Denise L'Estrange-Corbet

Dame Denise Ann L'Estrange-Corbet DNZM is a New Zealand fashion designer and businesswoman. She founded WORLD, a fashion label, in 1989 with her then husband, Francis Hooper.

Dame Denise L'Estrange-Corbet

DNZM
L'Estrange-Corbet in 2014
NationalityNew Zealander
OccupationFashion designer and businesswoman
Known forFounded WORLD

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.[1] 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.[2] She appeared in a Ministry of Health campaign aimed at reducing the stigma of suffering from depression.[3]

Honours and awards
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.[2] 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.[4] She was promoted to Dame Companion (DNZM) of the same order in the 2018 New Year Honours, for services to fashion and the community.[5][3][6][7] She won the Westpac New Zealand Women of Influence Award in 2017 in the category Art and Culture.[6] In 2015 WORLD became the first fashion brand to be endorsed by the United Nations.[2]

Controversy

In May 2018, online news platform The Spinoff criticized L'Estrange-Corbet's brand WORLD for selling imported clothes with a label attached saying "Made in New Zealand" in French, after herself made frequent criticisms of labour conditions of imported products.[8] 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",[9] and saying that the "clothing tags that say Made in NZ are Made in NZ, so there is nothing misleading about this".[10]

Publications
  • L'Estrange-Corbet, Denise (2008). All That Glitters. Auckland, New Zealand: Random House New Zealand. ISBN 978-1869790424.

References
  1. 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.
  2. Theunissen, Matthew (30 December 2017). "New Year Honour: Dame Denise L'Estrange-Corbet". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  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.
  4. "Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee honours list 2002". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 3 June 2002. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  5. "New Year honours list 2018". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 30 December 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  6. "Denise L'Estrange–Corbet". WOMAD. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  7. "About the WORLD". WORLD. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  8. 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.
  9. "'That's not me': Dame Denise L'Estrange-Corbet comes out swinging at 'misleading label' claims". Newshub. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  10. "Those WORLD T-shirts: Dame Denise L'Estrange-Corbet responds". The Spinoff. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
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