Skip to main content

Story: Fashion and textile design

Colin Cole dress, 1985

Image
Colin Cole dress, 1985

Colin Cole started his eponymous label in 1958 and went on to become a leading fashion designer in the following decade. He was still at work in the 1980s, when Beverly Reeves, the wife of Governor-General Paul Reeves (pictured with her here), wore this grey printed silk dress to a reception for the diplomatic corps at Government House in 1985.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1985/5202A/8a-F

by Stuart Ramson

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Kerryn Pollock, Fashion and textile design – Firmer footing, 1950s and 1960s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/44293/colin-cole-dress-1985 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 24 February 2014.