New Zealand Fashion Week wanted to do it all
New Zealand Fashion Week has (had) multifaceted ambitions. It wanted to do it all - be a launchpad for designers, and a cultural and arts showcase that embraced a partnership with local iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and a gifted Māori name: Kahuria.
After a four-year hiatus the event returned, attempting to engage trade and public buy-in, and appeal to both local and international fashion-focused delegates from traditional media pillars and the buoyant world of social media.
That is either highly ambitious or reflective of a semi-desperate evolution, a necessary cobbling together of fractious markets in an effort to keep afloat.
No-one could, or should begrudge that. Everyone knows the landscape has shifted. The NZ fashion industry has always sailed on choppy waters but the fact remains the operating landscape is different to the so-called ‘heyday’ of Fashion Week.
By trying to fulfil these disparate goals all at once, you run the risk of your event taking on the essence of a sprawling 21st birthday - one where everyone you’ve ever met is invited and mingles over the same sausage roll platter. Cross-generational relatives and work colleagues rub shoulders with the high school peers you got up to high jinks with.
It has the potential to unfurl into the best, most raucous night of your life, but there’s just as great a chance you’ll find yourself in the corner for an awkward hour of small talk - while thoughts wander to the night that could have been.
Those lamentations aren’t always internal. As a first-time NZFW attendee last year, the first back after a Covid-induced hiatus and under the new ownership of entrepreneur Feroz Ali, I often found myself sat next to people talking about how exciting it was to be back, but commenting on how ‘different’ it was this time.
At one point I said to my editor, “I don’t find this nostalgia helpful”. It takes you out from enjoying the here and now. Just because something is smaller, is different, that’s ok.
Isn’t this country meant to be small and scrappy? Ironically, many of the people who talked up the old days brought up how young they were then, how they did it all on no sleep, a shoestring budget and help from their friends.
When it was announced yesterday that the event wouldn’t go ahead in 2024, it was sort of a relief: they were ripping off the band-aid.
But one part of the statement irked me, a line about the currently closed bridge adjacent to the venue: “A pause will also allow time for the Wynyard Quarter crossing bridge to be repaired, its continued closure presenting a significant challenge for public attendance and access to the Viaduct Events Centre.”
If they truly want to embrace change, I hope they also look at embracing a totally fresh venue, a new format and identity, not trying to chase what was. If we want to make it what it was, we should embrace that feisty nature again.
The most energetic show I attended last year was Zambesi – a well-established brand with resourcing, sure, but the show felt fresh and spirited because it wasn’t in a soulless hall with kind ushers encouraging attendees to move forward and fill empty seats, “but not the front row”.
Held on the steps outside, Zambesi invitees sat on public benches and commuters walking home stopped to watch. The air was fresh, the sun warm and the city that houses and inspires our creatives glowed behind the models.
In August last year Ali, who also owns Whitecliffe College, told Metro magazine his 2021 acquisition of NZFW wasn’t about money. “It’s about reviving New Zealand Fashion Week’s DNA, celebrating the past successes, while also making sure it is sustainable in terms of its longevity,” he said.
“This is probably one of the nontraditional businesses we’ve bought where we didn’t quite look at the profit and loss statements,” he said, citing a remit to “Make it work so that it breaks even and is sustainable going forward”.
Seven months later, they’ve had a closer look at the books and realised the show can’t go on – in the short term at least. Not in its current form.
“With such strong economic headwinds, it’s become clear this year is a time for consolidation,” said the official statement.
If they want the party to go on, really consolidate. Embrace the slightly messy, creative spirit; produce something intentionally less polished. Don’t try and throw the same party with half the budget. Hand the baton to the students at fashion and design schools Whitecliffe and AUT; don’t flirt with a new flame on the dancefloor you used to kiss your old partner on.
They’ve taken the first tough, prudent step. Sometimes after a breakup you need to bite the bullet and delete the chat history.