It's officially Fashion Month. September has arrived and yes, of course New York's Mercedez Benz Fashion Week typically starts off "Fashion Month" but we are commencing earlier with New Zealand Fashion Week. On Monday night, the 13th New Zealand Fashion Week was officially opened by New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key.
This was the first time I had been invited to the opening ceremony and it's my second season at New Zealand Fashion Week. It was an honour to be invited to THE VIP event of the New Zealand fashion industry calendar at Auckland's Viaduct Events Centre. The week long fashion event will host sixty designers from New Zealand and also Australia. I have twenty shows to attend in three days! Wish me luck and watch this space and my twitter for all the fashion gossip.
Labels showcasing their latest collections include Stolen Girlfriends Club and Twenty-Seven Names, Trelise Cooper and her diffusion line COOP. Zambesi, Salsai the list goes on, New Zealand's finest will be there. Last year I showcased them on the Huffington Post and this time round I will be doing a daily round up of the shows.
Dame Pieter Stewart, the founder and Managing Director of New Zealand Fashion Week talked of the biggest names in the industry and how NZFW is still a huge commercial platform for the country's fashion industry. This year the shows are going online, to mirror the way the industry and sales themselves are going. Within four hours shows will be available to view online as well as photography from the events with the Fashion @ First Sight concept.
New Zealand Fashion Week is a rather chilled affair, it's great being FROW and catching up with some familiar faces. The shows are always a little bit quirky and very exciting so I am hoping for some more surprises this season with the Autumn/Winter collections.