Dame Denise L’Estrange-Corbet, of Auckland, DNZM, for services to fashion and the community
Dame Denise L’Estrange-Corbet is a fashion designer and industry leader who was appointed a Member of New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002.
As Co-founder of fashion house WORLD in 1989, Dame Denise has continued the mentoring of up-and-coming designers, judging events and public speaking. WORLD is one of New Zealand's foremost fashion brands and is recognised nationally and internationally as a leading progressive and philanthropic fashion brand. In 2015 WORLD became the first fashion brand to be globally endorsed by the United Nations for their Global Goals project t-shirt design. Dame Denise appeared in the first 'Like Minds Like Mine' campaign in 2001 on anti-discrimination towards mental illness, and published her autobiography in 2008. She has worked closely with the Starship Foundation since 2005, and has designed fundraising t-shirts for them and the Leukaemia and Blood Cancer Foundation, along with bow ties for Muscular Dystrophy. She has worked with Duffy Books in Homes, the Eat My Lunch organisation, was made an Honorary Fellow of UCOL in 2013, and was awarded the Westpac Women of Influence for Arts & Culture in 2017. Dame Denise is currently an Ambassador for the IHC Art Awards, Diabetes New Zealand and the Mental Health Foundation, and is also a member of Global Women.