How to bring colour, texture and drama into everyday ensemble and special occasion outfits
Seeking new energy? Want to shake things up?
At Goblin, the Ponsonby bar that cultivates multiple creative scenes – from comedy to fashion and, of course, music – leading stylist Sammy Salsa and model
Ksenia Konoplyasova played with new season collections with lively shocks of colour.
To mark New Zealand Fashion Week, the stylist and This Is A Fashion Show host consulted local designers set to show on the runway, as well as rising names, to create vibrant looks full of texture and inventive flourishes.
Salsa also considered the influence of secondhand shopping on our wardrobes, pulling pieces from Vixen Vintage – an excellent purveyor of vintage on Karangahape Rd.
“We’re such a good supporter of secondhand, sustainable purchases,” he says of New Zealanders.
“I think it’s important that we support those vintage stores that have contributed to the fashion landscape.”
For each ensemble, Salsa showcases a styling method to generate new energy for your clothes. From decorative detailing to layering techniques and thematic dressing, this is how to put your personal stamp on beloved pieces (whether new season or old).
Stuck on you
Evocative embellishment that makes an ensemble one-of-a-kind.
Photo / Guy Coombes
Brooches, pins and other teensy treasures offer a breezy way to refresh everyday stylings. When making an addition, Salsa likes to subvert and create tension between pieces.
For this ensemble, the new blue hues and hard enamel finish of the brooch, sourced from Vixen Vintage, challenge the floaty puff of both the voluminous Twenty Seven Names coat and iridescent skirt.
“I love a bit of quirk, a bit of randomness, and a bit of ugliness – in a good way,” Salsa says.
The breadth of colourways, patterns and witty phrases that Twenty Seven Names has offered wardrobes in Aotearoa is hard to overstate. This high-impact green coat, as fresh as a pear, encapsulates the years where Rachel Easting and Anjali Burnett have made a serious commitment to buoyant dressing.
“It’s a little whimsical, a little bit purposeful. Adding the brooch in takes it that extra step.”
Out of frame, the colour palette expands with Bronwyn’s butter yellow boots.
Twenty Seven Names coat $720, and skirt $680. Vintage brooch from Vixen Vintage $45. Silk & Steel hoop earrings $139. Jasmin Sparrow jade ring $350. Bronwyn boots $489.
Easy breezy
Colour interpretations of office dress codes.
Photos / Guy Coombes
Reconsider office dressing with a full commitment to a colour palette. The purple shade of this Dominique Healy dress drives decisions for a patterned button-up from Vixen, deep berry boots by Bared Footwear and a co-ordinated tonal tie by NINETEEN99. The latter, Salsa says, is artfully screenprinted to put an inventive spin on an item with strict coding.
“They made this item of clothing we see on a day-to-day, whether it’s blue collar or school kids, into something super special.”
Dominique Healy dress $400. Vintage dagger collar shirt from Vixen Vintage $95. NINETEEN99 tie $50. Jasmin Sparrow ring $900, and earrings $550. Bared Footwear boots $559. Deadly Ponies shearling bag $899.
Layers of levity
Multi-purpose dressing and the power of a textural topper.
Photo / Guy Coombes
Thoughtful, well-proportioned layering is a method that invites versatility into everyday dress – especially for pieces that might be stowed for special occasions at the back of a wardrobe.
“We do such good layering here as a fashion community, with dresses over pants,” Salsa says. “I’m a big champion of that, I feel like we should do a lot of it.”
It’s a sensibility Harris Tapper showcases again and again for their occasion wear, which is why Salsa reaches for their pieces. Here, a strapless ivory dress is paired with matching trousers.
The ostrich feather jacket, which tops the ensemble, is an example of high-contrast dressing.
Choosing a texture that is lush to look at and touch, like velvet, suede, embossed and fringed leather, or fur, will lend a similar attitude. The oversized earrings work to amplify the drama.
Harris Tapper jacket $3129, dress $869, and trousers $599. Jasmin Sparrow coil earrings $950.
High shine
A contemporary spin on sequins.
Photo / Guy Coombes
Thinking keenly about wearability, Salsa pairs the showstopping Taylor skirt with a matte Taylor waist belt and vintage button-up from Vixen Vintage. While there is frivolity in the sheen of square sequins on the skirt, the ensemble delights in the clashing of codes.
“It breaks the worlds apart, but also brings them together.”
Vintage jacket from Vixen Vintage $69. Taylor sequin skirt $1200, and belt $357. Jasmin Sparrow earrings POA. Bared Footwear heels $349.
Oceanic Feeling
Storied and thematic dressing.
Photo / Guy Coombes
For the finale, Salsa matches motifs to create a nighttime look with meaning. Pulling from Zambesi’s spring collection, he was influenced by scenes of the sea.
“I really love the tulle, coral-like texture of the jacket.”
The kelp colour of the jacket is vivid against the liquid drape of the green two-piece. Out of frame are bright blue Bronwyn heels. The necklace, which sees a spiralling shell strung alongside beads, is Gem Totem – a label launched in 2024.
Zambesi jacket $790, dress $650, and trousers $750. Gem Totem shell necklace $222. Jasmin Sparrow drop earrings $300.
Photographer | Guy Coombes
Styling Assistant | Sam Higham
Makeup | Yelena Bebich for Aleph
Hair | Michael Mendel for Ghd
Hair Assistant | Analese Weaver
Beauty Editor | Ashleigh Cometti
Model | Kelvin Konoplyasova at Unique Model Management
With special thanks to Goblin Bar
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