World

World was created in 1989 in New Zealand. The background is decidedly romantic. Founders Denise L´Estrange-Corbet and Francis Hooper met at a bus stop in London, got married in Edinburgh and after their wedding decided on the spur of the moment to go and live in New Zealand. ´On the spur of the moment´ is the right phrase here, because neither Denise nor Francis had the slightest idea what they were going to do in New Zealand — it´s just what they felt like doing. But then the newlyweds spent all their savings on a tiny little shop in Auckland — and that was also something they did on the spur of the moment, as they had nothing to sell there. And even when the first World collection appeared, it didn´t get any easier: Denise was ready to kiss any visitor to the shop who wasn´t just browsing and actually wanted to buy something (the male customers, of course — Francis was going to look after the female customers).

World´s breakthrough finally came at Australian Fashion Week in 1997. And it was then that the romance gave way to fame. Firstly, the collections drew a standing ovation from the great and terrible Anna Wintour (editor-in-chief of the U.S. edition of Vogue). Secondly, the no less great but far nicer Queen Elizabeth II gave them both Orders of the British Empire for their contribution to the development of fashion. World was the first New Zealand brand to get a foothold in the London department store of Selfridges and — but promise not to laugh! — was the first label in its native land to start putting prints on tee-shirts.

World is a factory of idea and experiments. Art director Denise L´Estrange-Corbet studied design at the London College of Fashion, trained in Hong Kong and lived in India for three years. All this cultural mish-mash influences all of World´s collections and Francis admits that he is horrified by the thought of what his wife might think up next. He keeps out of the creative side of things and only involves himself with promoting the company. Which, incidentally, he does very successfully — the brand´s clothing is sold in Sydney, Hong Kong, Great Britain, Italy, Taiwan, the U.S.A. and France.