Kerrie Hughes (born 1959) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

fashion designer who established the international fashion brand Idol in 1990. Her work is held in the permanent collection at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

Early life

Hughes was born in 1959 in Lower Hutt, Wellington. Her father was the head of Rembrandt, a men's suit manufacturer, and Hughes was taught to sew by him. She had two years as a dressmaking apprentice before enrolling at Wellington Polytechnic. After graduation in 1979, Hughes established her first business Svelt, with classmate Di Jennings. Their first store was on Cuba Street in Wellington. Their work was exhibited in fashion shows at Wellington nightclubs. Hughes and Jennings orchestrated these events as performance pieces as opposed to strictly commercial shows. The flamboyant nature of the events was used to attract new clients such as Judith Fyfe. In 1982, they attempted to establish a store in Auckland but were unsuccessful.

Career

In 1984 and in 1985 she was awarded Highly Commended at the

Benson and Hedges Fashion Design Awards Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards was a New Zealand fashion competition that ran from 1964 to 1998. It was the country's major competitive fashion event during this period. The Awards' open entry format offered an opportunity for new fashion ...

. This was followed in 1986 by a grant from the

Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets ...

to tour and study the costume collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the Los Angeles County Museum and the

. Her education continued in London, where she completed a Masters in Fashion at

St. Martins School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's became part of t ...

in 1988. Through living in London she was able to work with Zhandra Rhodes and as an assistant designer for

Murray Arbeid Murray Arbeid (1935–2011) was a British fashion designer, known for his eveningwear. His notable clients included Princess Diana and Shirley Bassey. He once joked that if there were a Nobel Prize for creations in taffeta, he would have won it. ...

. In 1990 she established the international fashion brand Idol. She worked on this brand while living in London and operated a shop from

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

. Garments in the brand were featured on television shows that included Absolutely Fabulous and

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

. Her work was also shown in ''Vogue.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Kerrie Living people 1959 births New Zealand fashion designers New Zealand women fashion designers Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art People from Lower Hutt Date of birth missing (living people)