Top A Fast & Furious 6 tie-in from G by Guess. Above Madrubb, the Madrid Latex fashion company, launches its spring–summer collection.

The Fast and the Furious franchise might not be Lucire readers’ cup of tea, and our closest connection to it was when we featured actress and former Miss Israel Gal Gadot on our cover a few years ago.
   However, Guess isn’t shying away from an opportunity, as its G by Guess brand is releasing a collection tying in with Fast & Furious 6, the latest instalment in the film series.
   G by Guess targets a younger consumer, which the Fast & Furious films are aimed at.
   The limited-edition capsule collection for men and women reaches stores on May 14, 10 days before Fast & Furious 6 hits US cinemas. The 15-piece collection has motor racing details, gritty prints and what G by Guess calls ‘destroyed styles’, with an emphasis on being ‘young, bold and sexy.’ Both the men’s and women’s lines have jackets, T-shirts and tank-tops, while the women’s line also features a tank dress. Accessories include aviator sunglasses, a men’s watch, and an embellished cap.
   A sneak peek is available now at GbyGuess.com/Fast6, with events being held at 30 G by Guess locations on May 18. An online competition lasting 10 days appears on GbyGuess.com and via Facebook.
   Madrubb, the Spanish Latex fashion label, has shown its spring–summer 2013 range, entitled Lxve to Lxve. It also débuts a new technique which it calls ‘Embroidery in Latex’, which it hopes will take its line into a ‘Latex haute couture’ realm.
   Madrubb, based in Madrid, also emphasizes its brighter colours for the season, calling them ‘full of life and freshness’. The palette includes bubble-gum pink, mint green, orange and jade, while there is a cream dress with embroidered sequins and crystals. The company’s website can be found at www.madridrubber.com.
   Avon, meanwhile, is launching its Anew Clinical Pro Line Corrector Treatment in Australia and New Zealand through its reps. The formula features Amino Fill 33 and claims to be a ‘game-changing innovation’. The British launch had a 60,000-strong waiting list, says Avon, and was its fastest seller.
   Avon’s R&D senior skin care manager, Anthony Gonzalez, says, ‘A-F33 is potentially as game changing in the fight against wrinkles as alpha hydroxyl acids (AHAs) and Retinol were in the 1990s.’
   In the main part of the website, publisher Jack Yan looks at Dunedin’s Undone label, the stand-out at ID Dunedin Fashion Week, while Paris editor Lola Saab reports from Portugal’s fashion week, this season held in Lisboa and Porto.

It’s the battle of the Scandinavian chains: as H&M gets high-profile names to market its range, Finnish-owned Lindex, part of Stockmann, has signed Penélope Cruz as its model for spring.
   There will be three campaigns featuring Cruz, says the company, showing Cruz in casual and red-carpet settings. In all three, she models offerings that will hit stores, on- and offline, on April 24.
   The first campaign shows Cruz on a Friday night, at a red-carpet party. The ‘Saturday’ campaign sees her relaxing at home in her favourite clothes, while the ‘Sunday’ one has her in a summer setting, at a Mediterranean villa for brunch.
   In a release, Johan Hallin, Director of Concept & Marketing at Lindex, says, ‘With her sophisticated elegance, Penélope Cruz adds a wonderful womanly and feminine feel to the campaign. The combination of her vivacious personality and a glamorous film-star life together with a sense of humour will also make the campaigns fun and exciting.’
   Cruz says, ‘I’ve had lots of fun being a model for a large international fashion company like Lindex. I like the clothes; they really suit my style’
   Cruz won an Academy Award for best supporting actress in the 2008 Woody Allen film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
   The new items can be purchased via www.lindex.com from April 24.

Nikita Brown/Nikita Brown Photography

Boring Gets You Nowhere is the title of the autumn–winter 2013 collection from World; and no sentiment rings truer for the brand than this. It is by not being boring that this label continues to grow, but by experimentation with outlandish yet still highly commercial and wearable fashion. Others perilously traverse this fine tightrope but World somehow manages to succeed.
   For its first full catwalk show in Wellington, World’s team brought out its A-game. The performance demonstrated true showmanship at its highest level: glitter, sequins, fur and possibly the kitchen sink were thrown into the mix. The result was a collection worthy of envy: clothing that runs the gamut of fine tailoring, couture dresses and to-die-for craftsmanship.
   For women, the oversized tweedy suiting is perfect for either the office or as an alternative take on cocktail dressing: a long black velvet gown will allow you play femme fatale or damsel in distress, however you choose to dress it up. Ball gown-styled lace dresses and two-tone fur-collared coats stood out in the womenswear range. Bright winter florals and warm golden and dusky jacquards, appearing in peplum styled jackets and ’80s pagoda shoulder dresses, gave the collection a point of difference. The brand has a strong Wellington customer base: once you strip away the crazy styling, hair and make-up, most of the garments are workable in everyday life. The brand’s following and versatility were evident by the number of attendees wearing current and archival pieces from the World brand.
   For men, designers Benny Castle, Francis Hooper and Denise L’Estrange-Corbet pulled out all the stops to make it a truly bright winter. Scarlet red, deep navy, rich chocolates, vivid violets and turquoise are fashioned into impeccably tailored suits, complemented by whimsical printed shirts and colourful accessories. Winter tweeds and checks are crafted into exquisite hunting coats with contrasting shawl collar lapels and blocked panel coats. A stand-out for me would be the scarlet red cord pants and navy and check suit jacket, or the couture line floral print suit (only a number of these were made).
   The brand’s creative hair director, GHD ambassador Michael Beel, and make-up director Olivia Wild saw to it that there was plenty of glitter, gold dust, Swarovski crystals and everything in between, creating fantastical looks that helped to translate the clothing to another level. Clara Bow- and Mary Pickford-styled bobs and finger waves were the call of the day, done the traditional way of course, the bobs clipped and pinned together with a multitude of gold bobby pins. Volume was key with many of the models wearing cloud-like creations adorning their heads, sprinkled in gold-dust and glitter and studded with spikes. Speaking to the duo beforehand, the brief was ‘The Great Gatsby meets Downton Abbey on an acid trip’. Eyes were smoky and sultry, while lips were scarlet red and sprinkled with glitter and crystals. Talon-like nails were prominent thanks to the creative nail technician at Buoy, continuing the nail art trend that has appeared on many international runway shows.
   The collection is available for purchase from World stores now.—Sopheak Seng, Fashion and Beauty Editor

Nikita Brown/Nikita Brown Photography

Nikita Brown/Nikita Brown Photography

Lucire has had a private preview of Mardle’s spring–summer 2013–14 collection, Bisou, Bisou. And to show that Mardle is the thinking woman’s choice for stylish staples, each of the outfits is named after a Kiss song.
   Designer Shiana Weir has put the emphasis more on evolution, rather than revolution, given her feedback from her customers. She recognizes that unlike Europe and the US, New Zealand customers tend not to favour huge changes between seasons.
   Characteristic of the collection is the X panel, either through using complementary fabrics on the garment. Similarly, Mardle has used a script X on a print, signalling the custom of signing kisses with an x.
   The I Stole Your Love relaxed T blends Modal and polyester, and brings in a light, sheer look for spring–summer. We also liked her Nothing to Lose jacket, with removable shoulder pads that are held in place inside the garment with Velcro. The Shock Me mini-skirt has a distinctive black-and-white pattern, while the Crazy Crazy Nights dress has sequinned sleeves and a nice blush and gold Lurex finish. The Mardle Lizzie leather belt completes the outfits. Weir has also a colour palette that includes black-and-white, gold, and gun-metal grey.
   The labels proudly bear the Mardle logo and ‘Made in New Zealand’, which will have plenty of appeal to its Kiwi customers. Mardle can be found online at www.mardle.co.nz, with its stockists (including Dunedin’s Salisbury Boutique and Havelock North’s Salsa) listed here.—Jack Yan, Publisher

Nikita Brown/Nikita Brown Photography

Japan Fashion Week Organization

Above left Christian Dada. Above right Vivienne Tam.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo wrapped up Sunday as cherry blossoms bloom in Japan’s capital. Over the last couple of seasons, Tokyo Fashion Week kept its target on European and Japanese buyers and audiences, but this season, it has eyed the growing Asian market, especially China. It makes sense since Chinese consumers have now become the world’s leading buyers of luxury goods.
   Japanese fashion brand Christian Dada was the fashion week opener for the autumn–winter 2013–14 collections. Christian Dada’s designer, Masanori Morikawa, is known as a stage costume designer for the American pop singer Lady Gaga during her Born This Way Ball 2012 tour. Morikawa has been showcasing his signature style with a rebellious yet silent dark beauty, but this season he got inspiration from a Chinese mythological bird called the fenghuang (phoenix), which is the theme of his collection. Leather jackets and pants are mainly in black and white with blue, red and gold patterns representing the fenghuang. The most memorable moment of Morikawa’s show was definitely his signature tall boots with bird wings.
   Chinese-born designer Vivienne Tam held a special runway show during Tokyo Fashion Week to celebrate the 15th anniversary of her brand in Japan. Tam presented the same collection she first showed at New York Fashion Week for the lunar New Year. Chinese calligraphy added unexpected twists in her latest collection in a modern and punk-like way, which successfully engaged with the fashion-savvy Japanese audience.
   Johan Ku, a Taiwanese designer, presented his signature knit collection. This season, Ku revealed the sexiness of a woman’s silhouette, with the theme of Anna, the female lead in the 1992 movie Damage. Unlike his last several collections, this season was full of pieces that showed off plenty of skin using holes, fringes, and asymmetric necklines. They all look randomly placed but are well calculated, demonstrating Ku’s skill of knit-work, boosted since his last collection.
   Japanese veteran designer Hiroko Koshino was one of the highlighted designers at Tokyo Fashion Week, presenting her collection on the last day. She also eyed the growing Asian market as she presented her new “east meets west” look. In her collection, Floral Memories, it was not just flower-patterned dresses that walked down the runway. Her floral inspiration was everywhere: from texture of fabric, colour choice and make-up, to draping and rounded silhouettes on each of her looks. The natural phenomena of flowers were represented in an artistic form, rather than the romantic image which many designers use.
   Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, Japan has been investing a full effort to shift its gear towards marketing its brand outside the country, especially to the growing Asian market. There are still criticisms that Tokyo Fashion Week is marketing internally, while the fashion-savvy audience in Japan is interested in street fashion, which they call ‘real clothes’, as opposed to high fashion from the runway. Tokyo Fashion Week continues to tackle those challenges, and the next several seasons will be key to turning things around, to become a new trend-setting global destination.—Yuka Murai, YM Biz & Media

Japan Fashion Week Organization

Above left Johan Ku. Above right Hiroko Koshino.

Yuka Murai of YM Biz & Media is a correspondent for Lucire.

Nikita Brown/Nikita Brown Photography

Having viewed the Zambesi winter collection late last year in amongst the craziness of New Zealand Fashion Week, I had forgotten what my favourite pieces were (as so happens when you view collections six months before they are due in store and in quick sucession). When the invitation to attend the Wellington store’s winter launch appeared, the chance to stroll down memory lane and rediscover my favourites, and find some new gems, was welcome.
   Zambesi is one of those labels that is best appreciated up close. What appears to be plain shirting fabric is, in fact, a very fine mesh; or a print is turns out to be something else upon closer inspection. With the models rocking some looks from the collection, it was a joy to rediscover those well turned-out and brilliantly cut coats and jackets, tailored in fine wools and pieced together with wax-finish leathers. There were the beautiful brocades and jacquard prints featured on pants and dresses, the gorgeous knitwear, and one of my favourite standout prints of the season, the chequerboard print in butter yellow and ink navy.
   Stand-outs from the small showing in store were: the lace and knit dress—a beautiful, tight, sleeved dress with almost lace crochet detailing with tiny sequin embellishments, the perfect day-to-night outfit; and the black sheer silk shift dress with bandage-like side detailing and fringe work. The movement when the model walked was exquisite and very on trend with the flapper-esque feel to it all.
   From the menswear range, everything, from the military-style coats to the sharply tailored Slimane-like suiting, was very slick and super-stylish. The chequerboard pattern shirt is a must for winter, crafted in beautiful almost lace-like fabric. Also on the must-haves, one of the many coats that are in the collection: my favourite was the double-breasted wool coat with piece leather sleeves—cut with a surgeon’s scalpel this is a classic that will never date.
   The hair for the show had a very cool vibe to it—a mix of dishevelled chic, a wet look mixed with dry rough-and-tumble—directed by Buoy creative director Michael Beel. It was the perfect touch to the collection.
   Zambesi’s winter collection is in store now.—Sopheak Seng, Fashion and Beauty Editor

Nikita Brown/Nikita Brown Photography

Finnish designer Piia Hänninen, whose collections are based around sustainability and ethics, has relaunched her website with a new look, in time for her spring–summer 2013 season.
   Hänninen’s new collection, Zebra in the Savannah, can be purchased via her website, while buyers and media can check out her autumn–winter 2013–14 collection, Wolf and Cherrywood.
   The spring collection combines the elegance of well cut garments with a wild Scandinavian print, with an inspiration from the African wild as well as 1960s Paris. The collection uses natural fibres, cotton and silk, while the prints are the subject of a collaboration between the designer and Teemu Keisteri, an artist.
   She manufactures mostly in Finland, with fabrics printed in Finland and Germany. Her influences are from Italy, where she had worked for brands such as Fendi, while she trained at the London College of Fashion.
   More of Piia Hänninen’s work can be found at www.piiahanninen.com.

Top From Rembrandt, the navy pinstripe Cooper-Lotus suit with blue neat Metropolis shirt, striped Italian silk tie, paisley silk pocket square, and 1950s mother-of-pearl tie bar. Above Charcoal mouline Hawke-Lotus suit, with teal Fairlie V-neck jersey, white Metropolis shirt, bottle green Italian silk tie, and silver silk pocket square.

One of New Zealand’s great names in menswear, Rembrandt, has turned up the style quotient for autumn–winter 2013.
   The story for the season is in fabrics, with the company sourcing from the top mills around the world. Key looks include its Hawke-Lotus charcoal mouliné two-piece suit; and its charcoal and blue check Nicholson jacket and vest. There is more of an Italian cut to the season’s looks, rather fitting given the Italian wools used. The Rembrandt Miramar jacket, meanwhile, has internal trims and details from Liberty of London.
   Wayward Heir, the company’s bolder, fashion-forward label, also has a sophisticated autumn–winter season. However, the design team tells more of a story, basing its theme around a storybook of yesteryear, ‘walking through a haunted forest on an eerie winter’s night,’ says the company. There are warmer colours (oranges and maroons) as one saw in the ready-to-wear collections in London and Paris, in contrast to the traditional navies, greys and blacks at Rembrandt.
   Highlights include a cobweb lapel pin and a camouflage under-collar. Wayward Heir’s Bilbo jacket features mismatched buttons, while the Marlon jacket has elbow patches and leather buttons. The Fleetwood Mac suit is another highlight that the brand is proud of for this season.

Top At Wayward Heir, the Fleetwood Mac suit and Brooklyn shirt. Centre Marlon jacket and Brooklyn shirt. Above Bilbo jacket and Brooklyn shirt.