Blog: New Zealand Fashion Weak?

One of my guilty pleasures is reading The Cut on a daily basis – a New York magazine whose cut-throat bloggers literally pull apart fashion’s finest.

They critique all fashion weeks, including New York, Paris, Milan and even Australia’s annual Rosemount  held at the St Kilda Pier.

I know it’s been over a month, but after having attended my first Air New Zealand Fashion Week (ANZFW), I found it lifeless, boring and filled with the pretentious.

According to an anonymous friend of mine, who worked with representatives from the NY Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Paper Magazine and British Vogue -  every critic used the same word to describe the event: “Wow.”

And not “Wow!”

Just “Wow.”

Like they had been dragged onto a plane and flown a number of miles, only to be welcomed by none other than Richie Rich and Pam Anderson strolling down a runway in nothing but a scarf.

That sort of “Wow.”

I am not one to claim that I know all about fashion.  I don’t think anyone can actually claim that.

Kelly Cutrone,  founder of fashion PR firm People’s Revolution, said in a NY Mag interview: “What do I look for in an intern? Somebody who doesn’t think they know anything about fashion, because they don’t.” ‘Nuff said.

The point I’m trying to make is that we need to up our game.

We have fabulous designers like Karen Walker, Zambesi and Cybele and even smaller designers breaking through like Michael Pattinson and Salasai.

The international representatives absolutely loved the likes of Nom*D and Zambesi and Twentysevennames. This illustrates that we do, in fact, have brilliance, and a lot of it.

We have a plethora of talent awaiting us here in this little nation of ours – some right here at AUT.

It’s like we’re trying to prove ourselves, but in doing so, we’re aiming for unattainable heights.

For instance, international  fashion weeks turn around 40 exits in 17 minutes. In New Zealand we had 120 exits in 45 minutes. Overkill.

If New Zealand Fashion Week is to be as successful as its international counterparts I suggest three things:

1) First of all, we need to acknowledge we’re not as big as New York Fashion Week.

2) We need to stay humble. Audrey Hepburn always prized humility. ANZFW was full of elitist attitudes we didn’t need. It doesn’t come across looking separatist, it looks stupid.

3) We need to have a sense of patriotism.

A worker at ANZFW, who did not wish to be named, says we’re a long way from being polished.

“We prize ourselves on wearing black, because it’s the closest thing we have to ‘chic’,” she says

“We seriously need to restructure if  we are really proud of ANZFW.  At this point, it’s all very amateur.”

A word of advice: fewer exits, more drama and no Pam Anderson, even if it created publicity. Bring over someone who knows about fashion, not someone who takes the colour nude to a whole new level.