KEY POINTS:
World got Fashion Week off to a dazzling start, with crystal-studded tuxedos for women and vibrant menswear. After a four-year gap from the annual event, it was a welcome return from the country's most theatrical design house.
But for all the glitz and the big hair which took from pre-dawn to style, it was a surprisingly pared-back show played out to laid-back tunes before a capacity audience of 1000 in the Big Tent at the Halsey St venue of the Air NZ sponsored event.
The World design team, led by Francis Hooper, with Benny Castles fashioning menswear and Denise L'Estrange Corbet realising the vision, puts on a show as much about ideas as store-ready clothes, but this year the gap was narrower than at some of their past extravaganzas.
Stripped of its styling - tiny manbags in red and pink, giant bow-ties, bellhop hats, amazing Swarovski crystal-studded sunglasses - the sharply tailored jackets with sequinned lapels work for evening wear and a fur gilet would team with jeans.
The collection, entitled There Is No Depression In New Zealand, celebrated luxury, from faux fur skirts and trims, through to wool cashmere suits with high-waisted belted trousers and 70s-inspired elegantly fashioned silver and black full-length kaftans.
Jewel colours came in draped dresses for women, including a fuchsia kimono-wrap with an orange tie belt.
Menswear was strongest, with tailoring given a twist by contrast colour piping and panel detail that picked out a sportif shape in woollen suits. A brown paisley cord jacket was twinned with red sateen skinny pants and parkas trimmed with red epaulettes.
Not sure if many men will hit the streets in chartreuse pants, a teal jacket and red bow tie, but they'd look just dandy if they did.
Tiresome transtasman rivalry was forgotten when Australian designer Kirrily Johnston got a rousing reception. Her style is much more in tune with New Zealand taste than that of some of her brasher countrymen.
Kirrily Johnston cites Zambesi as a favourite New Zealand designer and it's easy to see why. She too uses a restricted colour palette with great effect and makes wearable fluid fashions that also recall Cybele.
Drape is a big part of her artistry and it showed to great effect in simple silk shifts and jersey knits in black and burnt orange, some with handkerchief hems.
A cute georgette tiered mini was worn over leggings and several tiers more were added to turn this into elegant evening attire. Johnston even pulled off the difficult drop-crotch shorts shape. She's a welcome addition to the scene and fitted right in.
Cybele again showed why she's such a rising star of New Zealand fashion, with a cohesive collection that showed a real continuity on previous years, with her signature prints on simple fluid satin shapes.
The Halcyon bird, a kingfisher, was her inspiration with two key prints: one of feathers and the other an abstract flock of birds. Silk sleeves were cut batwing-style then pulled round in a soft shoulder drape with a tie at the centre back.
Feather panelling was used on capped sleeves and also along the legs of skinny grey denim jeans. Black jersey dresses were panelled in charcoal, two shades of teal and orange to also echo feathers and the shades of her silk prints.
Tabard knits and skater skirts rounded out the wearable shapes.
Stitch Ministry's muted knitwear was also well styled in muted tones, mining familiar themes. Cropped chunky cable knits looked good over slimmer pieces. Kylee Davis also used applique, ruching, fringing and woven knits to add interest.
Not sure that Rita Angus ever wore grey marle, but Wellington designer Laurie Foon used the iconic New Zealand painter as inspiration for one part of her show, then Edie Sedgwick for the second, in what must have been a pre-Warhol moment. The tea dresses and mannish slouch pants will be saleable.
Juliette Hogan had a more assured take on a show that unfurled on an Axminster rug runway. A navy and cream floral print was used in blouses and shirtdresses, and echoed the 1940s, as did an airforce blue cropped bomber jacket, a floral sprig full-length tea-dress and a floor-sweeping peach dress threaded with lurex thread.
Sera Lily also toughened her usual pretty school ball gowns and tulle tutus, with some fake fur and a shot of chrome yellow amid the black.
The Brothers Grimm were not surprisingly an inspiration with her Scandi princess models wearing floral headbands with little bow peep ribbons under the chin.
Nom*D, masters of dark deconstruction, were surprisingly colourful, blacks shot through with plaid and a blazer of teal and brick red, in a show styled with Air Jordan boots.
Loved the white shirt worn as a giant bow tie and the "bride" wearing a cobbled-together matted cream gown of old Aran-knit jerseys pulled together with satin ribbon.
The night ended with Adrian Hailwood showing that he's not just an 80s boy. He surprised with a modern twist on some mannered 60s dresses and little cocktail jackets and fitted skirts in silver, gold and cream lame. Love the ladylike with tough denims.
