NZFW: Salasai & Taylor

Yesterday I went to the Salasai show and Taylor boutique’s show at NZ Fashion Week. Both used similar colors in their new collections and were nicely streamlined. I felt like I could’ve worn any item, which made the collections more accessible.

The first show was Salasai, which was developed in 2006 by Hawkes Bay designer Kirsha Whitcher who is now based out of Western Australia. The show debuted her new Autumn/Winter 2013 collection ‘Heartlands’, which had a hipster cowboy theme with neutral shades and patterned fabrics designed into simple shapes.

There were lots of neutrals (blacks/whites/greys), patterned fabrics and the odd use of color, which was always canary yellow. The canary yellow color was my favourite color used and was mostly used for whole outfits, like dresses, as opposed to added to more neutral shades. It added some spark to the collection and although the collection was for winter, with too many dark shades it could have come off as dull and dreary.

My favourite look that seems to be reappearing in many of the shows this year is skinny jeans or skinny leather pants matched with chunky knit sweaters. My favourite outfit from Salasai was a pair of burgundy (red wine color) leather pants and matching chunky knit sweater with black sleeves. The outfit was edgy, easy to wear and with the mixture of textures, wool and leather, it gave the look a casual but dressy feel, which makes it easy to wear in the day with boots or at night with heels.

The Salasai models had plain fresh makeup but dark lipstick that looked amazing and used accessories like giant cross earrings and necklaces that added a hipster feel to the cowboy theme. The majority of models wore Western Australian style cowboy hats, which were influenced by the designer’s relocation to Western Australia from New Zealand. For the second show, Taylor Boutique this was there first solo show at New Zealand Fashion Week, so you could feel that vibe of excitement in the room. Taylor revealed a collection of style the blended current spring/summer 2012/2013 looks into their 2013 winter collection ‘Shadow Collection’. The ‘Shadow Collection’ was focusing on basics in neutral shades with a pop of color, the dominant brighter color being burnt orange or again canary yellow. Canary yellow will obviously be a favourite for winter next year.

I love that Taylor also had an emphasis on layering, which is perfect for winter and they showed great examples of how you can make your outfit your own, by adding waist belts or slips underneath dresses, accompanied by jackets and accessories. They started with basic pieces and built on them; generally they picked skinny pants and accompanied them by a singlet and layered the singlet with a flowy top, added black leather aviator gloves and neckpieces and because the collection had so much layering I picked pieces of each outfit I liked which made it hard to pick a favourite.