Did Jaeha strike gold again?
So how do you top what was generally accepted as the best show of the 2007 New Zealand Fashion Week? Well you pray of course.
That's how the fashion elite ended up at St Matthews-in-the-City in central Auckland to view the Autumn/Winter 09 collection of Jaeha Alex Kim; and the 22-year-old certainly did not disappoint.
Whether it was the garments, the music or the choice of venue, Jaeha's collection received the warmest reception so far this Fashion Week.
Entitled "Call Me Princess, My Daddy Says So", the collection was a mass of flowing fabrics, tight tights for women, tight woollen pants for the men and, perhaps appropriate for the venue, veils a plenty.
Silk dresses which literally fell off the bone were a highlight, especially the more evening wear catalogue of designs causing many "wow" moments and comments of "I want that" from the fashionistas in the crowd.
Kim explains he delved into fantasy for his inspiration.
"The collection is an evolution of ideas, a myriad of fantastical imagery and old world opulence - Russian Princes and Princesses, moody Goths, beautiful albino's and the Russian folkloric tale of Vaselina about a young girl held captive by and evil witch - all of which form the foundations for my focus this season."
Paisley and man bags made a big comeback but Kim showed he was not above a bit of whimsy.
One male model released down the catwalk had a giant woollen snake draped around his shoulders but as he reached the end of his walk you could tell the serious model look had disappeared and he was grinning away - a rarity at Fashion Week.
Could lightening strike twice and Jaeha be crowned king of Fashion Week for a second time? I wouldn't bet against it.
