Blackout lifts on multicolour

By FIONA HAWTIN

Tanya Carlson's return to the New Zealand Fashion Week runway after her absence last year was the opening day's triumph.

The Dunedin designer channelled 1970s rock-chick gear - with an Edwardian twist. High-waisted full maxi skirts in fluid silks and velvets worked with high-necked shirts with full bell sleeves.

There was so much to like - the chocolate satin full-length dress, the orange velvet frockcoat with cunningly contrived cape, the orange and gold diagonally-striped maxi, the black maxi with red and purple satin waist and skirt base.

Had Stevie Nicks been present, she would have felt like she'd died and gone to heaven.

Carlson also used her show - part of the Air New Zealand-sponsored trade-only event where designers show winter 2005 ranges to buyers and media - to launch a young label, Cherry Cotton Candy.

The collection was designed by her design assistants', Cara Cotton and Cherry Austin-Spievey. Cute and fun, the gold shorts and pink-cuffed red shorts, super-skinny jeans, hoodies and hexagonal sweatshirts had soccer-player overtones and a 1950s diner feel.

From the Northern Steamship Company building, Zambesi later crammed in as many people as they could for L'Anniversaire, a celebration of the label's 25th year. The enthusiastic crowd was busy trying to work out what they wanted for next winter.

The womenswear was mainly in black, punctuated with shades of green from pea to teal. Drainpipe pants with zips at the back, jodhpurs, boxy jackets, ribbed knickerbockers and pants were offset with wispy georgette dresses and tops and dresses that gathered into deep V-neck front and back for full goddess effect. The gold-flecked off-the-shoulder capelets and the loose, mannish all-in-one pantsuit with deep cowl at the back were captivating.

Zambesi Man was all about narrow pants, shearling gloves, sheer shirts under a hoodie jacket and easy, masculine tailoring. Accessory du jour for Zambesi was a crystal decanter top on a leather thong.

RJC had the honour of getting the week under way at the Halsey St site. Designer Claire Kingan-Jones invited the fashion set to a tea party complete with cucumber sandwiches.

The winter collection, Primadonna, fused 1950s sportswear with the Italian sophistication of Venice, although there was more than a little of the 1930s about it. Delicate, oh-so-feminine dresses and skirts with handkerchief hemlines were teamed with wide-leg pants. Georgettes, silk satins and luxurious velvets in soft pinks, greens and jewel tone blues, pewters and greens were toughened up with tweed.

The clever styling meant plenty of layering so that a blue satin skirt, green georgette top and pink velvet camisole top looked like they were made for each other. Ropes of coloured beads, red hats and grey socks with red heels finished the look.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the show was, barring two pieces, there was no black - except that worn in the crowd.

The Canterbury contingent of Barbara Lee, Sharon Ng and Sakaguchi made up for the earlier lack of black. Lee continued with her classic tailored black and white pieces - pinstripe men's pants, tailored jackets and white shirts - and set them against English bank, equestrian and cabaret themes.

Ng showed more of her signature minimalist pieces in greys, browns and black, embellishing cheongsams with artist Bill Hammond's birds and silk dressing gowns with floral embroidery.

Black and grey dominated Sakaguchi's daywear until his jewel-bright eveningwear had the audience almost reaching for their sunglasses.

Dunedin knitwear label Mild Red's collection Theory Meets Reality, inspired by a dinner with artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, printed the spirit of the artist on knee-high leather spats decorated with a minaret skyscape.

Donna Tulloch used a palette of brown, black, claret and grey for the pieces she encourages the wearer to pin, drape, knot and fold.

Catalyst's show Pandora's Box was all about the 1920s flapper who liked to wear sheer, ultra-feminine dresses with sequins, lace, floral detailing, crocheted capelets that looked endearingly like grannys doilies with long belted fine-gauge cardigans.

OBI fast-forwarded to the 1940s by pairing sheer, girly dresses with masculine, military belted jackets and mannish pants.

Caroline Church's collection, The Eccentric Englishwoman, was a homage to the style and writing of the extraordinarily-dressed poet Edith Sitwell. There were embroidered silk coats, full-length long dresses and bias-cut dresses.

* Coverage of the late shows by World and Doris de Pont will run with Wednesday's wrap-up.

Now and Not

* Banish black (unless you're Zambesi).

* Hail the high waist.

* Love luxe: Silk satin and silk velvet fabrics - for night and day.

* Colour crazy: Red and teal, blush pink and mint. Chrome yellow and burnt orange. Faded strawberry, rich creams, palest puce and taupe and tan.

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