Style Christchurch announces first wave of designers!

Style Christchurch is pleased to announce the first wave of designers confirmed to showcase their fashion collections later this year. Now in its second year running, Style Christchurch consists of four exciting fashion events falling from November 3rd – 7th in the week leading up to New Zealand Cup and Show Week.

Creator and visionary of Style Christchurch Andhy Blake comments on this year’s designer line up “I’m very excited about the confirmed designers for this year’s Style Christchurch and I believe that the calibre of collections will take our new Canterbury week of fashion to the next level,” he says.

One of New Zealand’s longest standing fashion labels, Nom*D Is back again for the Finale Show at Style Christchurch 2008. Another designer who is back for more is Emma Ford who will present her latest range of limited edition designer swimwear. All Black Daniel Carter is also returning with his international clothing range GAS, which blends denim-wear and sophisticated casual men’s attire. One of Canterbury’s best known and most decorated fashion designers Sonia Smith is also set to return. This year, Smith’s exquisite collection will include everything from haute couture to feminine funky pieces.

Another exciting development sees two nationwide high fashion labels contributing to Style Christchurch 2008. Kylee Davis (former founder of Insidious Fix label) is sending her sexy & sophisticated label Stitch Ministry down the runway. Plus IPG’s alliance with the new tkstore range will present an alluring, uninhibited new direction in fashion to open the Finale Show.”

For the first time Style Christchurch widens the net to the South Pacific and welcomes International Guest Designer - Koila McBride from Fiji. Highly esteemed for her Pacific flavour, McBride’s designs are sure to spice up this year’s Finale Show!

Once again highly regarded retail label Sakaguchi will be welcomed back to the catwalk with his adventurous and captivating designs. Founder of the label Takaaki Sakaguchi will be wearing two hats at this year’s event, as he has also accepted the role of casting director for all four shows. Blake says “Having Takaaki Sakaguchi as our casting director is a tremendous coup for Style Christchurch. Sakaguchi stood out as being the perfect fit for this role with his vast experience and dedication to fashion,” says Andhy Blake.

Four events will be held over the week including the ‘New Face’ which will feature up and coming new generation designers from the Canterbury Region. This gives design students and emerging labels the chance to get their designs seen by an exciting range of the fashion industry and opinion leaders. A new addition to the Style Christchurch line up is the “The Retail Collections Show” which features ready to wear collections from top Canterbury retail stores. Another new addition to the line up is the “Red Dress Collection” which is a collection of Avant Garde, Haute Couture and ready to wear pieces from selected designers. All pieces are featured in the signature red colour and proceeds from this prestigious show will go to supporting a yet to be named charity.

The Finale Show will be held in iconic Christchurch building, The Isaac Theatre Royal. This fully restored Edwardian Heritage Theatre features 1266 seats over three levels and provides the perfect venue to host the big Finale Show on November 7th.

The Christchurch City Council continues to support Style Christchurch for 2008 and plays a significant role in supporting each fashion show with locations and hosting.