A rapper, a chef and an art dealer walk on to a runway \u2013 it must be opening night at New Zealand Fashion Week Kahuria.<\/p>\n
\n All the world\u2019s a stage and that included an underground carpark on Auckland\u2019s Great North Rd where restaurateur Josh Emett modelled a Crane Brothers tuxedo
\n jacket and appeared on the runway alongside the likes of musician Melodownz, gallerist Melanie Roger, poet Tayi Tibble and Black Grace founder and choreographer Neil Ieremia.\n <\/p>\n
Chef and restaurateur Josh Emett wears Crane Brothers tuxedo jacket, shirt and trousers on the runway at the NZFW opening show. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
Fashion Week\u2019s opening show, The Art of Style: The Performance of Dressing, mixed shoppable and past season\u2019s designer fashion with historical costume pieces from the Royal New Zealand Ballet and New Zealand Opera (think Captain Hook\u2019s embroidered coat from Peter Pan paired with jeans, and fashion legend Doris de Pont who walked in her own labels \u2013 and a tutu from The Nutcracker).<\/p>\n
Fashion historian and designer Doris de Pont wears Doris de Pont x Gregory O’Brien jacket (2006), DNA fingerless gloves (2002) and tattoo tights (2004), tutu from the RNZB’s The Nutcracker (2018) by Patricia Barker, Margo Barton Millinery hibiscus and feather printed acrylic hat (2004). Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
But before the show, speeches. <\/p>\n
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown referenced the days when he owned a surf brand, claiming he had never been fashionable like his wife.<\/p>\n
Brown went on to call Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson the \u201ccouncil\u2019s queen of brands\u201d, prompting laughter from guests.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife\u2019s telling me to shut up, but I\u2019m excited,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
Opera singer Isabella Moore. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
NZFW owner and chairman Feroz Ali praised the industry for \u201ccoming together and just pushing forward\u201d, while Giltrap Group chief executive Steve Kenchington welcomed guests by joking he had \u201cnever seen so many prospects in a Bentley showroom ever\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFashion and automotives share many of the same motives and challenges,\u201d Kenchington said.<\/p>\n
Model Alex Cater at NZFW’s opening show. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
All up, 56 models trekked the circuitous route around the Giltrap Group\u2019s headquarters. Other runway names synonymous with Aotearoa fashion included 1983\u2019s Miss Universe Lorraine Downes in a Knuefermann dress. Her daughter Jasmine Mexted appeared wearing Harris Tapper and Liz Mitchell collar.<\/p>\n
Lorraine Downes walks the runway at the New Zealand Fashion Week Kahuria’s opening show The Art of Style. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
Guests were asked to wear flat shoes to navigate the steep incline down to the basement runway. Among those who ignored instructions were the Deputy Mayor and Government minister Louise Upston.<\/p>\n
The room thudded with a soundtrack heavy on creative references \u2013 Lady Gaga\u2019s Art Pop, CSS\u2019s Art Bitch and quote of the night from director David Cronenberg\u2019s monologue on Charli XCX\u2019s Music, Fashion, Film album: \u201cI wasn\u2019t thinking about art as endurance, as immortality … they are dead, they are gone, no one lasts forever\u201d.<\/p>\n
Auckland Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson (left) and Cabinet minister Louise Upston at the New Zealand Fashion Week Kahuria opening night event at Giltrap Group on Great North Rd. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
NZFW creative director and stylist Dan Ahwa said the opening night show was less focused on the archival (\u201cI didn\u2019t want to reheat the nachos\u201d) and more on the performance and humanity of getting dressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow does clothing shape our identity in a world where algorithms can predict and shape our tastes before we\u2019ve had the chance to experiment?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis show is a celebration of personal style \u2013 the way a skew-whiff shirt sits untucked under a sweater, or how a cigarette burn in a silk dress is a reminder of one of the best nights of your life. Fashion for life, not a screen.\u201d<\/p>\n
A model wearing an archival Vinka Lucas gown at the NZFW opening night runway show. Photo \/ Dean Purcell
Poet Tayi Tibble wearing a design from Miriama Grace Smith. Photo \/ Dean Purcell
Artist and curator Jade Townsend. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
Aesthetic references included southern Gothics, impressionist painters and the work of significant M\u0101ori and Pacific artists. But it was not about \u201cperfect\u201d taste, Ahwa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, I prefer bad taste.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, he told Viva \u201cit\u2019s a show that is very much about styling, rather than the clothes themselves, if that makes sense? And there\u2019s always that question of whether fashion is art\u201d.<\/p>\n
Black Grace founder and choreographer Neil leremia wears Doris de Pont x John Pule shirt (2004) and his own denim lavalava. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
On the opening night runway, art and fashion collisions included the literal \u2013 Kate Sylvester\u2019s 2019 collection featuring Frances Hodgkins textile designs, and a Doris du Pont collaboration with artist John Pule, for example \u2013 and the political.<\/p>\n
Look to gallery exhibition notes for an explanation of Rosanna Raymond\u2019s Backhand Maiden. The artist, poet, cultural commentator (and fashion model in the 1980s) has previously explained her open-backed Edwardian-style barkcloth dress as \u201ca Trojan horse, as a lady she can go places I can\u2019t, but once she is in…\u201d<\/p>\n
Artist and poet Rosanna Raymond on the runway at the New Zealand Fashion Week Kahuria. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
More art-meets-fashion? Ahwa and associate stylist Courtney Joe sourced one-off sculptural draping from Christchurch label and conceptual art project 6 x 4, and screen printed mesh from Rosin Dubh, a designer Bizarre Bazaar has called \u201cNew Zealand\u2019s Jean Paul Gaultier\u201d.<\/p>\n
When an embellished A-line skirt by Heather Brennan Evans (one of eight designers on Wednesday\u2019s Future of Fashion schedule) came out paired with a 1970s enamelled copper top from long-time Otago fashion academic Margot Raymond, it felt like a gift to the viewer \u2013 fashion as history; history made by the way we choose to wear that fashion. <\/p>\n
NZFW opened on Monday night with a show at Giltrap Group on Auckland’s Great North Rd. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
New Zealand Fashion Week 2026 continues until August 22. Tuesday\u2019s schedule includes Caitlin Crisp, Yu Mei, Elle & Riley, Juliette Hogan, NOM*d & Plume, Taylor and Khadi Beyond Borders.<\/p>\n
Fashion designer Rory William Docherty at the New Zealand Fashion Week Kahuria opening night event. Photo \/ Dean Purcell
Dame Julie Christie (centre) with her daughter Lexi Jones (left) and Judith Collins at Monday night’s event. Photo \/ Dean Purcell
Guests and models dressed to impress at the event hosted by Giltrap Group on Great North Rd. Photo \/ Dean Purcell
Fashion influencer Jess Molina and Auckland councillor Richard Hills at the fashion show. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
With additional reporting from Imogene Bedford<\/p>\n
More on New Zealand Fashion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rapper, a chef and an art dealer walk on to a runway \u2013 it must be opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2246,95,169,3371,281799,218133,156,1438,1433,26634,8845,281800,9097,111,139,2551,69,90,10521,2680,693,1447,34890,686,102,80],"class_list":["post-571745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-2246","tag-and","tag-chef","tag-dealer","tag-downes","tag-emett","tag-entertainment","tag-fashion","tag-josh","tag-kahuria","tag-lorraine","tag-melodownz","tag-must","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-night","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-opening","tag-opens","tag-rapper","tag-runway","tag-walk","tag-week","tag-with","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571745","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=571745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}