Harris Tapper debuts its first cruise collection in a gothic Sydney mansion. Founders Lauren Tapper and Sarah Harris Gould tell Madeleine Crutchley about their inspirations and upcoming launch in the United States.<\/p>\n
\n Discoloured bricks, towering chimneys and stone-carved grotesque faces are not the obvious architectural flourishes to enhance a sun-soaked
\n celebration.\n <\/p>\n
But for Lauren Tapper and Sarah Harris Gould, a mansion built in the 1880s is a near-perfect backdrop for the launch of a cruise collection. <\/p>\n
The Gothic setting encapsulates their distinct, offbeat and romantic approach to Harris Tapper\u2019s luxury. In fact, in designing the collection they say: \u201cWe were thinking about soft decay in old mansions during warm weather.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Carthona, an estate on Sydney\u2019s Darling Point, the New Zealand fashion label gathered friends and industry to celebrate its 2026 cruise collection.<\/p>\n
A textured cotton mini dress from the 2026 cruise collection. <\/p>\n
What is cruise wear?<\/p>\n
Resort and cruise wear collections are designed to bridge the gap between autumn\/winter and spring\/summer showings (as set by European fashion houses in the 19th and 20th centuries).<\/p>\n
This year, the label has launched both. Resort wear debuted in 2019, but this is the first Harris Tapper cruise collection. <\/p>\n
For Tapper and Harris Gould, the new categorisation has presented an opportunity to explore a softer touch for the label. <\/p>\n
A sculptural ruched mini dress.
An oversized button-up and matching trousers.<\/p>\n
Clothes in the collection are characteristically neat, but incorporate a more relaxed, holiday-appropriate disposition. Lighter materials have imbued silhouettes with looseness and ease: think oversized cotton shirting with matching trousers, embroidered silk bloomers and a glittering sheer, sequin knit. <\/p>\n
Socialite and horticulturist C.Z. Guest, magazine editor Babe Paley and famed PR executive Lee Radziwill were key references for the collection. Tapper and Harris Gould considered the way these muses dressed for the heat.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir clothes were precise but never heavy. We focused on ease, lightness and clean structure. Linen blends, cotton shirting and embroidered silk cotton.\u201d <\/p>\n
The crowd attending Carthona, which included NZ luminaries Te Manahou Mackay<\/a> and Roxie Mohebbi<\/a>, were dressed in their resort and cruise offerings. Seeing both collections together underscores the comparative weightiness of the resort pieces, made from intricate lace, space-black velvet and shiny satin. <\/p>\n The launch of its cruise line and the subsequent showing in Sydney have been propelled by the momentum Harris Tapper has been building all year.<\/p>\n In May, the label held successful showroom appointments at Australian Fashion Week, meeting editors, buyers and other industry powers (while attendees donned Harris Tapper signature pieces in street-style showings). <\/p>\n In September, Harris Tapper made its debut at New Zealand Fashion Week: Kahuria<\/a> with an intimate show at Ponsonby\u2019s Blue<\/a> \u2013 a reclusive event staged away from Shed 10 that was distinctly storied and entirely on its own terms. <\/p>\n The presentation, assured in its candlelit study of dark, dramatic but wearable romance, received enthusiastic coverage from local and international titles (the latter included The Australian, Fashion Journal and Australian Financial Review). <\/p>\n The salon-style runway also emphasised, for Tapper and Harris Gould, the opportunity to expand visibility and understanding of Harris Tapper. <\/p>\n \u201cShowing the clothes in a small space made every detail visible, which aligned with how we want the work to be read,\u201d they explain. <\/p>\n \u201cIt reinforced how effective it is to present collections in venues with character that support the narrative. Carthona felt right for our first cruise launch. The collection draws on ideas of old summer houses and worn architecture and the setting gives those references a physical anchor.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s all part of an ongoing effort to position Harris Tapper as a label with resonance on a global stage. As they told Viva\u2019s Tyson Beckett before the label\u2019s first runway show in Aotearoa: \u201cWe want to create the Harris Tapper world. To become a household name, globally.\u201d<\/p>\n As the year comes to a close, the co-founders can take a moment to reflect on milestones. There is, of course, their NZFW: Kahuria runway, but also an upcoming development of their scouting trip to New York in July. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are also looking ahead to launching in the United States next year and hiring some more incredible talent within our growing team.\u201d<\/p>\n It comes a step closer to their ultimate goal of worldwide recognition. Looking out at the Tasman Sea at Darling Point, Tapper and Harris Gould are prepared to jump right in. <\/p>\n More on local fashion<\/p>\n From special anniversaries to movements in local industry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harris Tapper debuts its first cruise collection in a gothic Sydney mansion. Founders Lauren Tapper and Sarah Harris…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1443,21642,2037,14449,35140,17438,6260,156,1888,2082,19363,93520,93521,19066,93522,185,302,15405,3331,2083,14448,17358,111,139,69,6967,9939,1734,93519,18323,165,66557,9938,11744,6925,6923,102],"class_list":["post-137010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-about","tag-collection","tag-cruise","tag-crutchley","tag-debuts","tag-easy","tag-elegance","tag-entertainment","tag-first","tag-for","tag-founders","tag-gothic","tag-gould","tag-harris","tag-inspirations","tag-is","tag-its","tag-label","tag-launch","tag-lauren","tag-madeleine","tag-mansion","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sarah","tag-states","tag-sydney","tag-tapper","tag-tell","tag-their","tag-touch","tag-united","tag-upcoming","tag-wear","tag-what","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Attendees wear pieces from the resort and cruise collections. <\/p>\n
Gothic embellishments enhanced the mansion’s setting. <\/p>\n
A black full-length dress with the shoulder sash tied.
Co-ordinated summer suiting. <\/p>\n
Carthona mansion at Darling Point. <\/p>\n