Exciting designs for the mature follower of fashion

Press, 19 February 1986, Page 14

Exciting designs for the mature follower of fashion

In vogue

Paula Ryan

Looking closely at the retail scene this winter, I find that fashion is not only full of new interest in the looks but also in various new “made in New Zealand” labels. In such a competitive industry it is cheering to see new labels standing out among the fixtures. They are certainly adding variety in some niches that have always seemed a little hollow. In this column last week, the needs of the older woman who wants to retain individual style were discussed. Further foraging amongst the racks has turned up another source which should prove most exciting for the more mature follower of fashion.

Regardless of whether a mature woman has also acquired a mature shape, or has remained slim, the Ashley Fogel label has great appeal. It has obviously been designed with the mature person in mind, but is extremely stylish.

So many of the letters I receive have been cries for help from older women. "Where can I buy clothes that are stylish and smart without being categorised as a matron?” Ashley Fogel must have heard their plea, because this is exactly what the range is all about. They are young at heart but the overriding element is of stylish simplicity which the mature woman can wear so well. It is cheering, indeed, through this column to be able so satisfactorily to answer all those cries for help. The most important ingredient in good dressing is to be comfortable in

one’s clothes. All discomforts show on our faces and can ruin a fashion image — you notice this particularly in older women wearing jeans that are too tight, or dressed in trendy and gimmicky clothes. In the latter case, it is presumed that they are uncomfortable in the image they are presenting. In the USA two designers of merit have concentrated on this market and their turnovers are at the top of the American market. They are Liz Claiborne and Norma Kamali who aim, almost exclusively, at the middle-aged market at middle market prices. This is exactly the niche Ashley Fogel is filling in New Zealand. They are fashionable garments subtly pointing up some of the directional looks of the season and using the directional colours that are marking winter ’B6.

They are a little safer and more seasonless than

their younger sisters which are all pattern and pizzazz. It certainly appears that the traditional “matron” and the way she has been expected to dress will, be slowly phased out by the resourceful young designers producing exciting mature styles that will certainly be a pleasure to wear.

Tekau has long been a recognised and reliable knitwear label in New Zealand. It is now breaking some new ground with a licensee arrangement with Mars Munchen knitwear of Munich. Mars Munchen is a well established quality knitwear house, recognised all over Europe.

Output is one million pieces a year on to a very competitive market which is concentrated in Germany and Europe and is a top seller in New York. Tekau is the only licensee in the world for Mars Munchen which is a creditable New Zealand exercise. The technical experts from Tekau go to Munich regularly to study the new techniques and machinery. No plant at Mars Munchen is retained longer than three years so methods are constantly updated and systems streamlined. The New Zealand arm at Tekau is producing new and interesting patterns and textures, geometric

ings in the manner most admired in the glossy overseas fashion magazines.

The range of Mars Munchen is strongly based in the menswear sector ' where it is increasing the options in what promises < to be a distinctly “knit" winter.

At the same time Tekau is expanding the range of womenswear and aiming - to equal the menswear. , output. The manufacture r is immaculate with great attention to detail and fin- -■ ish. Both the menswear and the womenswear are < introducing very Euro- - pean fashion inclinations , for the most stylish knit • dressing.