July 2, 2009

NEW PAIRING BRINGS BALLET AND FASHION TOGETHER  

Fashion and ballet have combined in a new relationship between Arrowtown-based fashion accessories designer Tamsin Cooper and the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB).

Cooper has been commissioned by the RNZB to design and produce a luxurious range of merchandise that would appeal both to dance audiences and fans of the talented designer. She is the first designer to be approached by the RNZB to create such a range.

The accessories have been designed to offer a range of beautiful products to lovers of the ballet, from budding ballerinas to those who regularly attend RNZB performances.

The range is striking in black, pale and dusky pink, and ruby red and is exquisitely handembroidered with a ballet-slipper design on lustrous 100 per cent silk and sumptuous velvet. It includes Cooper’s iconic brooches, hair-ties, compact mirror, a silk shoe bag and shoulder bag, pendant necklace, evening clutch bag and other accessories.

This creative collaboration combines perfectly the femininity of Tamsin Cooper’s signature style with the elegance that epitomises the RNZB.

"For some time I have been thinking about how the RNZB could benefit from new partnerships, a commercial venture that reflects our brand. Tamsin is the perfect fit – elegant but fun – offering New Zealand-designed product of the highest quality," RNZB General Manager Amanda Skoog says. "We are very excited with this new collaboration, and feel it is unique."

"I am extremely honoured and delighted to have been invited to design an exclusiverange of fashion accessories for the Royal New Zealand Ballet," Tamsin Cooper says. "As many young girls do, I learnt to dance and dreamt vividly of becoming a ballerina. This exciting design collaboration has allowed me to realise part of this dream and gives my company the wonderful opportunity of supporting the world-renowned RNZB and creating a new range of accessories for ballet and fashion lovers alike." 

"The ballet epitomises all that is graceful and feminine, and these traits have been intrinsic inspiration in my product design. I am proud to be a sponsor of the RNZB and hope that with this range of fashion accessories I have allowed a little piece of the magic that the RNZB brings to it’s performances, to be taken away as a memento and treasured for many years to come."

The range will be available at the theatres where the RNZB will be performing, online via the RNZB website, Tamsin Cooper’s on-line store and from select retailers throughout New Zealand.