Denise L'Estrange-Corbet

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Dame

Denise L'Estrange-Corbet

Denise L'Estrange-Corbet (cropped).jpg
L'Estrange-Corbet in 2014
Born1959or1960(age 62–63)
NationalityNew Zealander
Occupation(s)Fashion designer and businesswoman
Known forFounded WORLD

Dame Denise Ann L'Estrange-Corbet DNZM (born 1959or1960) [1] is a New Zealand fashion designer and businesswoman. She founded WORLD, a fashion label, in 1989 with her then husband, Francis Hooper.

Contents

Personal life

L'Estrange-Corbet published her autobiography, All That Glitters, in 2008, in which she discussed her childhood in London and her history of depression. [2] At the age of 3 her mother took her and her sister to England to escape an abusive alcoholic father, and she was raised in London. [3] She appeared in a Ministry of Health campaign aimed at reducing the stigma of suffering from depression. [1]

L'Estrange-Corbet and Francis Hooper are the parents of gossip columnist Pebbles Hooper. [4]

Honours and awards

L'Estrange-Corbet with Francis Hooper at an investiture dinner in 2014, following Hooper's appointment as a MNZM Gg-investiture-dinner-auckland-21-aug-2014-investitures-auckland-19-21-aug-2014-054.jpg
L'Estrange-Corbet with Francis Hooper at an investiture dinner in 2014, following Hooper's appointment as a MNZM

In 1995 WORLD's designs won the Avant Garde category at the Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Award, a $5000 prize. [3] In the 2002 Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours, L'Estrange-Corbet was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM), for services to fashion design. [5] She was promoted to Dame Companion (DNZM) of the same order in the 2018 New Year Honours, for services to fashion and the community. [1] [6] [7] [8] She won the Westpac New Zealand Women of Influence Award in 2017 in the category Art and Culture. [7] In 2015 WORLD became the first fashion brand to be endorsed by the United Nations. [3]

Controversy

In May 2018, online news platform The Spinoff criticised L'Estrange-Corbet's brand WORLD for selling imported clothes with a label attached saying "Made in New Zealand" in French, after she herself had made frequent criticisms of labour conditions of imported products. [9] The brand had not been rated by TEAR Fund's labour standards ratings scheme because of the claim all the products were made in New Zealand. L'Estrange-Corbet defended WORLD's practices, calling the story "gutter journalism" and a "beat-up", [10] and saying that the "clothing tags that say 'Made in NZ' are made in NZ, so there is nothing misleading about this". [11]

Publications

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Mann, Britt (30 December 2017). "WORLD's Denise L'Estrange-Corbet made Dame Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit". Stuff . Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  2. Mackay, Jenetta (17 January 2018). "Denise L'Estrange-Corbet Isn't Afraid to Make a Statement - Viva". www.viva.co.nz. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Theunissen, Matthew (30 December 2017). "New Year Honour: Dame Denise L'Estrange-Corbet". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  4. "12 Questions: Pebbles Hooper". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  5. "Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee honours list 2002". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 3 June 2002. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  6. "New Year honours list 2018". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 30 December 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  7. 1 2 "Denise L'Estrange–Corbet". WOMAD. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  8. "About the WORLD". WORLD. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  9. Chapman, Madeleine (7 May 2018). "T-Shirts from Bangladesh. Sequin patches from China. Sold by WORLD as 'Made in New Zealand'". The Spinoff. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  10. "'That's not me': Dame Denise L'Estrange-Corbet comes out swinging at 'misleading label' claims". Newshub. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  11. "Those WORLD T-shirts: Dame Denise L'Estrange-Corbet responds". The Spinoff. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2019.