Perriam heritage rebranding

Fashion designer Christina Perriam in her renovated flagship "Perriam" store in Tarras. Photo by...
Fashion designer Christina Perriam in her renovated flagship "Perriam" store in Tarras. Photo by Lucy Ibbotson.
The swing-tags on Christina Perriam's latest fashion range pay tribute to her late mother Heather, symbolising the Wanaka designer's new focus on family heritage.

Ms Perriam (35) has spent the past year working with a Wellington agency on rebranding her merino fashion business and will launch the new ''Perriam'' brand at her family's property Bendigo Station, in Tarras, tomorrow.

A catwalk show featuring the first Perriam Woman summer collection, followed by a Champagne high tea, will be the culmination of months of work which has also involved remodelling Ms Perriam's flagship store at Tarras and creating a new website.

Ms Perriam said the new-look brand would offer luxurious, classic comfort. It was a big shift from the more feminine, dressier designs created under her former label, Christina Perriam.

''It's more about telling a story of my heritage, because it's a good one ... being lucky enough to be brought up on a high-country sheep station.''

The brand was also about ''slowing fashion down'' by creating long-lasting pieces and encouraging its wearers to relax and enjoy life, she said.

''I really wanted that to come through in my brand because I've lost a few people with cancer so it's all about being grateful and appreciating life.''

Ms Perriam's mother, Heather, who died of cancer in 2010, is remembered on the clothing tags as someone who ''saw the best in the land, the merino and in life''.

That same high-country heritage theme will continue on the tags of the Perriam Man range when it is released next year, with a blurb about Ms Perriam's father John - owner of the late merino ram Shrek.

Ms Perriam will have her own mini-profile on the Little Perriam label, which replaces her popular Suprino Bambino children's and babywear label sold in about 30 New Zealand stores.

Perriam Sleep and a Perriam Home range round out the list of label sub-categories, which she hopes will one day include leather products such as bags and shoes, along with lanolin skin-care ranges.

Ms Perriam took over the management of her mother's Tarras businesses in 2010, but moved to Wanaka and set up a workshop about a year ago when she realised: ''I've got to get back to what I really love doing. Mum would want me to.''

She and an employee design the samples in Wanaka. Clothing is manufactured in Christchurch, Temuka and Tauranga.

On top of rebranding and renovations, Ms Perriam has also been scouting potential shop sites in Queenstown as the first step in her dream to establish a national retail model replicated from her self-titled Tarras store.

lucy.ibbotson@odt.co.nz

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