NZ Fashion Week: All Blacks, Black Ferns Sevens players stun in most diverse Jockey show ever

The long-awaited Jockey show finally returned to the runway at New Zealand Fashion Week 2023: Kahuria today after a four-year hiatus.

It’s one of the most hotly anticipated shows each year, and for good reason - it’s all about embracing your confidence and having a good time. And today’s show felt like a celebration - not just of its return, but of possibly the most diverse group of models we’ve seen at a Fashion Week show to date.

On Day 3 of NZFW, rugby players, influencers and models of all ages, sizes and abilities strutted their stuff on the runway at Auckland’s Viaduct Events Centre.

Angus Ta'avao and George Bower charmed the runway in their Jockeys. Photo / Getty Images

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Jockey show without appearances from a few All Blacks and Black Ferns - it’s a rite of passage for our rugby stars. This year, Sevu Reece, George Bower and Angus Ta’avo quickly got into the swing of things and even dropped a few cheeky dance moves on the runway alongside Black Ferns Alana Bremner and Amy du Plessis.

First-time Jockey model Bower told the Herald’s Lillie Rohan this year that posing for the annual shoot in his undies had given him confidence - and he brought it to the runway in spades today as he swapped one front row for another.

Models of all ages and abilities took to the runway at the Jockey show. Photo / Getty Images

“I was like, ‘what?’ Do they really want a front rower posing in a Jockey shoot?’” he told the Herald last month.

“But yeah, I kind of saw the opportunity and was like ‘yeah, might as well. You only live once’.”

Other celebrity cameos at the show included model and influencer Viarni Bright, who won the 2017 season of The Bachelor NZ, and influencer and Fashion Week ambassador Jess Molina.

This year's Jockey show was a celebration of confidence and diversity. Photo / Getty Images

This year’s NZFW has featured the highest number of models with disabilities to date - and several disabled models owned the Jockey runway, including Chelsea Pita (Ngāti Tuwharetoa and Ngāti Rangitihi) of agency All is for All.

Several older models also stripped down and charmed the crowd, including Cherie, who is in her 70s and proved there truly is no age limit when it comes to style.

She’s represented by Silverfox, whose managing director Rebecca Swaney previously told Viva’s Emma Gleason that some of her models in the older age bracket were walking for the first time this week, which was “hugely exciting”.

They might be first-timers but they bring another level of experience to the runway - Swaney revealed that mature models tend to be “perfectionists” about their work.

“They want to get it right. They turn up on time, they listen, they learn ... I think women are in the driving seat of the change in seeing more representation on the runway.”

Bethany Reitsma is an Auckland-based journalist covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2019. She specialises in lifestyle human interest stories, money-saving hacks and anything even remotely related to coffee.