NZFW Trelise Cooper

By Jessica Beresford. Trelise Cooper has set herself a dangerous precedent with her runway shows – to feature the most spectacular and awe-inspiring catwalk NZFW has to offer. Luckily for her, the display for her Winter 2013 collection did not disappoint. The invitation for the show was a hint at what was to come, with an ‘illuminated’ card fit with glowing lights among baroque-inspired decorations. On arrival of the show, the entrance to the runway was covered in a wall of gold balloons, to which the models walked out of in tribal-inspired clothes to the beat of sounds from Azealia Banks and MIA (the explicit versions, too). Here we saw layers upon layers of leopard print, geometric florals and picnic-rug inspired shawls. After the first group of models, the runway transformed into the set hinted by the invitation, revealing the same baroque-inspired cast-iron fence lighting up the runway. Models dresses in black vales and teased-up hair stalked out in long black structured coats, gold-trimmed jackets and embellished collars. The stand-out print featured a sepia-tone depiction of Mary holding Jesus on a long floating dress. And if that wasn’t enough, the show concluded with a drop of the lights, with models in white skirts lit up by fibre optic flowers. Amazing! Cooper outdid herself with her show, and it’s going to be a hard one to beat in years to come.