Man about town Ricardo Simich brings you Society Insider. This week, London-based Kiwi designers are gearing up for Fashion Week; the 30-something duo changing the face of our biggest cities; real estate king Mike Pero’s new franchise business.
Society Insider: Kiwi label Paris Georgia’s plans for NZ Fashion Week; the men behind property developer Brooksfield; Mike Pero’s new franchise
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Mike Pero; Paris Georgia designers Georgia Cherrie and Paris Temple Mitchell; Brooksfield property developers Vincent Holloway and Oliver Hickman. Photo / Herald composite
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But the duo, now based in London, have made sure they are still part of New Zealand Fashion Week Kahuria for when it returns to Auckland on August 25 – even if they can’t be there in person.
Mitchell Temple tells Society Insider that she and Cherrie have been working alongside the former creative and fashion director of Viva magazine and NZ Fashion Week creative adviser Dan Ahwa to curate some Paris Georgia archives in an opening show of the week.
“The show is called ‘Into the Archives’, which is a celebration of archival fashion that has shaped contemporary NZ fashion for the past 20-30 years,” Mitchell Temple tells Society Insider.
“We are honoured to be asked and involved.”
Paris Georgia’s pre-fall collection has just been released and Mitchell Temple says they will launch their newest Elemental Wardrobing collection online next week.
The label showed at Australian Fashion Week in May and next month will be taking to the runways for fashion weeks in Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, debuting their SS26 collection to wholesale buyers.
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This week, Mitchell Temple and Cherrie are in Marseille, France, to shoot the range, only sharing with Society Insider that they had secured an incredible location and team.
Mitchell Temple and Cherrie tell Society Insider that while their NZ office in Freeman’s Bay remains open and close to their hearts, they’ve been loving the process of building a team and studio in northeast London.
They met when they were 13 years old. After high school, while Mitchell Temple studied fashion at AUT in Auckland, Cherrie studied marketing and fashion in Barcelona. They both travelled to the world’s fashion capitals before returning home and starting their label.
Mitchell Temple and her husband of seven years, hospitality and wine whiz Henry, moved to London last year at the start of the Northern Hemisphere summer with their 4-year-old daughter. Cherrie has also based herself there.
The brand, which has become known for its subtle and luxurious styles, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
The move to London has allowed the designing duo to expand their resources and collaborate with new talent. They say the city not only inspires them, but it has also created an array of new suppliers for their business.
“Living in London, being closer to these key markets has been transformative for the brand,” says Mitchell Temple. “While it sometimes felt like starting over, the rewards are starting to show.”
Paris Georgia designs have featured in the pages of international magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and have been worn by A-listers including model Georgia Fowler, who is a friend of the designers; models/businesswomen Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber; actors Margot Robbie and Kate Hudson; and popstars Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa.
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The brand now has 50 global stockists, including Ssence, Ounass, Moda Operandi, Printemps Doha, Elyse Walker, The New Trend and London luxury institution Browns.
It is also available in Ibiza’s Old Town this Northern Hemisphere summer season after Cherrie met resort wear designer Laura Castro, whose brand PORTA is based there. Castro invited Cherrie to collaborate with her on a pop-up shop.
“Ibiza is the perfect home for Paris Georgia, we love the island and all the incredible women who visit it,” says Mitchell Temple.
The label has hosted exclusive soirees in London over the past year. One of the pair’s favourite collaborations has been with British artist and their friend Joe Sweeney, with whom they launched Career Girl, a T-shirt collection for Paris Georgia. The launch was held at Rita’s Dining in London’s Soho and attracted A-List guests including British model Edie Campbell, artist and model Kesewa Aboah, fashion stylists Olivia Pezzente and Bettina Looney, Elle UK contributing editor Maxim Magnus, London-based Kiwi model and entrepreneur Jessica Clarke and fellow Kiwi model Lilian Sumner.
Mitchell Temple and Cherrie were proud to have London style icon and It Girl Alexa Chung and her sister-in-law, floral artist Christie Leigh, wear their Career Girl T-shirts.
Over the past three years, Mitchell Temple and Cherrie honed their business focus and brought on a third director to their business, co-founder and managing partner at Maker Partners, Rod Snodgrass.
Snodgrass is known in New Zealand business circles for being a venture capital partner, professional director and strategic adviser on business innovation, growth, transformation and change.
Kiwi Paris Georgia fans visiting London might spot the designers at some of their favourite venues, including Notting Hill’s casual Greek restaurant Zephyr, hotspot BRAT, modern Italian restaurant Manteca, 392 Kings Rd in Shoreditch, and historic pub, The Spurstowe Arms in Hackney.
The young property developers changing the face of NZ’s cities
Christchurch-based property developers Oliver Hickman and Vincent Holloway have made a name for themselves changing the cityscapes of urban New Zealand.
Their company Brooksfield has delivered more than 600 houses since its inception in 2019, making the pair millions of dollars.
But rather than creating cookie-cutter terraces, the pair are focused on “storybook” homes – Georgian colonial-revival weatherboard and brick townhouses that blend into the heritage homes around them.
Now the duo, who are in their 30s, are further building their empire, moving into creating communities with multiple houses and streets, commercial property and have started a tax app to take on Xero.
Vincent, 31, and Hickman, 35, say they have a passion for breaking the tropes usually associated with being a developer.
“We don’t do the helicopter, larger than life ‘look at me’ stuff. We would rather spend time on our second biggest passion, gardening,” Hickman tells Society Insider.
Tauranga-born and raised, Holloway left Ōtūmoetai College halfway through his fifth form, the day after he turned 16, and hit the building trade.
Hickman attended Christ’s College, where he now serves on the board of governors. He also played a key role in championing the school’s new gym, which fittingly bears his name: The Hickman Gymnasium.
He studied property valuation and development at Lincoln University and says while he may have had a private school education, his rise in the property world was anything but handed to him – it was built from the ground up.
“I started out east in New Brighton, my foray into developing was the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of repairing EQ [earthquake] homes, and from then until now with Brooksfield, we never buy or build anything we know won’t sell.”
The pair met 10 years ago when Holloway attended a property conference that Hickman’s company of the time, Opes Partners, was holding in Tauranga.
“I asked for a job, left my building job, moved to Auckland, and opened the office there,” says Holloway.
The pair’s shared interest in property, especially heritage buildings and homes, led to them spending their time driving around historic neighbourhoods in Auckland and Christchurch, such as Herne Bay, Remuera and Fendalton.
Holloway made the move to Christchurch in 2015 to join Hickman and start the building blocks of Brooksfield, by buying and repairing earthquake-damaged houses in Christchurch. Hickman estimates the total to be about 500 homes by the time they finished.
After developing what they call “a few white modern boxes”, it was Holloway who suggested that they build the classical-style homes they love at affordable prices for Kiwis.
Brooksfield was born, separating itself from other developers by specialising in heritage-style homes, priced from $700,000 to $1.5 million.
The majority have been in Christchurch, with the business also creating homes in Nelson and three separate developments in Point Chevalier, Auckland, with more planned. There are plans for Wellington and Tauranga to follow.
Brooksfield currently has four Christchurch community developments under way, ranging from 15-22 dwellings, including a mixed development in Sumner that will feature townhouses, coach houses, apartments and shops.
It also has a Montreal St apartment building under construction that has apartments valued from between $1m and $4m, which have all sold out.
“They look straight up Worcester Blvd to the cathedral, stunning site, one of the best in Christchurch,” says Hickman.
Last week, the pair took Brooksfield into the commercial sector, buying 160 Gloucester St for $3.4m.
“We expect to spend another $5m building a four-storey building, mostly of office space, in a classical style,” says Hickman.
“It will be unique and a space people want to come to work in, looking down New Regent St.”
The duo are also behind a new accounting platform called Lodg, aimed at sole traders to help with invoicing and tax.
“It has been very well received and we have around 15-20 new users signing up every day,” says Hickman.
Hickman and Holloway practice what they preach – their offices are located in Christchurch city’s central Victorian mansion, Eliza Manor, which they bought for $2.75m last year.
They and their young families live near each other in Georgian-style mansions in the Garden City’s upmarket suburb of Fendalton.
“Olly’s is a 1920s Heathcote Helmore home, and mine is a 2020s Ben Pentreath home,” says Holloway. “They are both beautiful and restful abodes and a joy to come home to.”
Helmore is a celebrated New Zealand architect of the early 20th century and Pentreath is a contemporary English architectural and interior designer who has been a crucial part of the Brooksfield success story.
Pentreath’s business has been famous for more than two decades for designing houses and buildings for Poundbury, an experimental “urban extension” town in Dorset, Britain, backed by King Charles when he was the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cornwall. It’s a town of high-density new builds, but all are designed in a traditional architectural style.
Holloway was a fan of Pentreath and reached out to him by direct message on Instagram. Pentreath now designs Brooksfield’s classical homes.
Holloway and Hickman often travel to London for work, exploring the classical cities of Europe with Pentreath.
Hickman has a new build of his own happening in Queenstown, embracing mid-century Americana with a Frank Lloyd Wright-style pavilion home that will look out over Lake Hayes.
Mike Pero’s premium alcohol franchise business
Blackwell Trading Post, the new franchise business from Mike Pero, is due to start rolling out across the country this month.
The “premium spirits consumer buying experience” has Pero as a major shareholder, joining marketer Adam Blackwell and Wairarapa businessman Gavin Hodder.
Blackwell told Society Insider that an update would happen when the pair were back from travelling overseas.
The venture initially came about when Pero, the former Apprentice Aotearoa host and founder of eponymous mortgage and real estate franchises, was invited to advise the Greytown Gin Distillery board on its new retail franchise business, Blackwell Trading Post (BTP).
Developed by Blackwell, Hodder and master Greytown distiller Peter Warren, BTP is based on the Greytown Distilling Company, a store inside Blackwell and Sons bicycle shop on the Wairarapa town’s Main St.
But Pero, a Christchurch-born and bred former motorcycle racing champion who owns NZ’s only Japanese motorcycle gallery, was so impressed with the business model he asked to become a stakeholder instead.
Company records show that in March, BTP was created, with Pero taking a 40% shareholding and Blackwell and Hodder evenly splitting the remaining 60% between them.
Pero told Franchise.co.nz in June that BTP stores offering “a premium spirits consumer buying experience” are due to roll out this month, with a goal of more than 60 locations across New Zealand. He said there has also been interest from prospective Australian franchisees.
While BTP will stock the range of international award-winning Greytown Distillery Gins, it will carry the Blackwell name and carry premium vodka, whiskey and other craft spirits.
“They’re what I refer to as ‘full-service franchises’ – as the franchisor, we’ll do all the backroom work and the stuff that business owners and salespeople often can’t be bothered with,” said Pero.
Prospective BTP franchisees have been asked to enter into a confidentiality agreement.
Throughout the 1990s, Pero became a household name with his franchise business, Mike Pero Mortgages, and from 2011, Mike Pero Real Estate.
Numerous court proceedings and business headlines have followed both businesses and the Mike Pero Group, which is owned by Australian Liberty Financial Group.
Pero, 65, says he sold his real estate interests in 2019 and retired.
Australian real estate giant Raine & Horne officially acquired Mike Pero Real Estate from Liberty Financial Group in 2024. Liberty still owns Mike Pero Mortgages, according to company records.
Pero’s name has also been synonymous with his love of flying and work in the aviation industry. In 2021, in the same year of his Apprentice role, Pero grounded his plans to launch Pasifika Air, an air link between the Cook Islands.
Pero describes the ideal BTP franchisee operators as a mature couple, with good communication skills, capable of obtaining their licence under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 and supported by two part-time casuals.
He says total turn-key costs, including fees, fit-out, stock and plant, are from $170,000, and says the return on investment will be significant.
A good week for ... diamonds on Queen St
The owners of Partridge Jewellers, Grant and Heather Partridge, unveiled New Zealand’s first Graff boutique at 145 Queen St last Thursday evening, in the heart of downtown Auckland.
Graff’s 65-year history is intertwined with founder Laurence Graff’s craftsmanship and passion for diamonds.
The global luxury brand, renowned for its high jewellery and diamonds, has more than 70 stores worldwide.
Global A-list customers of the brand include Oprah Winfrey, Victoria Beckham, Angelina Jolie, Pharrell Williams and the late Dame Elizabeth Taylor.
For the Auckland launch, Auckland Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson joined Graff’s international franchise director Romain Le Chevallier to cut the ribbon. She told Society Insider she is thrilled to see the luxury offerings growing in downtown Auckland.
Private guests gathered around a serpentine-shaped counter, with the creations displayed within bevelled glass showcases to reflect the intricate facets of a diamond, and were allowed to try on some of the boutique’s most high-end jewels.
Party people of the week
Déesse PRO’s New Zealand debut
Auckland’s SO/ Hotel transformed into a haven of beauty, innovation, and fine dining last week as Kiara Cosmetics officially introduced Déesse PRO, the globally celebrated LED light therapy brand, to New Zealand.
Global A-list fans of the brand include Kim Kardashian, Chrissy Teigen, Jessica Alba, Madonna, Kate Hudson and Nicola Peltz Beckham.
Kiara Cosmetics founder Annemarie Mason, alongside her general manager Ineke Pronk, welcomed local beauty media, tastemakers and industry leaders to an exclusive three-course dinner at the hotel’s private Waitematā Room.
The evening began with champagne and demonstrations of the devices, which have become internationally renowned within the beauty industry for the combination of Nasa-accredited technology with Korean precision engineering.
Among the attendees were The Face Place owner Dr Catherine Stone, beauty entrepreneur Edna Swart, bridal designer Trish Peng, Aurea founder Alex Patchett, actor Monique Meredith and beauty writer Hélène Ravlich.
Workmates at NZIFF
Workmates, the Kiwi film that hits cinemas on August 21, had its world premiere at Auckland’s Civic during the Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival.
The cast and crew reunited on the red carpet, including director Curtis Vowell, writer and star Sophie Henderson (who was recently appointed as artistic director at Silo Theatre), and co-lead Matt Whelan, alongside a packed house of industry friends, media and long-time supporters of Aotearoa’s screen and stage community.
The movie is billed as a “scrappy love story” and inspired by Henderson’s real-life years running Auckland’s Basement Theatre. The supporting cast includes Kura Forrester and Chris Parker.
Among the attendees were playwright Sam Brooks, director Oliver Driver, actor Beth Allen, Basement founder Charlie McDermott, broadcaster Luke Bird and Workmates producer Sam Snedden.
The film continues its festival run in Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, before its nationwide release on August 21.
Ricardo Simich has been with the Herald since 2008 where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012 he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.