Feature: Federation At Air NZ Fashion Week

Federation was born in 2000 by professional skateboarder Nick Clegg, who saw a gap in the street-skate market for high end gear. Well, a lot can happen in six years. There’s been the phenomenal success and fine tuning of Federation and the inception of Minti, a childrenswear label that has just been picked up by David Jones. As if that wasn’t enough on his plate, today Clegg, together with wife and design partner Jenny, launched Federation Gold, which crosses Federation into high fashion territory.

Guys and gals get an equal share of the collection and there’s a lot of crossover. Pastel pink, blue and yellow tees are for both sexes and come with cute scratch illustrations of deer and parrots. Incidentally, this collection is called ‘A Time to Fly’ and the parrot features in many places – on tees, tights and even on the pretty scarf I gleefully received in my goody-bag.

Skinny jeans came in red, white, grey and black for both boys and girls. True to their skate roots, a few baggy styles were included. A street collection would be incomplete without the hoodie – and there were indeed many – often styled up over the head, and featuring on almost everything from fine jersey to luxe silks. Some nice tailoring featured in a cute grey girly playsuit and tulip shaped skirt.

What makes this collection outstanding, apart from great design, is the use of fabrics such as textured silk, enzyme washed cotton and stunning crushed wool. Manawatu merino wool was a standout feature in a gorgeous cable knit black dress and then printed hoods. Supercool red and black striped jerseys and scarfs punked up the luxury a little.

The show ended with a beautiful blush silk hooded vest, adorned with oversized white buttons. It seemed to sum up the show – elegant, luxurious, modern and utterly street savvy.

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