Keeping Up Appearances

Scanning the internet and flicking through magazines reveals the latest fashionable trends but there's nothing quite like being there. And when it comes to couture the world's chic soul lies in Europe.

Anne Corbett is a long-established Kerikeri clothing retailer specializing in lingerie, swimwear and outerwear. She has just returned from Italy and Greece and is brimming over with the hottest and trendiest commands out of Europe.

"Everything has lace on it," she says. "And what I call 'tattered' lace, the heavy lace. It could be a full lace top, or a top with one hundred percent linen on the front and lace on the back, or lace on the collar, cuffs, on the hems of skirts, everywhere.

"There was even a shirt with just one lace cuff. I thought it looked as if they had one piece of lace left over and were working out how to use it, almost as if they were running out of it!"

She says Europeans wear a 'helluva lot of white' and will add the de rigueur colours of bright orange, yellow, electric blue or (occasionally) purple in the shape of hand bags, shoes and scarves.

"The tote bags, the larger shoulder bags, come in these very bright colours too and so do the clutch bags whether they are small or large. And they say it's fashionable again to match shoes and hand bags although I didn't really know it had gone out of date."

Swimwear this season is the tankini where the pants and top can be mixed and matched as, for example, plain pants with a floral top or vice versa. Indeed, floral is the theme with all outer clothing, not just swim wear.

Her visit to Positano allowed her to make contact with an established Amalfi Coast retailer who creates for her own shops from fabrics she buys from Milan, one of Europe's top fashion-oriented cities. Ms Corbett brought some pure linen dresses back to Kerikeri and she is discussing the possibility of importing from this source in the future so it means Northland is neither missing out nor lagging behind. And fashion is a total look - with underwear flattering outerwear.

"All lingerie must fit properly," says Anne Corbett. "It's always best to start with the bottom and work up from there because if your underwear is not in good shape then the outer wear won't be in good shape either."

The Anne of Craicor store in Kerikeri Road has been established for nine years. In fact Ms Corbett is the longest serving corsetiere in Northland and the only stockist of Fantasie brand lingerie in Northland. Moreover, the six different swim wear labels she stocks means her shop offers the largest range of swim wear north of Auckland's harbour bridge. Not even Whangarei can compete she says.