Ye Olde Fashion Week Roundup 2 - Wednesday

World flowing like the September winds

Come Wednesday morning we were very keen to catch Ruby and even made the effort to get up early at Muriwai but time, traffic and a bunch of phone calls about the impending Huffer show transpired against us making it in time. More Huffer pre-prod meant that we weren't able to make it down for Jimmy D, although from all accounts it was a great collection for the young designer.

The weather forecast according to World

Ye Olde Fashion Week Roundup 1 - Tuesday

Video shot at Kathryn Wilson show

Okey dokey, we've been pretty slack on the blogging front over FW partly because we are on deadline, partly because we put a lot of time and effort into the Huffer show and partly because we'd rather blog about the week as a whole. We didn't get to see anywhere near as many shows as we would have liked but we did see a few. So here we go, these were our highlights of the week starting with Tuesday:

Hands across the catwalk at Cybele

Popped down to Cybele on site. A large wooden effigy/totem akin to the Burning Man stationed at the end of the runway lent a pagan tone to the room for a collection entitled Nieriya. A mix of bustier belts and bras mixed neatly with printed singlets and dresses, silk fringes, knits, jodphurs and a series of hoods added to the pagan mysteriousness of the show. Cybele is going from strength to strength each year, and with a uniformity that was personified by the models linking hands around the catwalk during the finale.

So much To Tell You & Twenty-Seven Names Party

The lovely girls behind So Much To Tell You (Natalie Smith and Zoe Walker) and Twenty-Seven Names (Rachel Easting and Anjali Stewart) held a collaborative party yesterday down at Britomart. It served as a nice hiatus from the chaos of Fashion Week and everyone got to mingle and enjoy freshly popped popcorn, pizza and cakes. There was a polaroid camera to take everyone's pictures, a tarot card reader and a lucky dip! This was my kind of party. 

The baby cakes I made - lemon vanilla with rose water infused meringue icing

Shooting Sherie Muijs with Lauren

Russ Flatt shot the new Sherie Muijs look book at Kingsize on Friday with Rachael Churchward, Greg Murrell and Karenina Jackson on make-up. Model was Lauren @ Nova. During the week lovely Lauren is an illustrator and graphic designer, and shares offices with the good folks at No Magazine. We think, as the saying goes, Lauren's one to watch. Sherie's new AW2011 range is one of the strongest in a fledgling, but highly promising career. Sherie is most definitely one to watch as well. We'll post images of the collection by Russ Flatt when they come to hand. Happy fashion week...

Black 13: Derek Kettela shoots Pauline van der Cruysse

It's great to have Derek Kettela shooting again for Black. Derek has supplied more individual issue covers than any of our photographers bar Michael Schwartz and we have always loved his work. This issue he has shot gorgeous new face Pauline van der Cruysse. Pauline, a Belgian who has smokey Latin attributes that Penelope Cruz or Frida Kahlo would be proud of, is most certainly one to watch having walked this week for Marc Jacobs in New York and shot recent editorial for Vogue Russia, Vogue Portugal and Vogue Germany with Thomas Schenk among others. Mert & Marcus are right onto this girl so we are more then a little chuffed to have her in Black 13. Michelle Cameron styled and Black NY editor Valery Gherman did make-up.

Pets on Set; Ultratech and Lady make our day

They say that animals in the work environment can ease the stress and in the lead up to NZ Fashion Week, and Black deadline, that has been true for us twice this week. Ultratech, the in-house miaower at Kingsize Studios is already a much loved addition to the place and this week whilst we were shooting Black Beauty with Craig Owen, Amber D, Jason Chong-Li and Lizzy @ Nova, Ultratech (below) made herself right at home on the studio floor. For the second year running Rachael Churchward is styling the Huffer show and yesterday she snapped this picture of Huffer girl Ella Henry's beautiful Doberman puppy, Lady (above) at Huffer HQ...awww...

Karen Walker Spring 2011 RTW - Perfect

Karen Walker's Spring 2011 ready-to-wear showing at New York Fashion Week on Wednesday was inspired by the amazing photographer William Eggleston. Eggleston is a genius, and given that his  cinematic, colour-film, Mid-West photographic foresight is the range's genesis, it is apt that NZ photographer Derek Henderson should not only contribute a hydrangea image/motif to the range but that he should also be exhibiting in New York at the same time as Walker's show. All New Zealanders interested in fashion should be proud of Walker's continued official presence at one of the world's biggest fashion weeks. Year after year she fly's the flag for New Zealand creativity and design - and never disappoints. This year's range, Perfect Day,  invokes Eggleston's daring as the first photographer to break out of the black and white haze that had engulfed fine art photography for so many years by embracing bold colours and prints, and celebrating the extremes of daily drudgery and a night on the town somehow at the same moment. Her footwear collaborations; with the talented Carrie Cooper and with British footwear company Pointer, saw the models sauntering down the runway in fab Beau Coops for Karen Walker pumps and rubber-soled creepers respectively. All-in-all a Perfect Day for Karen Walker.

A few of our favourite looks...

Black 13: On set day two RCM/Workshop retrospective

Becky and Derya

Another good day shooting the RCM/Workshop retrospective for Black 13 at Kingsize. Russ Flatt shot Michael Whittaker and Declan @ Clyne, Ngahuia and Derya @ 62 models, Maalan and Teva @ Nova, Tim @ August and Becky @ Vanity Walk. Rachael Churchward styled with assistance from Derya Parlak, Jessica Grubisa and Yun Do. Greg Murrell and Tom from Ryder let themselves loose with the hair and Ambika and Olivia applied the make-up.

Black 13: On set day one RCM/Workshop retrospective

Simon and Rhianon

We shot the first day of our Black 13 RCM/Workshop 30-year retrospective with Russ Flatt at Kingsize studios today. The Workshop/Helen Cherry/Street Life archive is massive so Black fashion director Rachael Churchward has already spent the best part of two days picking, choosing and styling it up with assistant fashion editor for the shoot, Derya Parlak. This made for a great days shooting with models; Levi and Sakura @ 62, McInnes, Simon and Lauren @ Nova, Sabine and Frankie @ August and Lewis Clegg @ Clyne. Hair editor Greg Murrell and able assistant Jannine Jones created a range of looks to suit the times, and Rachel Johanson and Olivia Palmer applied some simple, beautiful make-up. Hard-working fashion assistants were Jessica Grubisa and Yun Do. Here are a selection of largely behind the scenes shots from the day...

Black 13 - Robert Erdmann and Shirley Kurata shoot The Latebirds in L.A

Robert Erdmann has delivered a fab story for Black 13 on an Orange County, Los Angeles moped 'gang' called The Latebirds. We love the whole concept of a moped gang so have dedicated a swathe of pages to the documentary style story, which is styled by Shirley Kurata. Shirley is an L.A based stylist who has worked with plenty of indie and mainstream music stars and styled for mags across the US and Europe. Shirley's boyfriend is the Latebird's head honcho and we love the styling and attention to detail on the shoot. Here are a couple of preview shots and out-take images.

Black 13: Bright Light, White Rain

We are in the middle of Black 13's local shooting schedule, and fashion week is close. Time has been of the essence over the past week or so, hence the lack of posts. Last Friday in an abandoned warehouse we shot, and surprise, surprise, it rained. The warehouse, warts and all, provided some shelter. Stephen Tilley photographed 62's flame-haired international Peter David alongside his "little sister", Eve @ August. Rachael Churchward styled, Greg Murrell on hair, Shirley Simpson on make-up and grooming. Jessica Grubisa, impressed as the more-than-able fashion assistant.

Eve