ChinaShop

Known for their distinctive & bold use of color, wild silhouettes & a radical, subversive sense of humor, WORLD are one of New Zealand’s most fantastic exports.  Founded by Denise L’Estrange-Corbet & Francis Hooper in 1989, they say that “the initial idea for WORLD was hatched at a bus stop late one night”.  Having both returned from London & bored with their retail jobs, they decided it was time to shake up New Zealand’s fashion industry.  They were certainly the right people to do it: L’Estrange-Corbet had graduated from the London College of Fashion, while Hooper had been working with John Galliano & Rei Kawakubo of Commes Des Garcons.

They have come a long way from their beginnings in 1989.  20 years in the industry has seen their aesthetic become more sophisticated, though not necessarily more wearable!  Always with an air of drama, WORLD has retained its very tongue-in-chic mindset.  Designing for both men & women with equal panache, they seek to recreate themselves from the ground up every season.

They say their raison d’etre is “to act as conceptual leaders, constantly striving to give form to new approaches to fashion, & to fulfill an educative role, reflecting that the mainstays of any creative industry are ideas & experimentation.”

Primarily worn by “fashion cognoscenti, artistic types & other people willing to engage with experimental clothes design”, WORLD received national attention when their 21st Century Origami Dress won the avant-garde category of the Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards in 1995.  They continued to build momentum, & were invited to present at London Fashion Week in 2000.  Immediately afterward, their collections were snapped up by Selfridges & Liberty’s of London.  They have since shown at fashion events in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Paris & New Zealand, & are stocked in Hong Kong, Australia, Beirut, Britain, Ireland, Italy, the United States, Russia, Japan & China.

WORLD counts among their fans the inimitable Anna Piaggi (Italian Vogue), Zandra Rhodes & John Rocha (British fashion designers), Hilary Alexander (New Zealand-born fashion editor of The Daily Telegraph) & former Sex & The City stylist Rebecca Weinberg.

With Denise being awarded the title of MNZM by Queen Elizabeth II for her contribution to the New Zealand fashion industry, & no end in sight for their blisteringly original point of view, WORLD & their many admirers are certainly laughing with fashion & not at it.

Words by Gala Darling

3.00 (16 votes)

 Loading ...