Wednesday, September 5, 2012

NZFW 12: Zambesi Backstage by Yasmine Ganley


"Exhilarating!" was the word that came to mind for Black Fashion Director Rachael Churchward, "Superb", "Classy", "Outstanding" weren't far away, Zambesi's AW 13 show at New Zealand Fashion Week was indeed one for superlatives, and one for the ages. Liz Findlay's brilliant women's collection was matched stride for stride by Dayne Johnson's coming of age as Zambesi Man designer with classic tailoring, rad prints and fun, almost nutty collarly concepts that just seemed so completely Zambesi across both labels. The well-cast model selection included boy legends like Vinnie WoolstonMichael Whittaker and Josh Skelton who all walked purposefully to one of the strongest soundtracks heard in a while. The Jason Chong-Li led Stephen Marr team whipped up a raft of intrinsically perfect Zambesi hair and Amber D and the team at M.A.C nailed, 'scuse the pun, the make-up and nails. Afterward, Dayne Johnson said that the team had a truncated window to produce this collection and that there was considerable time pressure on Liz and himself to come up with the goods. If this is anything to go by the pressure was well and truly absorbed, classic! Photos by Yasmine Ganley.