Air New Zealand Fashion Week: Welcome To The '90s

As we noted in our last dispatch from Auckland, many designers at Air New Zealand Fashion Week are falling victim to inspiration overload. But for those who have managed to focus on a clear-cut idea, one trend is emerging above all others: a fondness for the '90s—including those elements that should probably stay there.

As in many places, the grunge look is back with a vengeance, and it proved a natural inspiration for Stolen Girlfriends Club. T-shirt dresses were cut up and safety-pinned back together, bustiers were made in flannel and eyelet lace, while menswear was given a rockabilly grunge spin, which included fur coats over flannels, sweatshirts with leopard panels and a red, ruffled cheetah-print shirt paired with ripped jeans. While the consensus of the crowd was one of overwhelming approval, the collection felt dated.

The Stolen Girlfriends show also mined another '90s mainstay—androgyny—with unisex cobweb knits, basket-weave leggings and tights sprouting stubbly "hairs." Twentysevennames hinted at the idea too, working the key details of its collection—waistcoats with tuxedo tails, extended pockets on cropped jackets, hemlines longer in the back than the front—into both their men's and women's collections. More '90s throwbacks were found at Nyne, in a collection that bore more than a little resemblance to Alexander Wang: acid wash, mesh and silk "muscle tanks" cut with exaggerated armholes and subtle draping. Salasai, a label founded by ex-Mooks designer Kirsha Whitcher, also nodded to decades past, with a print that was equal parts graffiti and cave painting, as well as a series of oversized silk blouses worn over leggings. A color palette of greys, purples and cobalt blues along with subtle streetwear detailing kept the collection from looking too stale, however.

While each of these collections was undeniably on-trend, there was very little evidence of any attempt to create a trend of one's own. At the end of each show, we had the distinct feeling that we'd seen it all before—whether in junior high, or on one of the models sucking on cigarettes between shows. But perhaps this is a telling comment on the industry in general, one in which the internet has taken away the geographic isolation that sparks true originality. And perhaps this carries the side effect of a loss of risk-taking, of adventure, of creating a distinct identity rather than latching on to passing fads or overtly referencing the past.

—Erin Magner