New Zealand Fashion Design

TKI Hot Topic for September 2003

Design in New Zealand has a reputation for originality. Our innovation in design in has had its profile boosted by the success of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The costume makers and special effects wizards who worked to create orcs, elves, uruk-hai, and sets were creative in finding the many different materials and techniques for working the materials to achieve the required look. This resourcefulness is behind the distinctive approach to design reflected in the New Zealand fashion industry.

A good example of this resourcefulness can be seen in the first of New Zealand's premier fashion events in 2003: the Wearable Arts Awards in Nelson, from 12-21 September. This event is a marriage of fantasy and fashion, incorporating aspects of sculpture, painting, robotics, electronics, and engineering with fashion design.

In October, the more commercial side of the fashion design industry has its chance to shine in the third New Zealand Fashion Week (Auckland 19-24 October).

This TKI Hot Topic celebrates New Zealand fashion design by profiling these two renowned events, and featuring the websites of some of New Zealand's top designers to provide inspiration for the aspiring designers amongst you.

The World of WearableArts (WOW) Awards

The WOW Awards have grown since their beginnings in 1987 – held in a tent outside Nelson as a promotion for a local gallery. Now the WOW Awards are a major event of international renown and over 15,000 people are expected to attend in 2003.

The underlying concept behind wearable arts creations is "...taking art off the wall and using it to adorn the body – it is art in motion," says creator/director Suzie Moncrieff. "The imagination is the only limit!" Entrants are encouraged to let their imaginations loose and set them free from the restrictions imposed by fashion, or commercial necessity. From a myriad of fantastical designs to the choice of materials (one year a bodice was shaped out of bacon and resin!), the Wearable Arts Awards are about challenging the accepted boundaries of design.

Categories in the awards include a children's section (works of art to adorn children), illumination illusion (working with UV light), the South Pacific, avant-garde, the ever popular bizarre bra, and as a special category for 2003, the "Red" section – where anything goes as long as it's rouge. Designers compete for the top prize in each section, and for the title of overall Montana Supreme World of WearableArt winner.

New Zealand Fashion Week

New Zealand Fashion Week represents an opportunity for New Zealand designers to showcase their collections with the aim of sparking commercial interest from buyers all over the world. Most of the shows and events are for registered trade buyers and media only, although the public do have two occasions to view some of the designs being paraded.

This is the third time New Zealand Fashion Week has been staged. Approximately 50 New Zealand designers and fashion houses will be showing in 2003, amongst them some of our most well-known (Karen Walker, World, Trelise Cooper, and Zambesi). Showing for the first time at New Zealand Fashion Week is 13-year-old designer Te Kaihou Ngarotata with her streetwear label Ngati Babe.

The New Zealand fashion industry has long described itself as "intelligent", "less show-offy", "innovative", "fresh", and "original", and these adjectives have been echoed by visiting buyers and stylists. Although overseas influences are becoming more evident in New Zealand fashion, New Zealand's geographic isolation and bicultural heritage are credited with creating a uniquely New Zealand outlook and attitude that comes through in our design.

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Resources on TKI

Montana WOW Awards
Learn about the history of and philosophy behind the New Zealand World of WearableArt (WOW) Awards. This website provides information about the show, how to enter the wearable art competition, information about exhibitions of wearable art as well as photographs and judges' descriptions of previous winners.
www.wearableart.co.nz

New Zealand Fashion Week
New Zealand Fashion Week is a showcase of New Zealand fashion design. This site lists the contributing designers and features a photo gallery with highlights from the different shows.
www.nzfashionweek.com

New Zealand designers

Karen Walker
This is the website of Karen Walker – one of New Zealand's most internationally recognised and successful designers. The website features infromation about Karen, as well as galleries of her many collections.
www.karenwalker.com

Kate Sylvester
The website of New Zealand fashion designer Kate Sylvester has biographical information about Kate, a history of the milestones and achievements in her career to date, and scrollable slideshows of her collections.
www.katesylvester.com

Starfish
Wellington-based designer Laurie Foon is behind the label Starfish. Read about Laurie and view past collections using this website.
www.starfish.co.nz

Trelise Cooper
Designer Trelise Cooper is known for elegant and feminine women's fashion. Visit her website to read about her inspiration, and to view pictures and videos of her sumptuous collections.
www.trelisecooper.com

Zambesi
Find out about the Zambesi collections and philosophy with this website.
www.zambesi.co.nz

Design interactives

BBC – Technology – Things we wear
An interactive website where students can find out about materials and their uses as well as design their own clothes. Students can practise laying out a pattern and look at a fabric under microscope. Areas covered in the upper stages include: which is the best fabric for different occasion, how to make clothes, and making your own clothes. Areas covered in the lower stages include: matching clothes to weather conditions, and design a t-shirt, where materials come from, processes and sequencing, why uniforms and protective clothing are required.
www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/as/tech/index.shtml

wickED Themes: Funky Fashion
The Funky Fashion theme contains activities that relate to looking good and feeling good. The activities include mathematics questions, literacy questions, and technology questions.
www.tki.org.nz/r/wick_ed/themes/fashion.php

Textiles, patterns and design resources

Siapo.com: Design Elements
This section of the siapo.com website includes examples of the symbols used in siapo (also known as tapa) design.
www.siapo.com/designelements.html

Trends in Japan
This website presents the latest domestic trends in Japan and gives you a glimpse of what the future could bring. Click on the fashion tab to read articles about trends and innovations in fashion.
http://jin.jcic.or.jp/trends/index.html

Digital Tapa – ICT Learning Experience
This ICT Learning Experience involves students using drawing and desktop publishing software to create a digital version of tapa cloth. Students explored the symbols and meanings in tapa, and also geometrical aspects such as rotation, translation, and reflection.
www.tki.org.nz/r/ict/ictpd/digital_tapa_e.php

BBC – Walk Through Time
This section of the Walk through Time website contains interactive activities that explore English, Roman, and Viking history. Activities are centred around a Viking house, Tudor street, Victorian street, Roman Street and a 1950's living room.
www.bbc.co.uk/history/walk/games_index.shtml

BBC History: Dress the Victorians and Tudors
This interactive website allows students to dress the Tudor and Victorian man and woman. It introduces students to clothing from these periods giving descriptions of the fabric types, who would wear them, and provides a comparison between the two periods of time.
www.bbc.co.uk/history/games/costumes/index.shtml

Hats Off! A Salute to African Headwear
This site is an exhibition of African head attire drawn from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art collection. Describes the construction processes and materials used. Discusses the cultural significance, status, and prestige of each item.
www.nmafa.si.edu/exhibits/hatssite/top.htm

Old Style in High Style
In this lesson, from The New York Times, students explore how fashion mirrors the attitudes and lifestyles of people in different cultures throughout history and create fashion magazines reflecting their findings.
www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20010907friday.html

The 20th Century
Views of the 20th Century in ten episodes. Outlines key headlines, innovations, and culture for each episode and profiles important people during each episode. Includes a time capsule for each period containing images, artefacts, and fashion items. Move along the timeline at the top of page to view different eras.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/century/episodes/01/

Drama/1/5 – B version 3
This assessment material entitled Issues Unmasked, relates to New Zealand drama achievement standard 1.5. Examines performing a technical or production role. Involves students designing and creating a mask, built around a mythological context.
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/ncea/drama1_5Bv3_15mar03.doc

Please note: These links were valid when this page was posted. However the Web is very volatile, and TKI has no control over outside websites. Please let us know if you find anything inappropriate, if you find a broken link, or if you have an update for a link by emailing links@tki.org.nz. Te Kete Ipurangi recommends that teachers view all websites we link to before using them with students.

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