Considering we’re such a beachy nation, I’m always surprised more fashion designers don’t do swimwear lines. Here are some of the best local swimwear labels out this summer…
Considering we’re such a beachy nation, I’m always surprised more fashion designers don’t do swimwear lines. We seem to buy low-end at cheap chainstores, or Australian and US brands at surf stores.
Swimwear is something that Australian designers do extremely well, and high fashion designers put out swimwear lines alongside their ready to wear collections as a matter of course.
Locally I can only think of Surface Too Deep, Kathryn Wilson + Emma Ford, and the big brands Moontide and Exposay – and Jennifer Dean back in the day. In fact I still have a black and white vertically-striped Jennifer Dean one-piece that I may yet drag out into the light again!
I think it would be great to see New Zealand designers – especially those with distinctive prints – to do swimwear with printed Lycra, particularly designers such as Karen Walker, Cybele, twenty-seven names, Kate Sylvester, and Hailwood, with their fantastic motifs each season that would translate beautifully to a placement print on the front of a one-piece or bikini.Sure, Kiwis aren’t as flashy and body-con as Aussies, so I imagine consideration would have to be given to the swimwear styles. I doubt a Brazilian pant would fly off the shelves.
Below: we look at some of the local swimwear styles out right now.
Below: Kathryn Wilson swimwear at Clicquot in the Snow 2012, hair by d&m salon, photos Kevin Robinson.
The most exciting swimwear label in NZ right now is Surface Too Deep. Designers Esther Miro and Sarah-Jane Abraham told Thread, before revealing their AW13 collection at NZ Fashion Week 2012, that "there are some exciting things in the pipeline but we can’t reveal just yet" so we’ll be on the lookout for that in the future. Here’s their collection they described to us as "Directional prints combined with sweetly retro shapes that can be mix and matched for the perfect combo." See where to buy at www.surfacetoodeep.com
The iconic swimwear label success story for over thirty years now in New Zealand fashion is Moontide. It’s high quality, sleek and groomed, and flies Tony Drayton to the Cook Islands to shoot its lookbook on Teresa Moore, pictured below. Available in leading department stores, specialist lingerie boutiques, swimwear stores and surf shops worldwide; see www.moontide.com for details.
Exposayis made in New Zealand astonishingly, and is available through mail order and online site, Ezibuy, at around $100 for separates and $150 for one-pieces. For these prices, you get underwiring, moulded cups, and full linings. Available online from www.ezibuy.co.nz
Glassons is a local market leader in supplying low-cost swimwear to young women in a huge variety of colours to mix and match. At present they have two-pieces on sale down from $35 to $20 such as this orange high waisted tropical bikini.
Megan Robinson
2 January 2013
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