FASHION designer Trelise Cooper is known for colour, ruffles and her curly blonde hair but the internationally renowned designer has much more to her.
Cooper begins each day at her Auckland-based workroom with a staff meditation session. She adopted the idea from a Calcutta workroom, which she visited in 2003.
“It had been an idea floating around my head and I visited a supplier in Calcutta and they did it so I decided to. There was a great response from staff and it’s how we work now,” she says.
Cooper’s work-place runs like a “feminine democracy” where everyone’s contribution is important.
“It’s my name, and I get the credit but I don’t do it on my own,” she says.
Recently, she designed the costumes for NBR NZ Opera’s production of Xerxes, which opens on March 15.
Coincidentally, it’s the same week her new Wellington store, in the Old Public Trust Building, opens.
Theatricality in design resonates through her new winter range with a “romantic gothic feel” and stained-glass prints.
“I’m always pitted as the ‘queen of frill’ by the media and it annoys me but really it’s a juxtaposition of strong silhouette with a feminine vibe so there may be a ruffle – it’s a balancing act – the juxtaposition of strong and soft with hard and vulnerable.”
Her operatic creations merge three worlds – Persia in 200 BC, Handel in the 1800s, and modern day.
“I used embroidery from Persia and resonated that with ideas of the 1800s in styling but I also researched the catwalk for the men’s costumes. Designers like Alexander McQueen inspired me. I don’t do men’s fashion normally so that was fun.
“King Xerxes is vain, he’s a peacock and not as fashionable as his younger brother so I reflect that in the design.
Romilda is in hot pink because I wanted her to have drama and she’s such a strong character with dramatic flair about her. I didn’t just want to have the drama presented visually but I wanted the rustling of silk as she moved.”
Cooper, with collaborator Penny Barnett, who’s current Designer Clothing Gallery will become the Trelise Cooper flagship store, present the full winter fashion range on mannequins, not racks.
“We will have 15-20 mannequins - like a gallery rather than fashion looking boring on racks,” Barnett says.
“I think clothes racks do nothing for the clothing and sometimes it’s a nightmare having to face all of the racks.
The store will have a a big beautiful mirror with high chapel ceilings - like a church. It makes it more of a creative experience.”
Trelise Cooper, Old Public Trust Building, 131 Lambton Quay, opens March 18.