This week, Ragtrader is chatting with buyers attending New Zealand Fashion Week and sharing their key focuses in fashion curating for 2025. First up, we chat with The Shelter owner, designer and curator Vicki Taylor.
Which New Zealand fashion brands do you stock currently?
We stock a variety of over 24 New Zealand brands in The Shelter. We have long standing NZ designers like Lela Ja-cobs, taylor, Marmalade Hats, Company of Strangers, Jimmy D, to the next generation like Masami, JPalm, Claudia Li, Kiri Nathan and newer arrivals like Rory Docherty, Jojo Ross and our emerging designers like Adrion Atelier who has been with us for 6 months and Fringes who is in his initial months at The Shelter. We are also very excited to have Amèlie join us in the next short while after winning the FQ Rising Star Award.
What are the top-performing New Zealand fashion brands at your store?
We pride ourselves on offering a range of different aesthetics, so it can depend on what look and style a client is after and as any of our designers deliver capsule collections which vary in number and variety of styles it can be hard to compare. taylor is our long-established brand with easy lifestyle sections like 10 Pieces by taylor and Recline, these brands are always sitting at the top. It has been exciting to see a number of our smaller brands grow with us and take on new opportunities within the industry.
Which designer labels are you most looking forward to seeing at NZFW?
I am really excited to see Claudia Li‘s first NZ show, especially as she has recently been awarded the FQ 2025 New Zealand Designer of the Year. Adrion Atelier’s NZ Fashion Week debut will be exciting and Lela Jacobs – as her show several years ago at sunset is still one of my all-time favourites – so I look forward to seeing what she does this year. Running alongside NZ Fashion week is also Ahua Aotearoa - and Fringes has a presentation which involves cutting and creating on stage – so I am excited to see how they master that. The creative angles of the presentations always intrigue me.
What are some key fashion trends you've spotted in New Zealand this year?
I am not really focused on fashion trends as each one of our NZ designers speaks their own language, has their own brand identity and their own story to tell, and I feel as a buyer this resonates more with our clients over a trend which comes and goes. I want to purchase for longevity, looking for brands that use beautiful fabrics and focus on craft so a client leaves knowing that item will stay with them for a very long time.