One of my personal highlights of New Zealand Fashion Week 2018 was seeing the Miromoda show, with its selection of top and up-and-coming Maori fashion designers on the runway.
To say these designers are proud of their cultural heritage is an understatement. It infuses their work, and underlines everything they do.
The Miromoda show, the word itself combining Maori miro and Italian mode for fashion, brings together Maori designers and gives them a platform to display their work to an audience of fashion media at NZ Fashion Week each year on the main runway. This year the theme is 125 years of women’s suffrage in New Zealand, in particular, the role of Maori women in advancing women’s rights.
The Miromoda booklet they produce is easily the best brochure I get in the week, as it has a colour photo of each designer’s work on a model, their name, label, iwi (tribe), a blurb about their label and another paragraph about this specific collection, followed by their contact details and Instagram account. I wish all the shows took a leaf out of their book and did such a comprehensive booklet. There’s even a shop at miromoda.co.nz selling ties and teeshirts so you can wear Maori designs.
Here are a few of the garments that stood out to me. I hope to see and hear a lot more from these designers in the future; as Kiri Nathan started here and now has a solo show at NZFW, which received a standing ovation from all guests.
MIROMODA 2018
Miromoda opened with Bobby Campbell Luke.
Campbell Luke. Photo by Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images.
Campbell Luke womenswear drew upon Maori heritage from around the time of urbanisation of Maori. The Fall Winter collection Kakahu Hau recalls the 1950s. I really liked the mix of vintage and contemporary.
JIMI. Photo by Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images.
Jimmie Mackay’s label, JIMI showed urban men’s wear with a cool streetwear vibe. Mackay had great use of textiles and prints and it was both interesting and commercially relevant.
NOLA Photo by Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images)
Paige Macdonald reworked Catholic symbolism from the painting The Assumption of the Virgin Mary into her NOLA women’s wear collection Modern Modesties, drawing upon her Maori and Scottish past.
Nichola Te Kiri. Photo by Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images.
Nichola Te Kiri draws from Maori mythology and art in these statement pieces. They were like nothing I’ve ever seen before, for modern wahine warriors, or what a new wonder woman would wear.
WhKA (Photo by Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images)
Zannah-Rose Thornicroft and Henele Taufalele together create WhKA, modern streetwear with a twist.
AJ Bradley creates Motel Bible- my favourite name of the Miromoda show, and I think the best styled. Motel Bible is made ethically in the lower North Island.
Taongahuia Maxwell combines Maori design with tailoring to create Kahu Huia using the traditional weaving pattern ‘niho’ in a black and white plaid pattern.
Above: my phone photo of MATU
MATU. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
MATU, designed by Te Orihau Karaitiana, is inspired by nature, with androgynous, over-sized garments, made in the Hawke’s Bay using fabric hand-dyed with all-natural plant-based dyes.
A design by Te Kohu Misty Ratima Streetwear. Photo by Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images.
A model walks the runway in a design by Te Kohu Misty Ratima Avant Garde. Photo by Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images.
Misty Ratima had one of the strongest collections, with both streetwear and avant garde ranges that pushed the boundaries of fashion and wearable art. I particularly liked her amazing colourful print on the streetwear, and the capes worn with Maori weaving-pattern pants. Stunning.
A model walks the runway in a design by Lontessa. Photo by Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images.
The last label of the show was guest designer Tessa Bailey-lont, with LONTESSA. Eco-friendly fabrics are used in woven and printed materials in feminine and beautiful garments, from her Singapore-based studio.
Designers receive applause on the runway as they take to the catwalk at the finale of the show.
28 August 2018
Photos by Megan Robinson
Fashion Week Daily Reports
Read Day 1 NZFW highlights here
Read Day 2 NZFW highlights here
Read Day 3 NZFW highlights here
Read Day 4 NZFW highlights here
Read Day 5 NZFW highlights here