New Zealand fashion and lifestyle blog

Rookie Show 2012

With its 100m runway, a ‘wall of sound’, and music from Electric Boutique and Voom, AUT’s fashion graduate show ‘Rookie’ had plenty to get the crowd talking, from the commercial to the outrageous…

AUT University’s Rookie show
Thursday 8 November 2012

With its 100m runway, a ‘wall of sound’, and music from Electric Boutique and Voom, AUT’s fashion graduate show ‘Rookie’ had plenty to get the crowd talking. Held in central Auckland underground carpark Shed 15, the student show featured collections ranging from the commercial to the outrageous.

AUT’s Head of the Fashion Department, Andreas Mikellis could not have been more pleased. “We wanted the show to highlight our new philosophy that promotes a far more experimental response to the idea of what fashion design is, and I think we did that.”

Twenty-nine collections were shown over the course of the evening, and this included four postgraduate student collections. Here are some of the highlights…

Pictured above left: Paris Mitchell. Below: Michael Murray.

Below: Jim Gregory.

Below: Petra Benton.

Petra Benton’s womenswear collection, inspired by the juxtaposition between being strict and precise and being completely off-kilter, was well regarded, as was Joshua Fache’s beautiful, feminine work (below) that opened the show.

Menswear from Paige Mackie and Jesse Lolo were inspired by their heritage and highlighted the diversity of the group that showed on the runway. Frida Kahlo-inspired womenswear, sustainable materials and pieces that begin from thinking about science fiction also kept the audience’s attention throughout the night.

Mikellis says the students have completely embraced the department’s new vision and are setting themselves up well for the international stage. “Many of the students now see their career paths from a broader, international perspective. We have growing numbers of graduates working for design companies overseas and others taking a very entrepreneurial approach by setting up design businesses in New Zealand but with a focus on an export market.”

Below: Fraser Mildon.

Students had worked on their final collections as part of the Bachelor of Design in Fashion course, with the announcement of who would show at Rookie made on 19th October ahead of the show on 8th November.

The hair and makeup for the show was done by D&M Hair Design and The Makeup School.

By Caitlin Madden 12 November 2012
Photos Anupam Singh


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