Unzipped - Full Series

For one week each year, our country becomes obsessed with what to wear. Celebrating New Zealand-made fashion has never been so big. And right in the middle of it are some of our fashion industry's biggest international success stories.

– Narrator Aidee Walker introduces New Zealand Fashion Week, in episode one

Every year we have to decide who sits where. And that would seem like quite an easy job, but we have a few sleepless nights and sweating about it because there's a lot of status and power in the seats that you get at Fashion Week. But it gets tricky because people who own stores and we sell them a collection, they definitely believe they're front row, and to me they are as well, but I can't always get everyone in the front row.

– Designer Trelise Cooper on the pressure and politics of front row seating at NZ Fashion Week, early in episode two

Unless you're invited by a designer or you are in the industry as a buyer or media, it's not that easy to get to a show. So you can't just rock up and think 'I'll go to the show and pay some money and do it.' It doesn't work that way.

– NZ Fashion Week Founder Pieter Stewart, on the exclusivity of some Fashion Week shows, in episode three

This year the theme was just so exciting for us, the Botticelli Angels and Primavera. The shapes were quite big, and they had braids wrapped around them, and then they had these very long tails. And so we're going to puff out the tails so they look more edgy, and we're going to tie bows in them. And then the top is going to be wild and full, and it's going to look really, really impressive.

– Trelise Cooper hairstylist Grant Bettejeman, on the runway hair look, in episode five

We've decided to take our show off-site this year from the main Viaduct venue for fashion week, just because with our brand we're not just selling a collection of clothes, we're selling the whole experience, the whole atmosphere.

– Stolen Girlfriends Club designer Marc Moore on choosing Auckland's Mercury Theatre as a venue, in episode four

I decided this year to streetcast for a number of reasons. Obviously we don't have a huge budget where we can afford $300 a model  . . .  the second big reason for me was the size of the models out there is just too thin, and for a lot of my clothes they just didn't fill them properly. Also just being a mum of two girls, I just think it's important for positive body image.

– Designer Sera Lilly on her decision to street cast models, in episode one

...I guess my biggest fear would be people not liking the clothes. I mean, models fall: that's just part of life. To me, that wouldn't upset me at all . . .  it's more the fact that if people didn’t like your clothes, I think for me would be a big thing.

– Designer Sera Lilly on her biggest fear at NZ Fashion Week, in episode six

I want you to go out on the catwalk looking beautiful, feeling beautiful, loads of confidence. Strut your stuff. It’s really strong music. You know, I don’t want that squeezed lemon, sucked a lemon lately [look]. None of that, please, I really don’t want that. We’re not in Milan, we’re not in Paris — sorry, we’re in Auckland.

– Designer Trelise Cooper gives her final briefing to the models before they hit the catwalk, in episode six

The audience reaction to the kids' show was one of, ‘Oh, they're so beautiful, they're so gorgeous, weren’t they sweet?’ I don’t know that they get to look at the clothes! It’s a whole thing of how sweet and gorgeous it all is, and chaotic and funny. So in that way, it’s slightly more relaxed...

– Designer Trelise Cooper on the atmosphere of her children’s collection show, in episode seven

Fashion is 90 per cent business, 10 per cent style because really, if you don’t have good business, you’re never gonna make any clothes. Your clothes have to be commercial, and also different.

– Designer Sera Lilly on the business realities of fashion, in episode eight

So it’s a bit of a cliché, but I always dressed up in my mum’s clothes. She taught me how to sew, and it’s just something that I’ve always wanted to do. And it’s scary, it’s a scary thing to get into. But you do have to follow what you want to do, or you’ll always wonder if you don’t...

– Emily Pullar, co-founder of Maaike, on why she pursued fashion design, in episode eight

We wanted to stand out from the crowd. We wanted people to look and go, ‘Wow, that’s different.’ And what does it say about us?  . . .  we’re fun, we’re expressive, we’re not reserved. Trelise kind of thrives with that sort of input.

– Air New Zealand Chief Executive Rob Fyfe on getting Trelise Cooper to redesign the airlines uniforms, early in episode eight

This is a love-hate relationship. I love fashion week, but it's one of those ones that you think every year 'why do I do this?'. It's like having a baby. You know how you go 'never again . . . no way, the stress was too much.' And then you go and have more babies!

– Designer Sera Lilly deals with another nightmare at Fashion Week, in episode ffour