Susie Bear now in city

Press, 5 December 1989, Page 27

Susie Bear now in city

ANEW range of designer clothes for the working woman has arrived in town with the opening of Susie Bear Fashion House. Susie Bear is an Auckland designer who, with husband-designer John Pheroah, markets a range of exclusive clothes aimed at women in the workforce who want to look fashionable and feel confident. Phillipa Robertson, their South Island director, is based at the Susie Bear Fashion House upstairs at 772 Colombo Street. She is the exclusive stockist of the Susie Bear range as well as clothes from Benson and Hedges award winner Jane Cameron, lingerie by Jan Cook, and some of Kirsty Lay’s Index range. Along with the retail showroom Susie Bear employs the marketing conception of using social gatherings to sell the clothes. Phillipa said she had felt for some time there was a gap in the marketing of clothes for women in the workplace. A common complaint was that they needed to look good for work but did not have the time to shop. The clothes she carries are good quality designer clothes — but at lower than normal prices. And the social gathering idea means that a

group of women can relax at home or in* the workplace while she puts on a fashion presentation for them. They can try on the clothes, decide which accessories to put with them and then buy the garments they want then and there.

Phillipa says the range is large and turning over all the time. She is careful with her ordering so that no more than two or three of a particular item will be in Christchurch at any one time.

She is also happy to take the collection out to country areas or provincial towns in the South Island where nothing comparable is available.

“Our clothes give women a professional image but they are also fashionable garments which can go anywhere from the office to after five. Because they are designer clothes with styles changing all the time there is no chance of ending up with a Susie Bear ‘uniform’ look,” she says. “Our prices range from a lined skirt for less than $9O to a top-of-the-range Jane Cameron pure silk dress for $275.” The Susie Bear range includes suits, dresses, skirts, jackets, shorts, trousers and shirts in linen, cotton, trieste and shantung.