The Front Page: Fashion Week returns after a four-year hiatus

Fashion Week will return after a four-year absence. Photo / NZME

Fashion fans will this week celebrate the return of New Zealand Fashion Week after being deprived of it for four long years.

The event has returned with a new te reo name Kahuria, which fittingly means to cloak or adorn, as well as new owners who aim to elevate the proceedings.

Viva magazine managing editor Amanda Linnell tells The Front Page podcast that the significant change hitting Fashion Week this year is the availability of the garments hitting the runway.

“Traditionally Fashion Week was all about designers presenting their ranges for the next season,” Linnell says.

This process would normally be slow and customers would have to wait months for the styles to become available for purchase – but in the world of online consumption and social media, this process simply isn’t fast enough.

“A lot of what people see on the runway at New Zealand Fashion Week will be available to buy the next day. Designers will generally show their spring and summer collections. With Juliette Hogan, for example, you’ll be able to go online that night.”

The impact of Covid-19 was brutal for fashion designers and anyone working in retail. The pandemic essentially condemned them to the dark, with no main annual event to showcase the creativity in fashion throughout Aotearoa.

“There’s a big investment from brands to show at Fashion Week, so it’s really wonderful that it’s happening.”

Viva fashion and creative director Dan Ahwa says the impact of Covid lingers in the shift in consumer behaviour.

“Over the pandemic, there was a real surge in shopping local and supporting local businesses, but it’s become less so as travel restrictions have opened up again.”

This places even greater weight on the importance of Fashion Week in terms of its role in reminding Kiwis of the homegrown fashion talent on which we should consider spending a few dollars.

This year, Fashion Week will bring together the established houses of fashion in New Zealand (including Zambesi, Kate Sylvester and Liz Mitchell), but we’ll also see a slew of emerging designers.

“There’s nothing better than seeing a show and witnessing a designer’s vision coming to life in a whole collection, rather than just seeing them hanging on a rack in a store,” says Linnell.

So who are the designers to watch? Who is most likely to shock audiences? And could we one day see a young Kiwi designer taking the creative reins at one of the world’s biggest fashion brands?

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page podcast to hear a complete discussion on these issues.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.