NZ fashion designers serve up gift ideas

Media release
December 2008

NZ fashion designers serve up gift ideas for the man who has it all

Stuck for gift ideas on what to buy the stylish man who already has it all? New menswear label Hubert & Rhymes is offering up a range of quirky yet beautiful clothing that will be the talk of the Christmas party.

On offer for summer are tasty t-shirts packaged in pizza boxes; a tailored shirt with a hood – a perfect excuse to forgo the tie at work next year; or the aptly-named ‘Bank Robber’ t-shirt, which has a hood on both the back and front.

Hubert & Rhymes is the brainchild of fashion designer Kassy Hayden and graphic designer Francis Cheetham, and is based in Wellington, New Zealand. The first collection was launched into New Zealand stores this summer.

Kassy Hayden says the summer collection, ‘We Once Roamed With Kings’, was inspired by teenagers lolling on the streets of NYC in the late seventies.

“In the late 1970s, the street kids ignited a cultural explosion that still burns bright today. Of course, the Hubert & Rhymes visual signature distorted their fashion choices somewhat. We took their street style and gave it a preppy edge with a wash of blue and super-fine cottons. The end result is a range that can easily traverse the boundaries between streetwear and workwear,” she said.

The Hubert & Rhymes label specialises in high-end clothing with a twist. Case in point: the designers claim to work for two fictional characters.

“Hubert and Rhymes are two maddening and temperamental characters who foist their creative ideas on to us, the lowly peons. The two characters neatly personify the core style values of the company and provide us with a never-ending source of fun and inspiration,” said Miss Hayden.

“For example, we see Hubert as an elusive Indian-born tailor who fossicks in his genetic attic for inspiration, bringing a colonial British twist to the tailoring. Meanwhile, Rhymes, the graphic artist, represents the epitome of raw urban charm, vigorously thrusting his gritty style upon Hubert’s carefully-sewn garments. Their creations thus merge elements of men’s tailoring with a distinct urban influence.”

The first collection of Hubert & Rhymes is available from Little Black Crown in Auckland, Miss Wong and Hurricane Jeans in Wellington, Honour & Obey in Christchurch, Slick Willys in Dunedin, MacShaw in Timaru, and Roar in Matakana. For a preview of the summer range see www.hubertandrhymes.com.

ENDS

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