the first model out on the catwalk in the inaugural show. She played a cameo part in 2007, and in 2009, became creative director and wardrobe designer. This year she is also the script writer.
A boudoir theme
"The girls come for fittings, I just bring them into the bedroom and hang all their stuff up," she says, motioning to a large steel and copper candleabra/light shade.
"I've got one more today - I've got a boudoir fitting. Because we have a boudoir theme at the end," she says.
Bell has outdone herself by making - along with Robyne Dowdall and Linda Ellis - 102 costumes for 18 ladies. A crew of up to 60 women in total make up the entire show - behind and on the stage.
"We start with vintage and we re-create and embellish. I wrote a little play for the show this year, too. Yesterday we had fun, we made these little maids outfits," she says, sticking on a white maid's cap with a skylark on the front.
She explains: "The play is called Alouette - where spirits rise and fall." Sounds intriguing.
"I realised I wanted to create a restaurant. Instead of food being delivered - it's going to be given a seven-course menu - the divas are the courses. The queens are the soup ... and the boudoir lingerie is the dessert. So that's why I've got these French maid waitresses."
Very natural things
Long-time friend Helen Loe, says Bell has endless ideas.
"She's not exactly the run of the mill type person when it comes to self expression. I just think that's part of someone who is creative, and pushes the boundaries.
"She is a consistently loving person and that's part of her beauty. She believes in very natural things."
Bell exudes creative energy and flits around the house showing off the highlights of the show.
One of the very special dresses is a donated frock from Louise Anderson, who will be 87 this year.
If I'm to view it, it must be on a mannequin.
The dress was Anderson's favourite outfit in the 1950s. She now lives in Australia but it will take pride of place on stage.
A beautiful scrawled note accompanying the dress from Anderson's daughter, Chris Wade, has been transferred on to calico (by Bell) and stuck to the back of the garment.
Bell hunts out potential divas to wear the outfits. Wearing Anderson's dress is model "Passion," aka Michelle Forsyth.
Bell has a knack of digging out those with potential and all ladies must be aged over 40.
"I pick them out of the street and gosh, they're all so beautiful. I don't like the idea of rejection for a woman at 40 so that's why I don't like having auditions," she says.
We momentarily interrupt our interview so Bell can head to the stove. "Do you mind if I eat some porridge while I'm doing it? I've got a long day. I live on porridge."
No problem.
The most graceful person
Contrary to what it might appear, Bell does not dress up every day. She is more than happy dressing down for walks, and yoga. The stage is where the dressing up happens - and the acknowledgment of hard work.
This year Tarnished Frocks and Divas honours needlework in the section Les Petites Mains. Models will sashay down the runway in cheesecloth dresses and holding empty gilded frames - which they will hold over their dresses' needlework.
How many of these dresses get worn again?
"Oh, my collection, whenever I feel like it. I actually mix vintage because the other half of my life, I work at Repertoire part-time."
Repertoire partner and owner of Hotel on Devonport Debi Bowker, says Bell is the most graceful person she knows.
She "oozes love," she says.
"She's one of those special people you're lucky in your lifetime to meet. She is absolutely remarkable and extremely humble. She is so capable and never brags about what she can do."
Bell literally has no idea how many garments she has created over the years.
"It just keeps growing because I love them so much. I also feel very much, it may say odd, there's just this beauty, they're not mass produced in China and being made with absolute love."
Of the Tarnished Frocks and Divas dress rehearsal: "I cry! It's our big debut. It's $75 a ticket now and the expectation of our audience is higher."
People's eyes to brim with tears
Models strut to a mix of modern and vintage music - Out of Dawn by Yello has been chosen for the Chanel section. Pachelbel's Canon in D major has been chosen for the queens.
"It's beautiful. My intention is I want people's eyes to brim with tears of appreciation for beauty. It's just an appreciation of women's beauty and just beauty (in general) because its a great thing to celebrate. Men celebrate brawn with the rugby, so I think it's really important to celebrate beauty in all of its guises."
And just like the models who gain so much from bravely stepping out on stage - many for the first time - Bell says change is what life is all about. "That's the whole idea of life isn't it? Just to keep on evolving and not stay stuck. I guess I've had lots of different experiences and I just move through them. I don't do a lot of planning where I'm going in my life."