Making it on to the wish list

Workshop Denim and Helen Cherry might have had contrasting styles for autumn–winter 2012, but, as Vicki Matias explains, both collections are right on-trend, with the latter making her wish list
Photographs courtesy of the designers

IT WAS ALL VERY ROUGH AND TOUGH at the autumn–winter 2012 Workshop Denim show at New Zealand Fashion Week.

Plenty of black leather, studs, and camouflage-inspired textiles made a comeback. Incognito in red or yellow Ray-bans and black Chucks, the guys showed off leather vests with studded back yokes, epaulettes, rolled-up cargo pants and quilted cargo jackets. A couple of white shirts, one with black strokes and the other with a gruesome-looking brush stroke pattern in coral red, were thrown into the mix.

Women’s pencil-line black leather skirts with a silver zip down the back and cigarette pants with ankle zip detailing give a little edge to sleeveless tartan silk blouses and a grey cashmere and wool overcoat. A “military track” print on silk flounce skirts and dresses and an olive green trench belted at the waist with densely studded lapels, matched with chunky biker boots, seemed more deconstructed compared with the other sharply tailored leather pieces. Quilted red tartan and cargo backpacks made up the rest of the accessories’ line.

Everything shown at the autumn–winter 2012 Helen Cherry show is on my wish list. What you have got to look forward to seeing in store is a beautifully tailored collection reminiscent of 1970s glamour, accompanied by a range of super-sized rabbit fur clutches finished with coral and gold toned tassels.

‘I imagined a very well-dressed, well-bred woman who had run off with the band, circa 1975,’ says Helen Cherry, hitting the nail right on the head. The first thing that had come to my mind was Bianca Jagger, formerly married to Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger during the ’70s.

High-waisted fitted wool pants, mohair jumpers, rabbit fur jackets, mixed leopard prints, pussy-bow silk blouses, fedora hats and a beautiful bronze cashmere three-quarter length overcoat cinched at the waist with a snake skin belt eased back to the Studio 54 era. A see-through nude and black lace short-sleeved mini-dress with contrast-cut lace hem successfully added that ‘sense of refinement and elegance but with an attitude that is more rock ’n’ roll cool than classic conservative,’ which Helen Cherry referred to.

Both shows were at Auckland’s Town Hall, the site of the first New Zealand Fashion Week 10 years before. •

Vicki Matias is a senior writer for Lucire.

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Workshop Denim


Helen Cherry