{"id":299819,"date":"2026-02-24T13:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/299819\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T13:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:54:11","slug":"prime-ministers-art-deco-festival-outfits-ranked-how-christopher-luxon-compares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/299819\/","title":{"rendered":"Prime Ministers\u2019 Art Deco Festival outfits ranked: How Christopher Luxon compares"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cocking says compared with the outfits of other prominent Prime Ministers who have attended the festival over the years \u2013 such as John Key and Jacinda Ardern \u2013 Luxon \u201cmissed the boat\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"ChristopherChristopher Luxon enjoying the festival in Napier on Sunday. Napier MP Katie Nimon is also pictured (left). Photo \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

Key and Ardern received good marks from Cocking for their outfits.<\/p>\n

\u201cJacinda\u2019s outfit is colourful and in the Art Deco style, so a nice nod to the style but not overdone,\u201d he said of her 2019 attire.<\/p>\n

He said John Key\u2019s outfit, when he attended as Prime Minister, managed three of the four \u201cBs\u201d for 1930s gentlemen\u2019s casual wear \u2013 boater hat, blazer and bow tie. <\/p>\n

\"JohnJohn “Bertie” Cocking steering his way through the throngs at the Art Deco Festival. Photo \/ Paul Taylor<\/p>\n

It only missed \u201cbags\u201d, meaning wide-bottomed, pale trousers. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut all in all a great effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Luxon\u2019s outfit, he remarked \u201cpoor Christopher\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cModern casual clothes topped by a hat, yes, but the hat is 50s style not 1930s. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven with the addition of the gorgeous Born to Move dance troupe he\u2019s missed the boat.”<\/p>\n

\"Festival-goersFestival-goers watching on from a balcony on Napier’s Emerson St. Photo \/ Paul Taylor<\/p>\n

He declared Key the winner, followed by Ardern, with Luxon a \u201cdistant third\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hawke\u2019s Bay stylist and image consultant Maria Ward said when considering an outfit for a party or event, people had two main options \u2013 to underdress or overdress.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re hesitating, leaning toward slightly overdressed is usually the safer, more respectful choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said overdressing was a compliment to the host, who had put in effort to organise the party or occasion, and it built a relationship and respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, it is like you are invited to a party and the party is Art Deco.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StuartStuart Nash with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at Napier’s Art Deco Festival in 2020. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

However, she said Luxon\u2019s outfit was likely chosen from the perspective of being in the community for the day and being approachable, as opposed to attending a party.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is also his image. He is like that. He wants to be able to reach out, and people come to him and have access to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that from the photos she\u2019d seen of him during the day, he did achieve that goal, and was often chatting to people and seemed approachable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he went all out, he would look a bit celebrity\u2011ish, and that\u2019s not what he would have wanted.”<\/p>\n

She said as far as advice went, he could have perhaps \u201cmet in the middle\u201d in terms of an outfit.<\/p>\n

\"PrimePrime Minister John Key in Art Deco kit.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister\u2019s office was asked for comment on the outfit choice but had not responded at time of publication.<\/p>\n

Art Deco Trust general manager Jeremy Smith said the four-day festival, which concluded on Sunday, had been amazing.<\/p>\n

The weather was \u201cperfect\u201d and, anecdotally, speaking with fellow organisers, he said crowd sizes were similar to pre-Covid levels or perhaps even higher. He said \u201ca great deal\u201d of events sold out.<\/p>\n

The festival also injected millions of dollars into the local economy, with retail, hospitality and accommodation providers all being kept busy, he said.<\/p>\n

There was also an army of motorhomes that occupied the large grass area off Marine Parade, south of the aquarium, for the festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cocking says compared with the outfits of other prominent Prime Ministers who have attended the festival over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2851,1228,3390,16426,1302,146150,164774,1438,5131,8619,221,302,5511,16427,42677,3607,111,43,139,69,39168,415,28225,2963],"class_list":{"0":"post-299819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-also","9":"tag-art","10":"tag-best","11":"tag-christopher","12":"tag-compares","13":"tag-deco","14":"tag-extravaganzas","15":"tag-fashion","16":"tag-festival","17":"tag-fun","18":"tag-how","19":"tag-its","20":"tag-just","21":"tag-luxon","22":"tag-ministers","23":"tag-napier","24":"tag-new-zealand","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-newzealand","27":"tag-nz","28":"tag-outfits","29":"tag-prime","30":"tag-ranked","31":"tag-zealands"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}