Come in from the cold

By FIONA HAWTIN

The idea of a long, chilly winter is never appealing. Thank goodness we can take some comfort in what we'll be wearing to keep ourselves warm when it comes, after a preview of winter at last week's Fashion Week.

The Air New Zealand-sponsored event was like going around the world in four days, with frequent time-travel thrown in. One minute we were in Napoleonic France, then we were stopping in for tea with Nancy Mitford and her family and friends in the 1930s, then crash-landing in some jungle with an Amelia Earhart-type adventurer. From all this come a few recurring themes.

EMBELLISHMENT AND ACCESSORIES

Hats, with special mention going to trilbies and cloches. Gloves - chunky-size leather ones - although there were the odd Queen Mum official occasion ones. Long scarves - from thin georgette through to chunky argyle woolly types, the only prerequisite that they must be wrapped around the throat once and left to do their own thing down the front.

Lace on just about anything, ditto sequins.

Leather belts fastened directly under the bust or used about the waist for full nip-in effect. But shiny ribbon will also do nicely, too.

COLOUR

There's no escape. Black is not what it was once. It was apparent, but it's looking a lot worse for wear. Instead, colour is centre-stage - just about all shades of green, from pea to emerald and teal, blues from dirty tones to brilliant turquoise, pale lemon to day-glo yellow, soft ballerina and dusky pinks, red, earthy browns and chocolates, red, and, for those who need to be eased into it, muted takes on all of the above options.

TWEED

Everywhere. Take your pick from subtle, mannish wide-leg pants and gored skirts through to tailored, 40s-style jackets. But the best thing about tweed - running through sweetly done pinks to gold-flecked browns and full-blown black-and-white houndstooth - is when it comes as a coat, specially when worn over ultra-feminine dresses.

THIRTIES AND OTHER DECADES

There were modern updates on the 20s flapper in intricate Charleston dresses. Thirties debutante gear and separates suitable for a weekend at an English country house - this decade received the most exposure.

The 70s rock-chick even got a look-in, with a nod to the Edwardians. All this means more velvet than you can shake a stick at - and it's perfectly acceptable for daywear - fluid silks and sheer georgettes. Best of all is a nostalgic look to get you from mucking out the horse stables in the morning to red carpet evenings.

CAPES, CAPELETS AND STOLES

Proving there is more than one way to keep warm, this lot - including wool pieces looking suspiciously like ponchos - are a viable alternative to the coat. Coming in velvet, lace, sequins, wool, fur and, of course, tweed, you can pretty much have one about your shoulders all the time. Even better, sometimes they come built into the back of coats and even dresses. Take your cue from Brideshead Revisitedor even Mary Tyler Moore rather than Sherlock Holmes or Phantom of the Opera.

LEGGING IT

Before you panic, there were plenty of wide-leg, man-style pants, some even sitting high on the waist, but there was also an awful lot of skinny-leg trousers, jodphurs and stovepipe jeans tucked into boots. In keeping with this leg-conscious movement, plus fours, knickerbockers and cropped cigarette pants are being trotted out for winter as well as that incredibly warm piece of winter gear - shorts.

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NZ Fashion Week - official site