A look at Fashion Week invites

Invites used to all come by mail. This is the first year with the exception of a solitary invite, that they have all come electronically. Which makes it easy for me to scan and share with you, upon readers’ request, a look at Fashion Week invites…

Invites used to all come by mail.

This is the first year that, with the exception of a solitary invite, they have all come electronically. I do miss the beautiful print quality of some. A particular favourite would have been a Trelise Cooper cutwork paper one that looked like stained glass.

This trend for e-vites (yep, I made that word up) makes it easy for me to scan and share with you, upon readers’ request, a look at 2011 New Zealand Fashion Week invites.

Andrea Moore is showing a collection called Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil – coincidentally, also the name of Robyn Mathieson’s collection in 2006, and Cybele’s New Generation show at fashion week back in 2003, and the WORLD show this year is entitled Good vs Evil, proving nothing’s new in fashion under the sun.

I do wonder if her sponsor Kristen Stewart School of Makeup fields a lot of calls looking for vampire make-up on account of her namesake from the Twilight films.

New Zealand Weddings magazine is holding a group show of a number of bridal and suit brands. It was extremely long last year but very elegant and well done.

Miranda Brown is part of the merino group show. Love the bird illustration and use of bright colour. Group shows are funny as sometimes they don’t synchronise their invites and we get seats from each of the designers showing, resulting in a lot of empty seats.

Neverblack call theirs a ‘presentation.’ Presentation in my mind screams short film, as per Nom.d’s short fashion films at the cinema instead of a catwalk show. Kudos to Neverblack for finding a new venue at incredibly short notice when the original venue fell through.

Invites vary in style and tone but the one thing they increasingly have is a list of sponsors – this is how they afford upwards of $30,000 to hold a show. The longest list of sponsors I’ve ever seen is for Kathryn Wilson’s show – unsurprising when you consider she is holding a free show for 3,000 members of the public. That’s some sponsorship.

"We’re not going to make you wait all night…but you might need a jacket" states Stolen Girlfriends Club on the email with this invite, referring to last year’s freezefest outside Mercury Theatre where approx 500 people queued for a long time.

Lonely Hearts take the cake for cutest invite for their much-awaited show; a lo-fi video clip of "Please come to our show" on paper folded into an origami heart. Screnshot below.

Ingrid Starnes’ invite: text on a signature print. Sponsored by Tessuti with whom she shares a store now in Herne Bay.

Another gorgeous print – we presume part of the collection itself – from BLAK.

A whimsical collage from Salasai for Unchartered Territory held at St Matthew-In-The-City. Don’t think I’ve seen a show there since Jaeha’s a while back.

Workshop and Helen Cherry, sponsored by BMW, are back this year and showing offsite at the Town Hall, such a good venue.

I always enjoy seeing new talent in the New Gen shows and Deryn Schmidt was polite enough to write to me by name so I am going.

I like the texture of this black one. SO very Zambesi, sticking to its knits.

Ruby & Liam. Readers may remember I was late finding a park and had to break in to last year’s 9am show through their garage door and walk through backstage. It’s not worth missing a Ruby show.

Hailwood’s invite is pretty much all sponsors’ logos and no art.

Twenty-seven names are holding an installation rather than a catwalk show.

Starfish, famous for its eco and sustainable practices, even has sponsors that are environmentally-conscious. Excellent brand relationships.

You either love it or you hate it (I love it) but either way, WORLD announcing the winner of New Zealand’s Next Top Model is extremely newsworthy. The show also features the range of shoes designed for Number One Shoes, debuting on the catwalk and available in store the following morning.

Lovely minimal invite from Juliette Hogan.

Jimmy D’s It’s a Kind of Magick.

Here’s one the public CAN attend. You can buy a $20 Fashion Weekend pass and see this show, and media and VIPS get allocated seating and anyone can queue to get in. Despite being on the list last year, it was so popular that I was almost bruised in the scrum and am wearing a grid iron helmet and kneepads this time.

By Megan Robinson
22 August 2011