Karen Walker was chaotic good 🌀

+ dogs on the runway that almost made me cry

Hello! It’s a late one from us today, after a busy schedule and some signature NZ Fashion Week shows from Karen Walker and Zambesi last night. I’m going to take some time to reflect on the week and write something a bit more in-depth early next - but for now, enjoy my daily dispatch and niche observations, below.

Am happy to let you know that I finally tried an Ensemble x Daily Bread 5th birthday eclair, and it was delicious.

In today’s (final!) NZFW newsletter: dogs on the runway, thoughts on Karen Walker’s unhinged runway, more off the runway outfits and trends I’ve spotted.

Getting ready for Untouched World with Chloe Hill

“Please think before agreeing to wear fast fashion to NZFW,” begged stylist, content creator and Ensemble contributor Chloe Hill in a recent Instagram story.

She went on to encourage her 34k followers to think about the effort and expense our local design fraternity put into a show, and to consider reflecting that when choosing what to wear to attend it. It’s this opinionated stance that makes Chloe one of our favourite follows, as well as one of the best brains in the industry to pick.

Te Whanganui-a-Tara-based, it’s always a treat when Chloe comes to Tāmaki Makaurau, so this NZFW we seized the chance to catch up before the Untouched World show, where we asked her about how she navigates working in an industry based upon trends and and consumerism while staying true to her values, amongst other pressing topics.‍

Zoe’s NZFW daily dispatch

Personal field notes, observations, chats and cameo appearances.

We are putting a value on our work, so these are paywalled this week. Support our work by upgrading to a paid subscription for $7 a month. Thank you to everyone who has joined - your support means the world to us.

Field notes

• A few trends I’ve spotted off the runway: there were a lot of adidas Superstars in the crowd yesterday (including on myself, Rebecca, stylist Courtney Joe and Ensemble protegee Tyson Beckett). I’ve also been seeing a lot of polka dots.

• Zambesi was a lovely, hauntingly beautiful and classic Zambesi show. Emma described it after as ‘tender’ which I thought was perfect.

• Two shows yesterday played gorgeous songs that had lyrics about love: at Untouched World, Weyes Blood’s Movies (“this is how it feels to be in love”) and at Zambesi, Yoko Ono’s I Love You Earth (“I love you Earth, you are beautiful, I love the way you are”). A lot of earnest feelings this NZFW!

Stressful fun at Karen Walker

You know how I wrote about energy earlier in the week? Well Karen Walker bought an absolutely chaotic energy last night. I was excited for this show and it felt quite full circle for me: Karen hasn’t showed at NZFW since 2006, which was my first ever fashion week show as a baby 22-year-old (I wore a polka dot dress that was in that show 19 (!) years ago).

I’m sure you’ve seen about a million videos on Instagram by now but if not: the show was Karen Walker in partnership with adidas and titled ‘Life with Obstacles’. Sports! But a metaphor, too. These obstacles were literally on the runway; a bit of an OSH hazard as guests made their way to their seats, there were a couple of trip ups.

KW made us wait: the music built up to a crescendo, still nothing. Eventually model Lola Bebe came out and stepped onto a moving treadmill at the start of the runway (with asthma inhaler on hand). Then other models walked out, as per a normal fashion show, but on their way back made their way through the various hurdles while skipping, jumping, smiling. I’ve never seen so many smiles in the front row either. It was silly fun!

About halfway through, Lola stepped off the runway and walked to the head of the runway and the energy went totally unhinged with the most stressful 40 seconds I’ve experienced at a fashion show: professional hobbyhorse athlete Ada Filppa, in NZ from Finland, pranced out before a bunch of nylon-skirted ‘models’ (actually professional stunt double Catherine Palmer, Black Ferns captain Sarah Hirini and Les Mills trainers) sprinted - and I mean SPRINTED - down the runway.

One face-planted right in front of me (you can hear us gasp). I had people messaging me after I shared this video of that moment, very concerned about her; don’t worry, it was a stunt! Total, planned, chaos.

OK but what about the clothes? I was excited to see some new Karen Walker pieces (it was styled in with a lot of adidas clothing and sneakers; KW is a major local stockist for the brand), including the return of the popular ‘Perfect Day’ floral and the deep cut horse carousel print that I will definitely be buying. As a Karen Walker historian, I appreciated the archival touches, including the nylon skirts and these badges.

Stylist Karen Inderbitzen-Waller pulled some accessories from the KW archives, including badges and necklaces. Shoutout to the playful makeup by Kiekie Stanners!

DOGS!

Greyhound Sam, wearing Sylvester. Photo / Radlab for NZFW

This morning had a very different mood, with the Great Hounds Runway Show - a fashion show where models walked with greyhounds wearing matching fashion from local designers including Sylvester, Twenty-seven Names, Penny Sage, Kowtow, SGC, Caitlin Snell and more.

I almost cried at this adorable show, which was both totally random (we love random) and meaningful: it’s to raise awareness of the 2500 greyhounds that will soon need to be rehomed, when greyhound racing ending in NZ next year (yay). These dogs were such stars (as were the models who handled them expertly), but what made me get teary was the dog’s shy faces looking around at the crowd as they walked down the very long runway 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

If you’re interested in rehoming, or fostering, a lovely, gentle greyhound, find more info here - and if you do, please send us photos.

Diva Willow, wearing Kowtow. Photo by me.

Notes from Future of Fashion

This group show saw eight designers showcase their capsule collections, each with the chance to win a scholarship prize from DHL (the winner was footwear brand Bronwyn).

• From Zoe: This show left me feeling inspired by the future of fashion (lol), with such a strong group of brands with their own point of view. There are other indie or emerging designer showcases (like Ahua) but something like this feels important, for those brands who are at a certain level - beyond ‘emerging’ but not yet established - and which offer something tangible and the opportunity for something financial. Bronwyn’s shoes had me making a mental shopping list; OHN’s runway was confident and fun; Riel was styled to perfection by Levi Tan; and Zheyi Ruan was detailed and beautiful.

• From Rebecca: As an avid-paddleboarder and year ‘round swimmer, I was so excited to see wetsuit brand Gemma Lee enter the fashion arena. It’s always surprised me Aotearoa doesn’t have any major players in the swimwear market; there were so many brands like Expozay and Moontide back in the 80s and 90s and then things… fizzled out. Wetsuits are part of the swimming whānau though, and are importantly sun smart. The girlie flower prints and the Baina-esque checkerboards especially appealed to my swimming sensibilities.

Outfits I saw and liked

How cool is Doris de Pont? At the Future of Fashion show, wearing a special jumper that is from 1974.

Loved the layers and tones of this look from Julia, part of the Untouched World team.

Stylist and colour consultant Mary Witsey, wearing a great dress by Jimmy D. It’s been nice seeing so much colour amongst guests!

Embellishment and sparkles from Iyia Liu, wearing Trelise Cooper.

Today’s MVP award goes to…

The DHL phone chargers - best (and most used by me) brand activation at fashion week!