KEY POINTS:
Ever wondered what became of the mantilla-wearing front-rower at a previous Air New Zealand Fashion Week, or of designer Nicholas Blanchet? Viva has done some detective work and caught up with a few that are gone but not forgotten.
INTERNATIONAL VIPS
2002: Rebecca Weinberg
Formerly responsible for
the costumes on the hit television series, Sex and the City, together with her then-partner Patricia Field, Weinberg came to New Zealand Fashion Week in 2002. She met stylist Field when she was 19 and the couple shared a surname when they worked on Sex and the City. Weinberg worked on that show until 2001, putting her mark on 32 of the episodes.
During one of the first seasons of America's Next Top Model she was a guest judge for an episode or two. Today she has a baby with her new partner and still works as a stylist, but mainly on commercial projects.
2003: Cozmo Jenks
This upper-class, social butterfly, a friend of organiser Myken Stewart's who'd met her on a trip to Goa, came to New Zealand Fashion Week way back in 2003. She was touted as a British It-girl and hat-maker to the stars. Rather appropriately Jenks gave everyone something to look at - and for those who sat behind her, something to look around - as she wore her attention-getting hats to most shows.
Jenks is still a posh hat-maker and upper-class social butterfly today, albeit a slightly better-known one. She now has her own store in central London and her rather chic hats regularly adorn the heads of Britain's upper classes as they trot off to events like Ascot or a country wedding.
2004: Emma Forrest
The novelist, "celebrity journalist" and buddy of various celebrities, with Minnie Driver being her BFF (best friend forever), came here in 2004.
Forrest has a bit of a connection with New Zealand - she was apparently dating a New Zealander and was a guest at Karen Walker's New York show last year, although at that event she was simply listed by Walker's PR agency as "The actress Indira Varma's friend". Varma was also at the show.
In June Forrest published another book - not chick lit this time but a collection of essays called Damage Control in which various writers and celebrity types talk about their relationship with the people who work on their bodies, such as tattooists, beauty therapists and personal trainers.
2005: Diane Pernet
Pernet was this Fashion Week's photo opportunity waiting to happen, dressed as she always was in her signature black robes, black mantilla, big black sunglasses and red lipstick.
And it's hard to know whether Pernet was flown to Fashion Week to look weird and give all of us more plainly-dressed locals something to talk about, or whether it was because she keeps a web log called "A Shaded View On Fashion".
Pernet continues to publish random thoughts and fashion postings on her blog and she's still living in Paris.
She is also co-founder of a travelling video exhibit, "You Wear It Well", which is a series of short films and videos about fashion and style curated by her and artist Dino Dinco, which has screened as part of various film festivals around the world.
2005: Cameron Silver
Cameron Silver is the owner of Decades, a Los Angeles vintage boutique that supplies the most beautiful old designer gowns to stars and starlets heading for the red carpet.
A genial chap with excellent connections he eventually wrote a short piece on New Zealand fashion for the widely-read style.com website.
Silver has most recently opened a small branch of Decades in London. While here he was talking somewhat mysteriously about launching his own line of fashion products, but over the past couple of years he has mainly been working as a consultant to companies like luggage maker Samsonite, French fashion house Azzaro and New Zealand's very own Untouched World.
2006: Brian Long
He's been back to New Zealand for the past few years.
And this is despite the fact that last year he reportedly had a bit too much of a good time.
As The Australian newspaper reported, "Long skipped the first few shows altogether due to oversleeping after a big night at the opening party.
"Long, who is working with the heiress [Nicky Hilton] on her new Nicky O hotel due to open in Miami next year, was doubtless researching the bed of his penthouse digs at the Auckland Hilton."
Even though the hotel deal seems to have gone a bit skew-whiff (recent reports suggest Hilton's business partners are suing) and Long's publicity agency only has a one-page website - it's the front page - Long is apparently still a friend and spokesperson for Nicky Hilton.
Earlier this year he was the one giving the press the bad news that Hilton wouldn't be showing her new fashion line, Nicholai, at Miami earlier this year.
So where is Long now? Oh, whoops, he's here in Auckland again.
NEW ZEALAND DESIGNERS
Nicholas Blanchet
After the arty designer's business went into liquidation amid a furore from upset creditors, Blanchet worked as designer at local womenswear chain, Suzanne Gregory. Earlier this year Blanchet relocated to Melbourne where he is now working for Cambridge Clothing, a mainstream menswear firm specialising in off-the-rack suits.
Ink'd
This was a line of high-end men's underwear launched by designer Duncan Korsten at Fashion Week in 2003. The show was memorable because of the bronzed hunks that came down the runway wearing not a lot. In following years Ink'd kept their profile at Fashion Week up by exhibiting and by, some years, having good-looking fellows wandering semi-naked around the halls.
"It's been a long, hard road but I think were getting there," says Ink'd designer, Duncan Korsten, who eventually went into partnership with a textile company. Next month Ink'd will be releasing a price-conscious range of their knickers, called Blue Line, and this will be available at selected Farmers stores. After that they'll be getting into what Korsten calls "relax wear", which is somewhere between loungewear and street wear for stylish blokes.
Susan Scarf/Silk Road
The label, originally called Silk Road, which did well at New Zealand Fashion Week and even went on to show at Australian Fashion Week in 2002, was wound up by Susan Scarf in 2005. And the design team of three - Scarf, her daughter Amy Tonkin, and Rosie Morrow - are all still working in various creative areas. Scarf is now a senior pattern-maker at another local label High Society, Morrow is studying graphic design and Tonkin is keeping her fingers in all the pies she can find, studying graphic design at night, working in the Zambesi workroom by day and also making jewellery of her own design that she sells at stores like Kate Sylvester.
Insidious Fix
Anyone who reads the crime pages of the newspaper probably already knows why this knitwear label, known for theatrical shows involving such things as sheep, mystery tours and ushers dressed as air hostesses (this was before Air New Zealand became a sponsor), has disappeared. Late in 2006 Jason Crawford, one of the founders of the label was charged with relatively serious drug offences. Meanwhile, the other partner in the label, Kylee Davis, has moved on. Davis, who recently had her first child, has started another fashion label and store, Stitch Ministry.
Fur With Ethics
This label was started by devoted believer in animal rights, Bridget Saunders, and when it was shown at Fashion Week involved all sorts of creatures - children, ferrets, dogs and a rat - coming out on to the runway. Her rather brilliant fur coats and other items were made from possum fur and sold in stores like Zambesi. However, Saunders says her other career, as a social columnist, started to take up all her time and she had to give up the label.
IN BRIEF
Roisin Dubh
The label had a liquidation sale earlier this year and the former designer didn't return our calls. In 2003, designer Roisin Kearney had the worst accident in fashion week history, falling off the runway during a run-through and breaking her leg. She was issuing instructions to her team as she was wheeled to a waiting ambulance, heard telling them to "remember, only one button on the tops for the pleated skirts".
Ngati Babe
Aged just 13, Te Kaihou Ngarotata from the Hawkes Bay was the youngest designer ever to show at Fashion Week in 2003. Her relatives report that Ngarotata, who must be about 17 by now, is now at school up in Auckland and the label's on hiatus for the time being.
Natalija Kucija
The fashion industry's loss is the film industry's gain. This incredibly talented designer is now working in wardrobe departments.
THE TRUTH ABOUT VIPS
Every Fashion Week a small group of very special, very important people descend on our town. They are known as the international VIPs.
And every year they can be divided into several groups. First, and possibly most important, are the buyers from overseas. This is the group with the lowest profile - usually you see them in the front row continuously, they look good in a low-key, designer way, and you wonder who they are. Often it turns out they have hundreds of thousands of dollars at their disposal to spend on local clothes.
Second you get the international media. Some of these journalists, commentators and stylists are genuinely important. The first few years of Fashion Week were the best for media bigwigs. Still, some of the international media are not quite as important as one would like to think. For instance, they might be a fashion assistant's assistant (that is, they're the one who fetches the coffee for the models) or a freelancer employed by the media outlet to write one particular piece only. Don't get the wrong idea, they'll still help the cause of New Zealand creativity overseas; it's just that they might not be quite as fancy as we think they are just because they speak with a different accent.
Finally you get the high-profile VIPs. There aren't that many fashion mavericks in this town, so these are the folks who - like 2005's visitor Diane Pernet - have an interesting or unusual wardrobe or demeanour that has the cameras following their every move.
