introducing...top five fridays!

Because I am one of those People Who Like to Write Lists, I have decided to do a weekly Top Five Friday list, just to make my life more interesting. I find those Hot or Not type lists in magazines fascinating, and once designed a fashion collection at uni based around the whole idea (I used an arrow motif, of course).

I'm going to kick this off with a list of my Top Five New Zealand Fashion Designers (and subsequently try my hand at The Fine Art of Fashion Writing). I suspect that over time these lists will get weirder and weirder though...

Ok, so counting down..

5. Nom*D. This brand is from cold cold Dunedin, and their dark and edgy knitwear reflects this. They are always reliable for putting on a bit of a show at Fashion Week. My favourite collection from this brand was from a couple of years ago (I cant remember the name), and featured a blonde model wearing a hat. The clothes were then wrapped around the model (they had a video) about 10 times. Very cool.

4. Kate Sylvester. What I like about Kate Sylvester is that she is just so likeable, as a person and as a designer. Another really consistent name in NZ fashion. My favourite recent collection to date is last winter's Stop Your Sobbing range with the ikat style tear-drop print skirts. If I could have brought, I would have brought.

3. Zambesi. These guys have been on the NZ fashion scene for about 20 years and have been amazingly consistent. I did work experience for them a few years ago, and although there was a lot of handsewing involved (the mainstay of fashion work experience anywhere) I still have a lot of respect for them. Zambesi make the type of clothes that you can pull out of your wardrobe 5, 10, 15 years later and still be able to wear.

2. JimmyD. What I like about this designer, is how the collections are structured. The image below is from a collection that is based around layering over a leotard and leggings, which is a really nice way of working, and not too dissimilar from how I would do things myself. In Autumn/Winter 2006 he did a cobwebby collection with very cool cut-out leggings (I am a legging fan from way back).

Image from JimmyD.

1. Cybele. This is my new Number 1. I'm convinced that she cant really do any wrong. I think that the clean lines and graphic shapes are good good good. I think I like her work because her aesthetic is quite close to my own, and that her clothes, when you put them in an everyday context, can be quite wearable.

Image from Runway Reporter.

Now.. what to list next week...!