Seeing the light (+ video)

Fashion reporter David Loughrey gets a makeover at Rembrandt in Dunedin, courtesy of style and...
Fashion reporter David Loughrey gets a makeover at Rembrandt in Dunedin, courtesy of style and fit adviser Anita Greene and store manager Robert Shepherd. Photos: Craig Baxter
David Loughrey before the makeover.
David Loughrey before the makeover.
Wearing a subtle check pattern.
Wearing a subtle check pattern.
In a more formal look.
In a more formal look.

Nobody chooses to wear black. Black chooses you. It grows on you, slowly obliterating all colours, sucking them in and robbing them of light, until only black is left, and the wearer approaches colours with an understandable degree of trepidation.

But Reflect Image style and fit adviser Anita Greene was not about to pander to the dark mores of the Otago Daily Times' fashion reporter when she approached her subject for a makeover.

‘‘Look at the colour of your eyes,'' she said. ‘‘There's a lot more colour in menswear.''

The eyes were blue, and so were the clothes - blue with checks and patterns and textures, and they had hints of lavender and a tie had darkly patterned greens.

Mrs Greene oversaw a rigorous series of visits to the dressing room at Rembrandt with hand woven Italian sports jackets, tan shoes, suits and ties and a belt and brightly coloured socks (all the rage with menfolk, apparently).

Along with a couple of items picked in a quick trip down the road to Barkers, the outfit would have set us back more than $2700 for formal and casual wear, two pairs of shoes, sports jackets and sundry items.

Not much of it was black. But such is the price of staying in fashion, and, gee, we looked sharp.

Mrs Greene said Dunedin was not a fashion wasteland for men. Instead, there were some who put plenty of effort into their clothes, particularly real estate agents and the many male students in the city.

‘‘A lot of those young guys dress very well.''

Apart from the growth of colour in men's clothing, recent trends included a crossover between sports and casual wear, with an increase in the functionality of garments.

‘‘A nice blazer can be worn with a T-shirt and jeans, equally with a nice knitwear shirt and chinos.''

Mrs Greene does work with companies, and one-on-one work with clients. The gender mix was about 80% women and 20% men, with some of the latter group men ‘‘who hate shopping with a passion''.

For them, she would pick up clothing from shops and take it to them for a fitting.

‘‘I'm a bit like a broker.''

Her job meant reading personalities, as well as ‘‘pushing the limits, challenging people outside the square''.

It also meant keeping abreast of trends in fashion, so her clients were ‘‘current and comfortable about what you are wearing''.

Even when that meant letting go of black.

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