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FashionLucire Fashion 2005

As we head into Vodafone ID Dunedin Fashion Week, Jack Yan catches up with Tanya Carlson

PHOTOGRAPHED BY JANET LIU/VISION 8 PHOTOGRAPHY AND MICHAEL NG

EXCERPTED FROM THE MARCH 2005 PRINT EDITION OF LUCIRE


Initial capHE FIRST TIME Tanya Carlson and I had a proper interview, I visited her studio in Dunedin, New Zealand and chatted for over two hours. I seem to recall that I was one of the few who understood her latest collection, at the time criticized by some for being too great a departure from her roots—but if you looked hard enough, they were there. The 1970s glam rock image was too much to bear for those who couldn't see Carlson's stylistic link of Victorian elegance reinterpreted and hidden in a new context. Since then, the 1970s has recurred in Carlson collections, but it's this latest autumn–winter 2005 collection, Hot Orchid Night, that shows that the decade wasn't a style vacuum.
   The collection is to be shown at Vodafone ID Dunedin Fashion Week in mid-March. We in the trade have seen it, plus a spin-off line called Cherry Cotton Candy, both of which were reviewed by Alice Goulter and Clare Marshall in Lucire December 2004. And we've allowed it to settle in a bit more.
   Now that the actual selling season has dawned, Carlson's autumn-winter line seems rather appropriate. It could be argued that in 2005, anything goes—the market is diverse and segmented enough to accommodate the whim of every consumer. But every generation thinks that. Even if we look back at the 1990s, there is an identifiable, unified look to everything.
   Hot Orchid Night revisits some of the ideas of the 1970s, but before you write to the editor expecting a Marcia Brady diatribe from me, hold on.
   The 1970s were in fact a great decade for good design—if you looked hard enough.
   'With me, as much as I'm interested in so many different things, there are always the same four or five ideas that
emerge consistently in my work: Victorian, '30s, '70s, and a bit of rock 'n' roll,' she told Lucire.
   When I asked her about the 1970s being at odds with elegance that she was trying to achieve with her multi-tiered skirts, she replied, 'I think there was a lot of innovation and style evident in the '70s with designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Halston and Lagerfeld for Chloé doing some of their best work.' One could add other products of the 1970s: Butzi Porsche's sunglasses, British Telecom's Trimphone, and the Intercity 125 train, that showed that it wasn't all about flares, platform shoes and John Travolta as a Sweathog.
   'Ossie Clark is one of my inspirations for this collection: beautiful silks and amazing prints,' said Carlson. 'I'm inspired by the phenomenon of youth culture in the '70s.
   'I wanted a chance to showcase some of the skills in cutting and pattern-making I learned during my years of doing made-to-measure. The collection is playful and fun, drawing from my favourite references.' •

Jack Yan is founding publisher of Lucire.

Subscribe or purchase single copiesRead more about Tanya Carlson on the 1970s, Ossie Clark and Cherry Cotton Candy in the March 2005 print edition of Lucire, out in New Zealand on March 7.
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Lucire: fashion magazine homeLucire Fashion FeaturesLucire Living and Beauty Lucire Volante: travel, accommodation guide Lucire fashion news, bulletins and events Fashion shopping guide and directory
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