(Godwit, $75)
For anyone with even the most fleeting interest in what we wear, this book is a complete and utter beauty.
In what must have been a true labour of love, three Kiwis – two gallery curators and a design historian – have pooled their resources to produce a beautifully presented look at New Zealand fashion design since 1940.
Packed with gorgeous photos – both archival and taken expressly for the project – it is a wander down memory lane that surprised and delighted me at every turn.
Photos of fashion shoots in the 1940s and advertisements from the 1950s reminded me of the stories my mother tells of going shopping for material on a Friday then rushing home to stand in line for a crack at the flat sewing machine to make a dress for Saturday night.
She used to make my sister and I a lot of our clothes when we were young and they were groovy. I still remember the vinyl pinafores we had in the 1970s. And there may even have been a poncho or two as well, if memory serves me correctly.
I used to sew quite a bit myself as a teenager – it was the only way to get clothes way back then! So I guess my interest in fashion is probably more than passing.
Reading The Dress Circle’s 1980s chapters I realised that was when I first started earning money and could invest in my own “designer” threads: the all-in-one jumpsuit with multiple zips, the oversize Japanese-style shift, the tartan trousers. Names like Thornton Hall, Jag and oemsahib took me right back to Wellington when I was working for 2ZB and spending all my hard-earned cash on fashionable get-ups.
Unbelievably well researched, fantastically illustrated, well written and beautifully produced, if you had a miniskirt, shoulder pads, anything asymmetric – or wished you did – The Dress Circle belongs on your coffee table.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
