Showtime at Trelise

Trelise Cooper
Winter 2010 at Air New Zealand Fashion Week
23 September 2009

You can always be sure Trelise Cooper will put on a great show. Always. She really understand the theatrics of dressing, and the theatrics of showing. This year's show started with her COOPER diffusion label – and it was just a riot of colour based on 1930s English country life as potrayed in the film Atonement. 

It started with their take on the military jacket, in washed out denim, followed by a definite Trelise take on the biker jacket; an all fuschia leather version matched with plaid pants.

They continued with their own very TC looks, with the use of strong bold colour right through the collection. Bold teals mixed with Russian peasants skirts in black and red.

Lots of navy in jackets, dresses and skirts (with gold detailing and tasselling)- in velvets and wools– a welcome change from basic black.





Burgundy was used to great effect on a fitted, sequinned t-shirt which I heard a lot of people admiring.

Colour was used to its best advantage on the standout pieces of block printed silk in acid bright pinks, teal and yellow. Both pieces had large batwings, one short, one longer, and the shift version was just divine! Teamed with bright leggings – you would have to be one confident woman to pull this off – but it would be well worth it!

The second half of the show was of course pure Trelise Cooper. Pure signature Trelise right from the very beginning. The theme was "The Modern Dandy/ The Empowered Woman: a life of passion expressed through personal style."

Straight out was my favourite coat of the night in black felted wool with a lovely large gathered detail around the bottom.

Pinstripes came next in a hyper tailored skirt and jacket combo. One of my favourites was a white shirt with a black velvet pencil skirt. Coats were a lovely reoccurring theme, with full length coats and jackets galore.

There was lots of structured shoulder detail. Shoulder pads were a bit of a shock to the system with one orange wool dress in particular standing out! I did shoulder pads the first time round (in the 1980’s) and I am unsure if I can ever do that again…

We then moved onto her favourite themes of Victoriana restraint (with a Trelise Cooper twist) with creams and silks, puffed sleeves and lovely detailing. Full printed tulle skirts were another favourite of mine.

Lots of her bows appeared, as expected, on dresses, jerseys and tops, in ribbons, diamantes and sequins. It quite simply wouldn’t be a Trelise show without sequin covered coats, and I heard a woman beside me quite simply sigh with pleasure when the first jacket (short sleeved silver sequinned) came down the catwalk. She all but purred when the long version sauntered down the runway!

Trelise always does a large collection, and to comment on it all would just be crazy – so I will just mention my favourites… there was a divine red rose print on a deep sky blue silk background – this came in a dress and skirt both teamed with eye popping red wool jackets and coats. Also, some lovely black dresses with silver and gold detailing then a wonderful take on the military jacket in red velvet.

The last two dresses down the catwalk were beautiful yellow and purple silk shifts with silver beading and sequins. A signature end to a signature show.

Anya Brighouse
Photos Kevin Robinson