Style: April 06, 2018

06 STYLE | fashion
A DIFFERENT
WORLD
Style catches up with one of WORLD’s
wonderful designers, Benny Castles, to
discover what makes him tick.
Can you describe what a ‘normal day’ is like for you?
There really is no such thing as normal at WORLD. We are a small, tight-knit team
in the workroom who work across a variety of disciplines autonomously. I might
start the day working on the accounts, be interrupted to discuss a pattern we are
sampling, then work with the production team to strategise the next delivery cycle,
whilst talking with our retail team about upcoming developments, and working
with the directors on importing a new beauty brand, before meeting with fabric
importers... then I’ll have a hot water for morning tea and start all over again.
What is the WORLD collection you have most enjoyed and why?
The next one. The learned skills of being a designer is a short and selective
memory with positive prognostication, we make sure to reference and build upon
established ideas and concepts from previous collections – but always with an
eye to the new. So each incoming challenge and direction gives us the thrill of
reinvention and experimentation. But if I were to name a moment I knew this
brand was the right place for me was in 2002, when I was working full time at the
WORLDman store on High Street in Auckland and we showed at NZFW, with the
collection ‘Empire Strikes Back’... genius.
Do you ever feel limited in what you can design due to fashion fads?
WORLD founders Francis Hooper and Dame Denise L’Estrange-Corbet gave
life to this business so it could never feel limited or restricted by fads or trends.
We design what we like, when we like and retail it how we like. This strength of
personality is what makes WORLD an exciting experience for clients and staff alike.
Do you keep up your stylish demeanour 24/7 or is it tracksuit pants and hoodies
at home?
I am pretty relaxed at home and take quite extreme delight on the couch – it’s
an area of my life I feel I excel. As a family we are hermitic, so I can relax in the
knowledge there will be little or no interruption (except via phone and email) to
said relaxation and the appropriate attire that comes with it.
People will be surprised to know that I... am known within select WORLD circles
as the onion, because over years of intense ‘fashioning’ I have trained my body
to resist feeling the appropriate warmth that comes from wearing the ridiculous
number of layers I do.
WORLD has recently opened its flagship Christchurch store at 11/181 High Street.
Photography Dave Richards