Monday 17th September, 2007

Fashion Forward

“The only rule is don't be boring and dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in.”
So says doyenne of all things fashionable, Ms Paris Hilton. This week is Air New Zealand Fashion Week - a good time to think about your fashion footprint.

Fashion Week showcases Autumn/Winter collections by New Zealand’s leading fashion designers to international and local buyers and media. 2007's line-up of designers includes Love Lies Bleeding, Stolen Girlfriends Club, Sakaguchi,�Annah Stretton, Cybele, Karen Walker, Trelise Cooper and Zambesi.

What do libraries have to do with fashion? Our books, magazines and online guide to fashion and art can inspire designers and fashionistas alike.

Photos © Michael Ng/Air New Zealand Fashion Week.

Making fashion

Whether you're making an entry for a wearable arts competition, a costume for a party or you want a career as a fashion designer, our guide to Wearable Arts, Costume and Fashion Design will connect you with useful resources in our libraries and online.

You may also like to study. See our list on CINCH of Sewing and dress making classes and courses and Fashion Technology and Design courses at CPIT, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology.

Resource of the week

Gale Virtual Reference Library features some interesting fashion titles:

Contemporary Fashion is an A-Z of designers and fashion houses of the 20th Century.
The Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion surveys clothing, body adornment, and examines the origins of clothing, the development of fabrics and technologies, and the social meanings of dress.
Fashion,Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages provides a broad overview of costume traditions of diverse cultures from prehistoric times to the present day.

Your library card and PIN will give you access to these resources.

We recommend: Fashion resources

Our online resources:

Fashion - This Fashion page brings together the many resources that we have for the dedicated follower of fashion - books & magazines & web sites.
Costume and Fashion - Heritage photographs and illustrations from the Christchurch City Libraries collection
Kiwi fashion – designers making their mark - New Zealand designers making waves on the international fashion scene
Wearable Arts, Costume & Fashion Design - Searching for information about designing and making clothes, costumes and wearable arts

Our Internet Gateway recommends:

Fashion - Fashion web sites listed in our Internet Gateway
Designers and Labels - List of New Zealand designers and fashion labels
Fashion @ Pulse - Fashion designers, modelling and news from our teen site Pulse
Christchurch Fashion Designers - Listing of local designers from localeye, the online guide to Christchurch and Canterbury
Clothing and Accessories - Listing of fashion retailers from localeye

Browse the resources in our libraries:

Search our catalogue - Subject searches:
- Fashion designers
- Fashion - history
- Clothing and dress - history
  (add country and century if looking for a particular country time period e.g. Fashion - History - 20th century
Magazines & Periodicals
For fashion magazines search on the subject Fashion - Periodicals and Clothing and dress - Periodicals. Vogue is the most well known fashion magazine and we have Vogue U.K., Vogue Australia, Vogue Paris, and L'Uomo Vogue (men). New Zealand's major fashion magazines include New Zealand Fashion quarterly and the Paula Ryan Simply You style guide.

Other online resources

Times Online Fashion - Fashion and style articles from The Times and The Sunday Times
New Zealand Herald Fashion and Beauty - The Herald's Fashion section includes local and international news, and interviews with fashion identities
Runway Reporter - "The online home of New Zealand fashion". Local and international fashion information
FashioNZ - New Zealand online fashion directory and news
Thread - NZ fashion, style, culture ezine

Next week - The animal kingdom

Next week we go on a school holiday safari as we find out about animals from New Zealand and around the world. From anteaters to zebras, there's a favourite creature for the whole family.

Fashion exhibition : Waisted Effort

Contemporary and classic corsets by Bastet Creations are on display at Parklands Library until Saturday 29 September. Works include historical reproductions and designs inspired by Victorian, Edwardian and modern punk and Gothic fashions. Read our interview with corset creator Jo Drysdall.