The Dress Circle: New Zealand Fashion Design Since 1940

Contrary to popular opinion, New Zealand Fashion didn't begin in the late 1990s when four designers were sent to the London catwalks and created a stir with their stylish dark garments. Its history is in fact a long and rich one, and no one tells it better than the team of Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, Claire Regnault and Lucy Hammonds, all three of whom are experts in the field, and who spent over three years tracking down our overlooked and in some cases entirely forgotten fashion pioneers and heroes. The treasure-trove of fabulous frocks, coats, ballgowns and bijou pieces they bring back into the light are stunning in their creativity, giving the lie to the notion that we've always been a nation of bad dressers. The stories they tell of dedication, passion, of triumph and of disaster are part of our rich history. It's a marvellous read and a magnificent resource, long overdue.

Author Biography

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins is the director of the Hawke's Bay Museum and Art Gallery and one of New Zealand's best known commentators and writers on our design history, ranging from architecture to ceramics. His landmark book At Home was the Montana Book Awards Non-Fiction winner in 2004. Claire Regnault, a fashion and textiles expert, has recently left the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt, where she was an innovative senior curator, for a senior position at Te Papa. Lucy Hammonds is a curator at the Hawke's Bay Museum and Art Gallery with expertise in fashion and textiles.