Top New Zealand fashion labels
While New Zealand’s high streets are filled with shops and boutiques touting all the great international fashion labels, Kiwi followers of fashion also frequent an ever-increasing choice of local fashion designers.
New Zealand fashion labels that have made it overseas include Karen Walker, Nom*D, Zambesi, and World. The four fashion houses participated in a group show - 'The New Zealand Four' - that first took the New Zealand look to prestigious London Fashion Week.
Among New Zealand fashion designers who have moved offshore, Wellington’s Rebecca Taylor has been working in New York since 1992. Taylor has two flagship boutiques in New York, and her celebrity followers include Cameron Diaz, Ashley Judd, Anna Paquin, and Minnie Driver.
Fine merino wool is another Down-under fashion success, and New Zealand’s Icebreaker has become a global brand in sportswear fashion.
Kiwi fashion is renowned for its funky, layered look - a practical response to New Zealand's changeable Pacific weather patterns where four-seasons-in-a-day is a frequent scenario.
Huffer
Friends Steve Dunstan and Dan Buckley - a surfer and skateboarding design student - got together in 1997 to create Huffer, an innovative sportswear line.
Designers Dunstan and Buckley have said that the label is "board shorts inspired fashion", and the designs are created with functionality in mind.
Although Huffer started as a menswear label, it has since branched into womenswear and accessories.
Huffer is stocked in Japan, Europe, US, Australia and New Zealand.
Karen Walker
 Karen Walker is New Zealand’s best-known fashion designer, lauded internationally for her modern, tailored, androgynous signature style. Her designs include eyewear, jewellery and sportswear for iconic Kiwi outdoors label Swanndri.
Karen Walker released her first runway collection in 1998 during Hong Kong Fashion Week - entitled ‘Daddy’s Gone Strange’. The mannish theme, which saw her reworking the traditional men’s business suit, was picked up by prestigious department store Barneys in New York.
Walker has shown at London Fashion Week, as part of the ‘New Zealand Four’, and at New York Fashion Week where her individual runway show earned rave critical reviews.
Fans of Walker’s collections have included pop star Madonna, who performed in a pair of her 'killer pants' at the 1998 MTV awards, propelling Walker to fashion super-stardom. Other celebrity fans include Kelly Osbourne, Bjork, Sienna Miller, Liv Tyler, Claire Danes, Jennifer Lopez and Tyra Banks. She also has a huge following in Japan.
Kate Sylvester
Kate Sylvester is known for her pretty, feminine fashions that combine high fashion with classic tailoring. Sylvester started dabbling in fashion at the age of 14, launching her label in 1993 in partnership with Wayne Conway.
Considered one of New Zealand’s premier fashion designers, Kate Sylvester represented New Zealand at Hong Kong Fashion Week in 2000.Her designs are stocked in over 50 stores worldwide - in Australasia, Asia and the US. She launched her first Australian flagship boutique in 2009, in Sydney’s Paddington.
The Sylvester label has three lines: Kate Sylvester Womenswear, diffusion line Sylvester and Kate Sylvester Menswear. She also designs eyewear and footwear.
Nom*D
 Dunedin designer Margi (Margarita) Robertson is the creative genius behind Nom*D - one of New Zealand’s most enduring fashion labels.
Margi Robertson is a big fan of New Zealand wool and likes experimenting with different textures. She founded Nom*D in 1986, and the label has become renowned for its dark sombre Gothic style, wearability and comfort.
Nom*D was part of the ‘New Zealand Four’ group that first showed New Zealand style at London Fashion Week in 1999.
The Nom*D label is sold internationally in selected boutique stores, and has featured in the designers’ room at Liberty’s of London.
Trelise Cooper
Auckland fashion designer Trelise Cooper is renowed for her collections of colourful, avant-garde clothes in luxurious fabrics and styling. Her eponymous label is sold in 14 countries around the world.
Trelise Cooper is one of New Zealand’s most successful fashion designers, and her clothes have adorned many local and international celebrities. Aside from the high-end Trelise Cooper line, the designer also has a diffusion line, a collection of textiles and a hugely popular children’s clothing line.
Suri Cruise, daughter of Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, has worn clothing from Trelise Cooper’s children’s line. In 2010, Cooper was selected to design the uniforms for Air New Zealand.
World
Husband-and-wife team Francis Hooper and Denise L’Estrange-Corbet brought together design and technical skills to found New Zealand women’s label World in 1989.
The Auckland-based fashion house is best known for its colourful, imaginative clothes that break boundaries while remaining completely wearable. World style combines impeccable tailoring with luxury design.
World’s international presence has included showing at London Fashion Week - as part of the ‘New Zealand Four’ group show - and at Australian Fashion Week in 1997, when the fashion house came to the attention of Italian Vogue.
Their successes have included the ‘21st century origami dress’, which won the avant-garde section of New zealand’s 1995 Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards. The garment, constructed from two pieces of card, was purchased by Auckland Museum and used to design a one-off collectible miniature for Barbie.
Zambesi
Zambesi was established in 1979 by Kiwi fashion duo Liz Findlay and her husband Neville. Findlay - the creative force behind Zambesi - is the sister of Margi Robertson of Nom*D, another respected Kiwi designer.
The Zambesi style is defined by what Findlay describes as "unexpected contrasts" that give the collections an edgy yet wearable feel. The Zambesi men’s collection ZambesiMan has the same inspirations with a modern masculine interpretation.
Zambesi has flagship stores in Australia and New Zealand, and supplies over 50 outlets in the UK, US, Europe and Asia.
Zambesi was part of the ‘New Zealand Four’ group show at the 1999 London Fashion Week. ID Magazine’s Fashion Now named Zambesi as one of the World’s top designers in 2005.
Auckland Museum’s Zambesi 25-year retrospective exhibition acknowledged the huge influence the label has had on the Kiwi fashion landscape.
More information
NZ fashion designer: Karen Walker
NZ fashion designer: Margi Robertson
NZ fashion designer: Tanya Carlson
Style sisters - Nom*D and Zambesi
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