Click here to see exclusive runway shots of Karen Walker 'Angels' spring/summer 08/09 at Stephen Marr, in association with Rosemount.

Stephen Marr & Wella came together to form the ultimate Creative Team for Air New Zealand Fashion Week 2008.
We worked on ten of New Zealand's top shows: see below to have a peek at the looks we created for the totally talented designers we work with...

All images in this article courtesy of Michael Ng/Air New Zealand Fashion Week

Karen Walker

Held on the Friday evening at Stephen Marr in Newmarket - Karen Walker again showed us why she is a superstar on an international scale.




Jaeha

Bright young thing Alex Kim showed to a packed audience as the first show of the morning, usually pretty daunting trying to please the fashion pack at 8am, but Alex pulled through in true Jaeha style.





Alexandra Owen

Full of poise and graceful silhouettes, Alexandra showed a wonderfully cohesive yet romanticized collection.




Cybele

Ethereal, subtle yet always displaying a stunning eye for detail, Cybele came through yet again to wow editors and buyers alike with her ode to Halcyon, a Greek myth about a bird that calms the mid-winter seas. Perfectly apt for her stunning Autumn/Winter 09 collection.




Ag Research

A showcase to prove technology can be fashionable - designers created garments made from state-of-the-art fabrics.




Hailwood

Sleek silhouettes and slick hair were seen at Hailwood, as Adrian goes from strength to strength with every season.




Nom*D

'Bedlam' ensued at Nom*D Autumn/Winter 08 - featuring more of their talents for deconstruction and eccentric detailing the Nom*D crew again wowed the audience and their loyal customers with a tight and inventive collection.



Juliette Hogan

Channeling the elegance and effortless class of the traditional 'English Rose', Juliette Hogan impressed media, buyers and her loyal VIPs with a collection that was beautiful yet modern.




Lonely Hearts

Looking out West for inspiration, Lonely Hearts showcased a collection that was tough, bogan-inspired and undone yet completely wearable and highly covetable.




Salasai

Salasai brought back some classic shapes in an ode to the 90s that, rather than making people want to forget the oversized pants and badly dyed shirts, had people clamouring to get a better look at Kirsha's signature print, fabrics and the draping that featured throughout the beautifully pulled together collection.

Hey Lucy, so after working with Karen for all these years, what can we expect this Friday at the show? The hair for Karen's show this week will feature really uncontrived, smooth, glossy, natural hair. When we create styles for designers we like to keep in line with their creative process - so for Karen the hair always reflects the character of her personality in a really effortlessy chic way. Karen is all about taking one really clever idea and showcasing it rather than lots of individual ideas that all come together to compete for attention. |All of Karen's collections seem really cohesive and concise so it will be exciting to see what she has in store at the show. Coming up to summer, how do you go about forecasting 'trends' and creating new looks for your clients? Well, my personal approach to styling is to take your time. With cutting and colouring it is really important for a client to sit down with a stylist and create something that fits really well with their character, lifestyle and of course physicality. It's not about putting one particular 'look' on a client, I'm all about honing the overall appearence, whether that references 20s, 40s or 70s. Then i adapt those references to suit my clients and their lifestyle. Cuts and colours should be easy to maintain in your daily life and replicate once you get home. Colours for summer? All our colours are going to be really shiny, beautiful, subtle, unique colours. I'm seeing a lot of vintage rose's, washed out, dusky colours coming through for blondes. With dark hair it's all about clever colour placement. Using subtle shade variations to create and enhance natural texture without seeing those really obvious panels of colour. |I can't wait to see all the new styles and tones coming through the salon this summer! Thanks for that Lucy - good luck for this week, I'm sure we'll be seeing some really amazing creations courtesy of Stephen Marr!

We talked to top Stephen Marr stylist Lenny Keith, on what's in store at Hailwood and new shapes he's going to be cutting for summer...

Hey Lenny, how are you? So i hear through the grapevine you are working on the Hailwood hair team for next weeks shows....can you give me any clues on what we're going to be seeing...? I'm good thanks, busy though working up to Fashion Week. Adrian's show is going to be really strong and visceral. Inspiration for the look has been drawn from Esther Williams - style, synchronised swimming caps. I don't want to give too much away, it's going to be a really strong silhouette, look for slick, wet-look hair that we have styled really tightly onto the skull. Wow! This does sound very dramatic! So when Fashion Week is all over and we start heading for summer, what shapes will you be cutting for your clients and VIPs? This summer stronger shapes are definately hot. I'll be juxtaposing texture with the clean lines of a 20's bob. Geometric shapes that are a little more busted and broken will give a contemporary spin to classic shapes.
That sounds amazing - I can't wait to see all the new styles coming through for summer! Thanks for the insider tips Lenny!