All deco-ed out and somewhere to go

Dinah Earle, collector of a vintage clothing who boasts "four double wardrobes of dresses and over 100 pairs of shoes," leans on a fender at the 2006 Art Deco Weekend in Napier, New Zealand, wearing a 1920s dress beaded with pearl, metal and crystal. The dress, which she describes as "heavy as hell," was acquired at an antique textile and clothing store in London. The headdress, one of her favorites, is also from the 1920s and features pearls and glass jewels. Every year, Earle, who has homes in Arundel, England and The Boulders in Carefree, attends the Art Deco Weekend in Napier on Hawke's Bay in New Zealand. This year the celebration lasted 10 days instead of the usual four to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Hawke's Bay Earthquake that hit 7.8 on the Richter scale and reduced Napier to rubble on Feb. 3, 1931. The town was completely rebuilt in Art Deco design over the period of only 2 years. In 1989 Hawke's Bay residents decided to hold the annual celebration of their Art Deco rebirth and have been doing so ever since.