Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards 1989

Rainy days will never be dull again in a fluorescent caterpillar coat from Jill Grogan.

– Compere Maysie Bestall-Cohen's commentates the Perrier Lifestyle section, early in this show

Every New Zealander can relate to informal fashion. After all, most of our wardrobes comprise exactly those clothes. The Perrier Lifestyle Award this year goes to...

– Presenter Paula Ryan on the Kiwi love for "informal fashion"

Memories of summer: Aucklander Di Jennings tops a black dress with a sunny yellow coat, embroidered in a hibiscus design...

– Awards organiser and compere Maysie Bestal- Cohen on a High Fashion day wear section entry

Thank you. It was amazing — that was the longest walk of my life I think...

– Evening Post Daywear winner Di Jennings starts her thank you speech

Isn't it amazing what you can do with leather?

– Presenter Peter Elliott marvels at the creativity on display

Earrings! Um...this is wonderful, thank you.

– Canterbury fashion designer Robert Gormack enjoys his matching Benson & Hedges trophies

New Zealand music needs all the push it can get. I feel almost protective of it.

– Designer Annie Bonza on her award-winning dress celebrating Kiwi pop music, New Zealand Woman's Weekly 1989

The 1980s were witness to the rise of the New Zealand fashion designer, many of whom opened their own shops. In Christchurch, Barbara Lee, who started her business in 1968 and Rosaria Hall who began designing in the late 1970s, were joined by Gaye Bartlett, Judith Malcolm and Robert Gormack, milliner Ailie Miller (Dollie Vardin) and leather designers Caroline Moore, Nita Henry and Brigid Brock, making the Garden City a formidable fashion force. 

– Article on the success of Cantabrian designers in the 1980s Kiwi fashion scene, The New Zealand Fashion Museum