#243 Stolen Girlfriends Club win big at the DHL Export Scholarship Awards

The award winners with a rep from DHL.

The DHL Export Scholarship Awards and show took place tonight at my favourite old gangsta haunt (HOLLA!) 4:20 on K Rd. The three finalists in the competition were Jimmy D, Salasai and Stolen Girlfriends Club. To be in to win, labels had to compile a presentation for a judging panel which included designer Trelise Cooper and NZ Herald journalist (and blogger) Zoe Walker.


The Stolen Girlfriends Club outfits, modelled by Levi Clarke and Olivia O'Driscoll, who seems to be showing up plenty lately.

After a mini show in which all three designers showed a selection of five or six outfits, the ceremony began and Stolen Girlfriends Club were named winners. Speaking before the show, SGC director Dan Gosling joked that if they won, the $10,000 prize would go to paying off their DHL bill. In his acceptance speech, Luke Harwood proclaimed, "Means we can party in Tokyo!" to which Mark Moore replied, "If we can fit ourselves into a DHL box!"


La Beat Debauchery on the decks.

Of the three finalist labels Stolen Girlfriends Club appears to be closest to making it big on an international scale, having already secured representation by sales and PR agents in Australia and Japan, and with a rumoured exhibition taking place in Japan in March. Time will tell whether they'll succeed, or follow a similar path to their Sydney counterparts Ksubi – after all, the current economic climate doesn't seem too conducive to huge business growth.


Finalists and models.

#242 Au Revoir! From Jordan Rondel

Tomorrow morning my sister and I are leaving for Paris (and Isaac is joining us there on the 22nd). Over the next couple of months the three of us will be making and posting videos of our awesome adventures. These will include partying in Paris, partying in London, having a white christmas, shopping, eating delicious food, enjoying a luxurious few days in Ireland, attending Mode a Paris Men's fashion week and many other crazy escapades.

Watch this space!

#241 Kanye West's press conference - "I wouldn't suggest driving with the glasses."

Kanye West at the Auckland press conference

I had a rare brush with fame yesterday attending Kanye West's press conference, held at the Westin Hotel. From what I heard over the forty minute question and answer period, Kanye West is an exceptionally intelligent and well thought out man with a lot to say for himself.

And he made me laugh. A lot.


After the Kanye West concert last night in Auckland

On being quoted saying "Hip Hop is over":
I didn't say that, that's a complete paraphrase. What does that mean? That statement, hip hop is over for me now... That quote is, like, so wrong, I never said that... It disturbs me that they paraphrase me and say 'Kanye said that hip hop is over', I would never say anything like that.

On whether he's ever tried parallel parking while wearing his signature glasses:
I wouldn't suggest driving with the glasses.

On his knowledge of New Zealand hip hop:
I'm like completely just an ignorant like big artist and stuff and I admit to that. You know how artists all cool like they down and stuff, I'm just so not down!

On designing his new label Pastelle Clothing:
The hardest part with the design is for me, I've always worn the best clothes of the best designers. So it's like, I wear, you know, 40% of what Hedi Slimane designed and 30% of what Stefano Pilati designed and 10% of Tom Ford glasses, Tom Ford does a range of 100 glasses, and I pick like three of 'em. And these are masters of design who've designed like 20, 30 years of their life right. So then I'm supposed to do a clothing line and I'm supposed to just find designers and design on my own, stuff that represents clothing as good as what I wear and that's like, it's super hard. So every now and then I come up with a piece that's actually good enough for me to wear, because I think people feel like I have a responsibility to them to do good clothing, like if I put my name on it, they wanna say 'Hey Kanye when I go to the club I want girls to like me'. So I can't just do shit like take a polo and put my name on it and be like, 'here' and just mass it out. It has to be really good, and that's been the struggle for me because I've just seen people make so much money off've clothing, and I really care about it being really good, and it's like a frustrating process.

On why he wouldn't want to be the next James Bond:
"It's like that approach, with the tuxes and the bow ties and shit like that, I really had to come to the conclusion like, yo, I kinda like Jordans, and I kinda like Bentleys."

#240 Eon collapses and the little guys lose - David Trubridge speaks out

DesignBoom

As I previously mentioned, major New Zealand-designed furniture stockist Eon Design Centre went into receivership last week. Due to many of the designers not having proper knowledge of New Zealand's business laws, when they went to Eon to retrieve their unpaid stock, they were informed that they could not do so, and then removed by security personnel. Further, if they were to overpower security and remove their stock, they could be prosecuted for theft. The reasons are clearly listed in this NBR article.

Now one of New Zealand's most successful furniture designers David Trubridge – though not a New Zealander himself – (pictured above) has spoken out about what's going on. In an email sent out at 12:30pm and addressed to 'Undisclosed Recipients' (who one would assume would include most of the design specific media and wider design community) he details the impact that this receivership will have on the small design businesses, and the injustice he sees existing in the big business world where the rich get richer and the little guys suffer.

I would like to draw your attention to a sad drama happening in Auckland where eon design centre has gone into liquidation. Receivers have been appointed and are holding a sale of stock in order to repay a loan of $400,000 to Blackbird Finance (partly owned by Fay Richwhite).

eon design centre was set up by Angela Roper as the flagship of New Zealand design and has been one of the main outlets for most of the country's design community. It would appear that none of these small businesses (including myself) will receive any of the, often large, debts that eon owe us. This will have a serious knock-on effect throughout the New Zealand design community. We are shocked and horrified that the carefully designed law ensures the big boys always get their pound of flesh, and the small guys end up loosing. We are seeing the same thing all over Wall St and London and it is the rotten heart of capitalism where financial laws are made by the super rich to protect the super rich.

I publicly challenge Blackbird and Fay Richwhite to promote a Kiwi sense of community and to share their pickings with those of us who are suffering in this collapse far more than they possibly could. They only have money to play with because people like us, the creative community are earning it at the coal face. By their standards the amounts are negligible compared to what they could gain in good PR, while the amounts to us are crippling.

It is important to remember just how much the creative community punches way above its weight in contributing towards the worldwide image of New Zealand. Just over the last year my company has been responsible for literally hundreds of articles in design, fashion and lifestyle magazines around the world. This could be over a million dollars of editorial; they all mention New Zealand and give it a sophisticated, creative image which attracts an affluent cultural traveller. I have been included in a French design magazine as one of the 15 'plus grands' designers in the world, and my Coral light is in the current Time magazine style and fashion luxury list. We do this on an extremely small budget and do not have the resources to absorb events such as the eon collapse.

you can find further information here.

if you wish to discuss this with me further please do give me a ring on the number below or 021 ******.
we thank you for your support
best wishes
david

If you would like to show your support for David Trubridge and the designers losing out over the Eon debacle email him at david@davidtrubridge.com

#239 Positively Glamorous - ribbons... for your pleasure

I just got home from the Positively Glamorous fashion show slash party and I am sweating. And not just from the heat of being jam packed into a room with a bunch of over excited people. Preceding the show was a live performance art installation (pictured above), of a young couple body painted to create the AIDS Foundation's signature red ribbon. The canvas? Bodies. The medium? Paint on skin. The performance? Pashing. And based on the couple's giggling, a bit of hot and heavy flirtation thrown in there for good measure.


Lonely Hearts

The charity fashion event, put on by Positive Women, was held to raise money for the forty odd kids living in New Zealand with AIDS or HIV related illnesses. Twenty of the country's biggest fashion names (including Zambesi, Kate Sylvester, Cybele, Jaeha, Stolen Girlfriends Club, Lonely Hearts, Ruby and Jimmy D) designed one off garments inspired by the AIDS Foundation's red ribbon. The money raised will fund tickets for the AIDS sufferers to attend Camp Goodtime in Australia.


Kate Sylvester

Sadly my camera ran out of batteries halfway through the show, but I managed to snap a couple of shots. My favourites were the Kate Sylvester tutu, the Lonely Hearts dress, and special mention must be made of the performance of the Stolen Girlfriends Club model who flounced down the catwalk pushing a baby carriage. The standard of models was excellent for a charity event, with several of New Zealand's top young girls (and a couple of older ones) showing up on the catwalk. These included Olivia O'Driscoll, who put in a stellar appearance – which I didn't capture due to the camera malfunction.


Kate Sylvester and Zambesi's Liz and Neville Findlay

And Noelle McCarthy shone as the MC, proving that a little bad press needn't keep you down. I half expected her to make a cheeky reference to the events of the past couple of weeks, but none was made.

My only criticism of the event? The live art performance ended. Bring back the pashing!