In a flap over frocks

By FIONA HAWTIN

Trelise Cooper caused a sensation last night at Fashion Week, transporting the fashion crowd back to 1920s speakeasy clubs. It was the sort of to-die-for gear that the Great Gatsby's lovely Daisy would have swooned over.

Cooper wowed the large crowd of nearly 800 people at the biggest show of the Air New Zealand-sponsored week.

She showed what was probably a record number of outfits - 35 of one of her labels and 70 of the eponymous collection.

There were sheer flapper dresses with intricate sequins, beaded coats, gauzy little matinee jackets in every possible combination.

Cooper also pulled out all the stops with softly-coloured tweed jackets, mammoth corsages, ballerina-print skirts and tulle skirts. Altogether, it was a total sensory overload.

But where Cooper sometimes overwhelms, this year the simple elegance of her evening wear shone through its luxurious embellishment.

The audience, which included a swag of celebrities and Cooper's moneyed clientele, left with dreams of evenings in deco-beaded shift dresses and days in neat-waisted jackets with mutton-leg sleeves. The first Fashion Week out ing for Workshop, Workshop Denim and Helen Cherry that followed Trelise Cooper offered up a sparer philosophy. Workshop and Workshop Denim did boys' and girls' jeans, trousers, knits and jackets - some with clever, studded tiki detailing for real, everyday wear.

Helen Cherry's winter collection, in which international expat model Angela Dunn modelled, was a vision of sophisticated 40s-influenced pieces that gutsy broads such as Lauren Bacall would appreciate.

Pencil skirts, printed fitted dresses, tailored jackets and even the odd bit of leopard print, but not the tacky stuff worn by Coronation Street's Bet Lynch.

The day began with Matthew Ridge in swimming trunks first thing in the morning. It's a bit like drinking champagne with breakfast. You've got to be in the mood for it. But it certainly was an eye-opener for the start of day three in the trade shows.

Sidewalk's mens and womenswear made much of screenprinting on mainly casual streetwear - the most exciting being the shopping trolley image, displayed on Ridge's trunks.

Wellington menswear label Mandatory invoked the ratpack - Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jnr - with its knee-length coats, slim-legged jeans and wild check suit. Although there's no record of Sinatra in a gold satin shirt even in his Vegas period.

This dressy gear was worked in with hooded sweatshirts, jeans tucked into boots and easy-wear knits.

After last year's leg-breaking fall off the runway, designer Roisin ni Cearnaigh's label Roisin Dubh had an incident-free show this time round. It may have helped that the runway was not raised.

Her trademark screen-printed mesh tops and silk skirts bore ancient Egyptian symbols for this collection - Egyptian eyes, scarab and bird wings but it's hard to imagine her muse Isis in this gear.

The results of Miranda Brown's skill with shibori dye techniques ended up pinned across the body or on bright green and orange scarves, which were then belted over simple separates.

The collection ran from pristine, fluid dresses with pointy bits the models held up for full vestal virgin effect, through to soft pink cord jodhpurs that were so wearable that not having a horse to ride shouldn't stop anyone.

At Angeline Harrington's show simple 60s short-sleeved dresses came with just the right amount of detailing whether it be pretty prints, green screen-printed leaves or an exaggerated collar - but stopped short well before the streamlined effect was in jeopardy. Nom*D brought new meaning to the term fashionably late on Tuesday night. By the time their This is Not a Love Song collection began it was nearly two hours behind schedule. Previous shows had also run late, but the Dunedin label compounded things by corralling guests through the bowels of the Aotea Centre to its backstage venue, where again they waited.

It was fortunate then, that many of the international media liked what they saw in a show that ran for just over 10 minutes. The label's signature palette of gothic black and more black was pepped up by a smattering of white, brown and a day-glo blue and yellow combination. Oversize chunky knits, super-long hooded sweatshirts, coats, super-skinny jeans, deconstructed jackets and a stand-in skirt of plaid flannelette shirts sewn on to a waistband was the order of the day.

The show before at the Halsey St site couldn't have been more different. Liz Mitchell's Wallis in Wonderland was a tribute to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, whom Mitchell describes as one of history's best-dressed couples. Her cashmere knits, Fair Isle cardigans, tartan skirts and caped trench coats were a nostalgic trip back to the thirties and forties.

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