Kerrie Hughes (born 1959) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

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

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

Early life

Hughes was born in 1959 in

Lower Hutt, Wellington Lower Hutt () is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...

. 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 Massey University () is a public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand shows that in 2024 ...

. 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. 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 established in 1963. It invests in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes a ...

to tour and study the costume collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

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

Murray Arbeid Murray Arbeid (30 May 1935 – 22 August 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 ...

. 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, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

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

Absolutely Fabulous ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (often shortened to ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom created and written by Jennifer Saunders, which premiered in 1992. It is based on the 1990 '' French and Saunders'' sketch " Modern Mother and Daughter", cr ...

and

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

. 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)