Culture

Dunedin could be coming dangerously close to breeding an uber-dark design aesthetic, a blueprint for conformist culture and generations of sinister scarfies.
Nom*D. Need I say more? This year’s autumn-winter collection? Danse Macabre. How very Antwerpian of you, Margi Robertson. Taking us back to a medieval world where life is fragile and under threat from the Black Death, war, pestilence and famine. Good God. Is it any wonder our fashion compass seems irrevocably pointed towards the deep, dark south? Granted, Otago does kind of have a reputation to live up to, what with the Dunedin gothic sound and all, but couldn’t we have a bit of Himalayan-hippie-meets-colonial-grande-dandy-hyper-floral? Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.
 
It has taken an insanely long time for Fashion to become a regular column in Critic, but no longer do we, students of probably the most dark, damp and isolated university in the world, have to languish in the shadows, completely unenlightened about one of life's greatest joys. F.A.S.H.I.O.N. Thanks to you guys, Critic is going to crank out fabulous weekly insights into the world of style and everything this wild town we reside in has to offer in the way of haute couture (hah!). We’ll have student style shots, uber-revealing interviews with everyone and anyone, designer updates, trend watch and various scintillating weekly specimens on the fashion page.
 
So bombard me with all things fashion, be they beautiful or beastly. Looks that work, looks that don’t. Flatmates who rock and trends to mock. Brutality at its finest. Imperfection is wonderful. And so is summer. Make two-zero-one-one a bloody beautiful one.
 
 
fashion@critic.co.nz