Expert Eye: Stolen Girlfriends Club 2010

Models wear creations by Stolen Girlfriends Club on day three of New Zealand Fashion Week 2010. Photo / Getty Images

The late show as an "event" is a Fashion Week staple and Stolen Girlfriends is the hottest ticket in town.

Scenesters queued an hour for entry to the Mercury Theatre, crammed the foyer holding jam jars for glasses, then squeezed in for a show called Last Night's Party.

Before it got going, every blogger in town was taking pictures of every other blogger and film crews clustered at the front of the stage.

A stadium-style lighting rig flashed the audience before the music stuttered into life, but any thought this would be a straight run through of the collection was quickly snuffed out by a group in the balcony playing reality television with the models, whooping and applauding their favourite faces.

Very pretty they all were too, with a less feral look than some previous SG shows.

The clothes were also more refined with a mostly black, white and camel palette and dashes of blood red leather featuring in drop-crotch shorts and pants. There was also a signature purple hydrangea print.

Knits in cream and in black were particularly strong, especially an oversized bell-sleeved sweater for the girls and a mohair polo for the boys.

Shorts were cuffed in shearling and faux fur was mashed up with net. The combo approach was also seen in pants with a cord top half and a chambray flare bottom.

Dresses came with tulip skirts and others with lavish organza ruffles. These extended either out from each side seam to form a U-shape at the waist or round sleeves and down the sides of dresses.

The show ended with a bridal procession, he in the purple print suit, she in a white dress that scooped way high at the front. To seal the moment the happy couple threw an exploding bouquet into the audience showering the front row with confetti.

No doubt cult followers will be lining up for the T-shirt reading 'I belong to the Stolen generation'. More reluctant converts might be thinking of lining up for the collective's clothes, which are becoming more covetable each season.

On closer inspection the purple hydrangea print turns out to have cigarette butts implanted in the design, which apparently translates to: "The juxtaposition of last night and this morning ... the promise of what could be and the reality of the hard light of day."

Last Night's Party was followed by an after party above K Rd. No doubt today some will still be feeling the after effects.

That's the price of treating a fashion show as a party people happening.