Fashion taken to new heights

Forget Project Runway, two budding Wellington designers will unveil their collection at a unique in-flight fashion show 30,000 feet above the catwalk.

Friends Rachel Easting, 23, and Anjali Stewart, 24, will watch their label Love Lies Bleeding take off in the promotional pageant for the upcoming Air New Zealand Fashion Week.

The sky-high show will be held on an Air New Zealand flight from Sydney to Auckland on the eve of fashion week, starting on September 16.

The announcement was made yesterday in Auckland, together with the list of designers featuring at fashion week.

The in-flight show will also preview garments from the winter 2008 collections of Trelise Cooper, Lonely Hearts, Annah Stretton, Carlson, Cybele and Federation.

Passengers will be treated to a champagne breakfast and be given access to the fashion week opening night party.

Those confirmed for fashion week include designer heavyweights Karen Walker, Zambesi, Nom*D, Trelise Cooper, Kate Sylvester, Cybele, Huffer, Annah Stretton, and Auckland-based Lower Hutt designer Adrian Hailwood.

Wellington designers returning to the catwalk are Deborah Sweeney and Lonely Hearts. Another Wellingtonian, Alexandra Owen, was included in the announcement but said her participation was dependent upon sponsorship, which had not been confirmed.

Easting and Stewart are still riding high on their success at Australian Fashion Week in April, where they sold to buyers from a showroom and picked up five Australian stores.
This will be their New Zealand Fashion Week debut.

The pair attended Karori Normal School, Wellington Girls College and Otago Polytechnic together before establishing their fashion label two years ago.

"Going to fashion week is just going to be so much fun for us as it's our first time that we've designed a collection with the catwalk in mind," Easting said.

Other announcements included a collaboration between contemporary artist Robyn Kahukiwa and fashion week.

Kahukiwa is creating 45 individually hand-coloured silk screen prints on Shungetsu paper, valued at $500 each, to be included in VIP delegates' goodie bags.

Public participation at the event has also been extended. Previously a one-day event following fashion week, ANZFW 4U will now be held over two days, September 21 and 22.