The Buzz: Did you say collaboration? Outland Denim X Karen Walker kicks off, and Wheels & Dollbaby is back with new Dita Von Teese collection

Collaboration is the name of the game, as designers spark off each other to produce collections that will have fans queuing up.

Dita Von Teese models one of the cardigans from the Wheels & Dollbaby collaboration. Picture: Albert Sanchez

In this age of “collabs” (collaborations, for the uninitiated), Buzz’s inbox is routinely filled with joint projects between­ brands and people — even animals — that together are meant to be more than the sum of their occasion­ally impressive parts. Yet what should go “kapow!” is often more of a fizzle. And so what a joy when Buzz can report on a new collaboration that is utterly compelling and revisit one that already has fans saliv­ating.

Regular readers will be aware of the work of Outland Denim. For new­comers, by way of precis, founder James Bartle, with no previous fashion experience, launched the ethically and sustainably produced denim brand as a way to train and employ women at risk of (or saved from) human and sex trafficking in Cam­bodia. Big call. Three years, many awards and silent spruiking by Meghan­ Markle later, the brand is making real change in Cambodia, employin­g and training 100 women.

New Zealand’s Karen Walker met Bartle last year, and again at the Vogue Codes event this year, where they were both speaking. It sparked an idea to collaborate that was too good to pass up, and one that both are extreme­ly passionate about — and it launches today.

“It’s the first collaboration we’ve done,” Bartle tells Buzz. “And looking at who you’d want to do a collaboration with, having met Karen a couple of times now, hearing her speak at Vogue Codes, gosh she’s good.”

Walker is equally filled with praise and says she’s honoured to be the brand’s first collaborator. “I’m super excited now,” Walker tells Buzz. “How astonishing an individual (Bartle) is. You need to be that single-minded, ­charismatic and completely authentic to pull off what he’s pulled off — it’s not an easy thing. So many people see a problem and feel passionate and it’s real­ly, really hard to get off your arse and do it. He went into it with naivety but didn’t get out when it got hard.”

The Outland Denim X Karen Walker collection consists­ of six pieces designed by Walker, based on denim pieces from her archives, and manufactured by Outland’s team in Cambodia. It comes in two colourways, classic indigo and chalky white denim, and includes jeans, skirt, tee and a jacket that Walker describes as a “19th-century shopkeeper’s jacket”. The collection launches today on both online stores (outlanddenim.com.au and karenwalker.com) and at Walker’s stores in New Zealand.

Bartle says it’s “a moment of pride for me because the construction is way more difficult than our usual five-pocket denim. Our seamstresses have done it beautifully.”

Both parties are open to future projects if this one is a success. Even beyond working togethe­r, “what’s exciting for me and probably for them is the potential in the next 10 or 20 years”, says Walker. “What might they be able to change in the world given what they’ve already done?”

A jacket from the Outland Denim X Karen Walker collection.

Now, another collaboration that always­ made perfect sense is that between­ Wheels & Dollbaby and burlesque star Dita Von Teese. Fans of both — and they are legion — were devastated (to put it mildly) when Wheels founder ­Melanie Greensmith decided to shut up shop two years ago, just after celeb­rating 30 years in the fashion business.

Such longevity comes from knowing exactly who you are, what you offer and who your fan base is. Still, Greensmith was tired. “I pretty much slept the whole first winter,” Greensmith tells Buzz from her base in Perth. “It was a huge thing in my life, I didn’t know anything else. I thought 30 years was time to stop and smell the roses. But I’m so glad I never sold (the business).” That crucial fact has meant that she has the option to continue when she pleases — which would be now.

Greensmith and Von Teese have teamed up once more for another range of their hyper-feminine embroide­red cardigans in six colours, including purple, peachy pink and navy, plus a pencil skirt in “an amazing stretch satin that holds everything in and up and round”. The collection is dubbed The Seven Wonders, and Greensmith quietly launched it via Insta­gram (and at wheelsanddoll­baby.com) last weekend, selling 500 items — a quarter of its limited-edition run — in the first two days.

The shoot took place at Bette Davis’s estate in Hollywood, photographed by fashion and celebrity snappers Albert Sanchez and Pedro Zalba. Greensmith says while she missed the creative side of the business, she hasn’t missed running a big company. Doing small projects such as this, “you haven’t got that enormous pressure to keep the big machine rolling”.

And while we’re here, fans of Von Teese will be able to see her during her Glamonatrix tour of Australia next month and in December. We’ve already got your wardrobe sorted.