NZ fashion making international waves

2.30pm

When Hollywood superstar Julia Roberts walks into a shop and buys your entire clothing collection, you know you have made it in Tinseltown.

That is the case for New Zealand fashion designer Trelise Cooper, who also recently sold 40 garments to American actress Reese Witherspoon.

Other New Zealand designers making waves in Hollywood include Liz Mitchell, Karen Walker and Zambesi.

They have all capitalised on the recent spate of films being shot in New Zealand, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong.

Cooper's clothes have won her some influential friends in Los Angeles, including A-listers Liv Tyler, Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah McLachlan, Prince, Mena Suvari and Angela Bassett.

"Lord of the Rings put New Zealand on the map," Cooper said.

"You have got to have a big view of it so if someone who is up for an Oscar, then whatever I can offer is a gift from me."

Karen Walker's fans include Cate Blanchett, Clare Danes, Shirley Manson, Kelly Osbourne, Mandy Moore, Bjork and Madonna.

Kate Winslet also used four pieces from Walker's recent 'Dust' collection for her role in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

"It is just a sign of the times," Air New Zealand Fashion Week managing director Pieter Stewart said in Auckland, preparing for the event in October.

"New Zealand's music is on a high, New Zealand's fashion is on a high and sometimes these things all work together so that is probably all you can say."

Liz Mitchell has a range of high profile clients but is probably best known for designing the gown worn by Whale Rider star and Oscar nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes at this year's Academy Awards.

"The amount of coverage that we got from that internationally and locally was just incredible," the designer said.

Mitchell established her own label in 1994, inspired by her love of 1950s Christian Dior designs.

Her latest collection, 'Wallace in Wonderland', will be on show during fashion week in Auckland from October 18 to 21.

"It is based around the Duchess of Windsor in the 1930s," Mitchell said.

"It is going to have lots of glamorous dresses and beads and crystals. I do beautiful dresses, wedding dresses, evening and day wear, but I probably am most known for my evening wear and bridal (designs)."

Mitchell said that because of their relative isolation from the rest of the world, New Zealand designers were more introverted and less likely to be influenced by the catwalks of Milan or Paris.

"It is a small country but somehow our isolation has helped us to just be really true to ourselves," she said.

New Zealand is famous for its natural fibres, particularly wool. Possum fur has also become quite popular among designers.

"Possum fur is different from Australia where it is protected," Mitchell said.

"Here it is a real pest and so we use possum skins which make fantastic accessories."

Cooper also likes to use possum fur with her designs.

She said her collection this year would have a vintage feel.

"There is lots of beading and handwork on the garments and luxurious fabrics, lots of textures and colour," Cooper said.

"Some shapes reveal and some conceal and I like that. I like the juxtaposition and I believe that to be sexy in clothing, you don't have to reveal everything and it doesn't always have to be very tight."

Cooper is well known in Australia and she has become a bit of a celebrity ambassador for New Zealand.

But that doesn't sit too comfortably for the golden-locked designer.

"I would like to say I am not a celebrity here but I am kidding myself," Cooper said.

Tanya Carlson is one of New Zealand's up-and-comers.

The 30-year-old, who hails from Dunedin at the bottom of the South Island, has a distinct style using lace, handpainted fabrics and delicate hand-beading.

Her clothing is sold in the Australian section of David Jones stores and funnily enough, Australia claims her as one of our own.

"I figure that if I trained there, they do have a bit of a claim to me since they paid for my education so I have not got too much of a problem with it," Carlson, who studied in Sydney for seven years, said.

"So many of us are selling so strongly into Australia, I don't think there is any rivalry between the two countries and there are lots more Australian labels coming over here."

Another relative newcomer to the scene is the World label, from designers Denise L'Estrange-Corbet and Frances Hooper.

They design for both men and women and their 2004 collection is called 'Orchestral Movers in the Dark'.

"The strength we have as New Zealanders is that we are small," Hooper said.

"The story is very concise and it is very strong."

World has a store in Sydney, several in New Zealand and is distributed throughout the United Kingdom and the United States.

Hooper said that it was only in the past few years that New Zealand's designers were being noticed overseas.

"New Zealand was a country that was basically bankrupt in the '80s and so that isolation and the need to have to do it has made it a very strong ideas industry, not just fashion but music and movies," he said.

Air New Zealand Fashion Week is in its fourth year and Pieter Stewart said the event had grown much quicker than expected.

"There certainly has been a growth in profile of the event in just four years and we feel now in year four, we are where we thought we would be in year 10," Stewart said.

"It is quite eclectic because we have got high glam through to casual."

One area organisers have tried to develop this year has been male clothing.

Stewart said that out of 40 designers, about 10 were for men's clothing.

"It seems to be that New Zealand fashion doesn't follow trends and because fashion week is the first full winter collections for 2005, there is no trend to follow," she said.

"So these designers are maybe in there own quiet way indicating to the world the way they should be thinking."

- AAP

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