Shrug off your winter coats and prepare to bare some skin. Rosie Manins discovers the trends for spring and summer.
At the risk of invoking a cliche, the words bold and beautiful come to mind when considering the spring/summer collections in stores this month.
Many designers, including Dunedin's own, continue to build their garments on a solid foundation of black and white.
Dark clashes with light, and subtle blends seem a thing of the past.
Where colour appears, it is outrageous in its intensity - as though to make up for its intermittence.
The use of colour is purposeful and dramatic: bright purple, flame orange, hot pink and lime green.
Gregory and Ricochet, both available at Arthur Barnett, include startling orange shirt-dresses in their new ranges.
A similarly drastic orange pair of pants is worn with a slightly paler orange shirt in Gregory's catalogue, while the hue is a one-hit wonder among Ricochet's pieces.
Both labels also make gallant use of black and white stripes.
In Ricochet's case, the bold bars become a cropped, asymmetrical zip jacket.
Gregory takes it a little further, using monochrome stripes for trousers, skirts, tops and jackets.
Metallics - particularly silver - also make a strong appearance in new-season collections.
Dunedin's Charmaine Reveley mixes silver tops, complete with bowtie details at the neck, with vibrant pink pants.
She also draws heavily on a ''beautiful'' gold lace.
''It's more about fabric than anything. It's always about fabric,'' Reveley says.
Her feminine approach has not been compromised, evident in the lace and sheer, floaty dresses ruffled at the back.
Reveley says her new collection has grown organically from previous ranges, rather than being influenced by any specific trends.
''It's quite feminine and bright. There are some tailored pieces, as well as floaty ones. It's not so much layered, there are more strong and sharp separates.''
Her gold lace is used in dresses, mid-calf shorts and tops.
It is balanced with a silvery-grey set of garments, as well as the carnation pink and a ''bright, sky blue'', which Reveley has introduced just for her summer range.
She works the blue into a floral print, as well as the lace and sheer chiffon-like fabrics of her dresses.
Reveley also adds a splash of bright red tartan, in a jacket and shorts combo, as well as a short-sleeved dress.
The tartan links with her crimson dresses, cinched at the waist.
Gregory, too, uses tartan, albeit sparingly, in a royal blue and dark red shirt paired with blue trousers.
Dunedin designer Sara Munro also uses colour to dramatic effect in her spring/summer 2013-14 collections for Company of Strangers and Strangelove.
The Company of Strangers line incorporates a bold pink and an electric blue, as well as lime green and lavender.
Munro has again teamed up with artist Harlequin Jones, who has created a print used throughout the collection titled Love and Rockets.
It is inspired by Bauhaus design, a movement renowned for its ''less is more'' approach, Munro says.
''Like the Bauhaus style, the form and function of the garments and how they are worn is integral to this collection.
"Dresses and skirts loop to form their own layers, pleats and tucks are used to distort hemlines in delicate silk garments and silk jacquard pants and jackets are toughened up with leather and mesh panels.''
A small amount of ladder lace appears in the form of a lime singlet top and black singlet shift dress.
Skinny pants in lime and black are worn with monochrome print tops, while bursts of pink appear in the form of crop jackets, shirt dresses and shorts.
Munro's Company of Strangers collection also includes short printed jumpsuits, monochrome striped tunics, and crop jackets with black polka dots.
Strangelove brings a more casual feel to summer with garments inspired by Seattle punk rock icons.
''This collection encapsulates the '90s street appeal, while remaining modern and feminine,'' Munro says.
White polka dots on a denim blue feature prominently, as does a pattern in monochrome and blue on pale periwinkle.
The standout colour is wisteria - a light purple.
Trelise Cooper retains its signature opulence with a spring 2014 collection inspired by theatre and the arts.
Bright purple, pink and blue are lavished on garments, and massive red and white stripes dominate jackets, pants and dresses.
Monochrome polka dots and stripes also appear.
Sister-label Coop's latest line is full of bohemian, heavily patterned pieces in colours from Monet's palette.
Draped, loose, sheer garments expose midriffs and conceal most other bodily forms.
It is a collection for the daring - perhaps for only the bold and the beautiful.
