Glancing back: the 25th anniversary edition

1997

The Liberation range says a lot about Starfish. It acknowledges ‘what it’s like to live in this country,’ but adapted to one’s moods. Laurie-ann [Foon] recognizes that New Zealand has a deep agricultural heritage, and the clothes demonstrate it by being strong and comfortable.

But there are deeper meanings. New Zealanders all share the desire ‘to liberate themselves out of their environment,’ says Laurie-ann. It is about getting from the farm to the city or from suburbia to prominence. This is the New Zealand Dream.—J. Yan: ‘Leading edge’, Lucire, October 20, 1997

2007

A designer, who shall remain nameless, recently said that Lucire was the only New Zealand [fashion] magazine she knew of that had any real journalism in it. I was very happy to hear that feedback, and it seems the concern of fashion magazines lacking depth is something shared by others. Stevie Wilson, Lucire’s former US bureau chief and an editor with us for many years, wrote on her LA-Story.com blog how she has been chipping away at her subscriptions’ list as each magazine, in her opinion, becomes emptier.—J. Yan: ‘When fashion and beauty magazines bore’, Lucire, October 3, 2007

2017

‘New Zealand is fashion-forward,’ says [H&M’s country sales’ manager for New Zealand, Daniel] Lattemann. But, ‘There is a global consumer, who has the same needs.’ When we put to him that that was something we struggled to push last decade when we went to a print edition to complement our web one, Lattemann says, ‘You have to educate the consumer and it takes time. Today, social media drives global trends in fashion.’ People are sharing and following, and a global look, he believes, has emerged, one that H&M is in a strong position to satisfy.—J. Yan and S. Seng: ‘H&M’s capital idea’, Lucire, October 25, 2017



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