News in the New Zealand fashion and beauty industry in our latest INDUSTRY NEWS column, for August 2015, featuring KILT, Glassons and Otago Polytechnic, Elizabeth Arden, ObjectSpace, NZ Fashion Week, Marr Factory, and Heroes and Villains jewellery…
KILT opens New Zealand factory
NZ fashion brand Kilt (www.kilt.co.nz) is opening their own NZ made factory! That’s right – not only have they opened two new boutiques this year but we are going to open a factory. The label was born in 2000 in Wellington by founder Melissa Williams-Lamb. “We are really excited by this opportunity to create extra jobs in NZ and to keep the sewing industry alive” says Lauren Hart at Kilt. They said it will be “like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but with less main characters missing”. Kilt wants to keep sewing jobs alive in this country with the creation of this factory, whilst still using existing CMT factories that are in New Zealand. They are social activists who believe that the more people who make their clothes here the better.
Glassons helps emerging designers
New Zealand fashion retailer Glassons has given Otago Polytechnic fashion design students a helping hand with their careers in fashion with a partnership where students submit their designs to gain commercial feedback from industry experts. Participating students presented their designs to be critiqued, and designer, Kenya Quin, had her fashionable yet commercially transferable aesthetic earn her a one-month internship with Glassons. Another student, Sophie Ball’s impressive theme and infectious personality lead to a Glassons Snapchat takeover – meaning Ball’s creativity reached over 10,000 of Glassons style-savvy followers. Alongside these acknowledgements one piece from each student’s submission will be styled by Pettersen in an online lookbook to be published on Glassons.com and a top fashion title’s online channels. The Otago Polytechnic’s fashion student’s bag designs – which formed many of the overall student submissions – will be on sale at Glassons’ New Zealand Fashion Week Pop-up store in Auckland this September.
Elizabeth Arden store opens in Auckland
Elizabeth Arden, one of the most recognised names in beauty, is proud to announce the upcoming opening of its new boutique retail store situated at 62 Queen Street, Auckland. Lower Queen Street is fast becoming the luxury precinct for top international brandsand is a perfect fit for the new Elizabeth Arden store.From its modern façade and interior to its superb staff of top beauty experts, the boutique will showcase the entire Elizabeth Arden portfolio of skincare, colour and fragrances as well as offering unique beauty services including hairstyling/blow dry, makeup application, luxury facials, nails, lashes and brows.
Marr Factory
Photo credit Kevin Robinson (at NOM*d 2014 show) on Thread.co.nz
The Marr Factory fashion shows featuring New Zealand designers are back, with Bombay Sapphire and Quartz Reef Wines and Hallertau beer at Golden Dawn pub on Ponsonby Road, on these dates 9th to 16th August 2015. Designers presenting their Spring Summer in-season, SS15-16 collections, are Karen Walker, Zambesi, NOM*d, Workshop Helen Cherry and Kate Sylvester. The public can buy tickets for $45 including a goodybag and free drinks, at www.iticket.co.nz
NZ Fashion Week 2015 Schedule is released
Photo credit James Yang on Thread.co.nz
It’s that time of year again, the run up to Fashion Christmas – oh, I mean, New Zealand Fashion Week. NZFW today announced the designer line up for 2015 which will once again take place at the ANZ Viaduct Event Centre on Auckland’s waterfront from Monday 24th August to Sunday 30th August. As per recent years, there are industry-only, invite-only shows featuring advance collections of next winter, and in-season, ticketed shows of summer for the public.
Click here to see the NZ Fashion Week and Fashion Weekend schedule.
Make/Use at Objectspace
Final week of Make/Use at Objectspace; an experiential project around ethical, fashionable, zero waste garment design is this week; August 1 to August 8th 2015. Make/Use introduces the ethical fashion concept of zero waste garment creation. For the closing week of the show, lead designer Holly McQuillan will be back in the gallery from 11am to 4pm working on zero waste garment designs and talking to visitors about how they can try their hand at this exciting design technique.
Over the course of the exhibition the entire Make/Use design team have been working in the gallery designing and making garments that produce no waste, and many of these new pieces are on display now. Having held three successful workshops, Holly has encouraged participants, including novice sewers, to make their own simple but experimental garments. Through this and other research, five free posters are available at Objectspace, which make up a zero-waste tee shirt pattern users can try at home. By making these patterns available, Holly hopes to assist others to re-evaluate their understanding of making, wearing, modifying and designing clothing.
What: Make/Use
Where: Objectspace, 8 Ponsonby Rd, Auckland
When: 11 July – 8 August
Gallery hours: Mon – Sat, 10am – 5pm. Free admission.
Heroes and Villains Jewellery
We featured Dina Ochwada from One Luv on Thread a while back and how she has moved to Washington DC and teamed up with an incredible fellow Aussie designer, Anisa Hayati and started a new label called Heroes and Villains.
“We are both really excited about our first collection, a place where boho luxe meets the modern nomad. On trend and fashion forward designs take a modern twist, as our jewellery is inspired from cultures around the world, giving the wearer a statement piece that is edgy but also embedded with a rich history of beauty” says Dina.
Heroes and Villains will be dropping in retail boutiques across Australia and New Zealand this Summer 2015/16, however the collection is already available online at www.shopheroesandvillains.com
Megan Robinson
1st August 2015
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