What is it about New Zealand that makes their fashion, even their streetwear, so intellectual and dark? How is it, that when you say “it’s got that New Zealand look” people know what you mean?

Steve McFarlane, Aimee Ferguson and Helene Morris from NZ label Lonely Hearts reckon there’s solid reasons for the brooding darkness. “The whole New Zealand look is based on our climate, our geography and history. It’s very dark and cloudy here and the ominous mountains are everywhere you look. It’s very Victorian gothic and it’s also mythological,” says Steve.

Lonely Hearts make the kind of clever, dark streetwear that will take you from work, then uni via a dance-off. “We’re always looking back to that era that we grew up in, the ‘80s and ‘90s,” says Steve. Each collection is full of tight dresses, clever skirts and big T-shirts with designs based on pop culture references from the crew’s youth.

Add it up is in store now, and was influenced by a young Winona Ryder, particularly her Lydia character in Beetlejuice. It includes a black lace “Winona” dress and over-sized black on white Winona T-shirt.

Steve says it took three collections, for people to really start to get them. Now onto their sixth collections old, Steve feels they’ve really hit their stride and are feeling adventurous.
Electric Boom for a/w 09 is influenced by “subversive icons of pop culture” like Courtney Love in the Nirvana days.

The look of motorcross and dragster crowds also added to the trash/rock theme. Steve says “We’ve got a bit of an urban camouflage look. We’ve really fused sports protection gear with fashion to create this collection. We’ve got pieces like a mohair vest that is really light, but looks almost like a bullet proof vest or body armour.”

Lonely Hearts’ brooding pop darkness is winning plenty of fans at store like Incu in Paddington and Pretty Dog in Newtown. The brighter colours tend to sell better this side of the ditch, and the colour injection probably helped them score their new Dubai stockist at New Zealand fashion week. Aimee says she’s designing for more colour since the label moved from windy Wellington to sub-tropical Auckland. Though who knows? Maybe this impending economic gloom will make their darker pieces more relevant than ever.

www.lonelyheartsclub.co.nz