Rachel Hunter, Aja Rock and Nikki Watson were the star attraction in 2007.
Rachel Hunter, Aja Rock and Nikki Watson were the star attraction in 2007.
As the former front of house and VIP host at Fashion Week, Spy editor Ricardo Simich has seen it all. He looks back on the secrets and scandals of Fashion Week's past.
Last night at New Zealand Fashion Week, All Black Captain Richie McCaw was joined by his girlfriend, Black Stick Gemma Flynn (who looked amazing with a top knot and military-style jacket), and celebrity chef Josh Emett bringing some celebrity star power to the front row of Kate Sylvester's show.
Gemma Flynn and Richie McCaw at Fashion Week 2015. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
Other All Blacks are expected to catch a show this week. The last time they came en masse to Fashion Week, one All Black lothario took a special interest in a member of the Fashion Week family.
As the former front-of-house and VIP host at Fashion Week, I used to be a very popular guy on site. For one week a year, everyone wanted to be my friend.
The pecking order sets in when people enter the fashion arena. Everyone should be happy to be invited to a show, but the number of people not seated in the front row, who were happy to stand to the side in the "pity pit" with hopes of making it to the edge of the catwalk, always astounded me. Some of our most famous faces have stood in the pit and waited and waited. Most times, I assisted them. But to see their reaction going to Row 3 or 4 was always priceless.
Rock 'n' Rumble
2007 was a mega year. Rachel Hunter was in town as a guest of Fashion Week and to debut her swimwear range, Lola. During the week, the front row golden snap was the three blondes, Hunter sitting next to Nikki Watson and Aja Rock.
Topping the scandals, were the news headlines generated from a fracas after the 2007 Huffer show, between Aja Rock and then "Gossip Queen' Bridget Saunders - and an infamous glass of red wine.
In 2011, Huffer had Rock pop out of a mock cake wearing a stars and stripes string bikini, amid raining confetti.
Aja Rock jumps out from a birthday cake at the Huffer fashion show in 2011. Photo / NZ Herald
Hanky Panky
2008 was the year of Pamela Anderson. She hit Fashion Week as both a model and designer, in a collaboration with US designer Richie Rich. The party back at Anderson's hotel room is the stuff of legend. Spy can say she got up close and personal with many models and took a particular fancy to a local surfer.
Pamela Anderson showed off her cheeky side at Fashion Week in 2009. Photo / NZ Herald
In 2011, a dashing imported Fashion Week helper with a thick European accent managed to clock up the nickname "Casanova". Among his conquests was a well-known NZ television anchor.
Model Romance
Attraction happens when you have hot models getting changed together back stage. On more than one occasion over the years, a quick romp in the luxury portaloos, or in recent times the Viaduct Events Centre toilets, took the heat off the lavs for other naughty things that models and "fashion weekers" are infamous for overseas.
Don't just leave the hook ups on site, at well-lubricated after-parties, the hook-ups that Spy has seen are large in number. In fact, if anyone has conceived a baby at NZFW, Spy would love to know.
Call the Po Po
One year there was a model "caper". Two models not only stole clothes from backstage, they also pinched expensive audio equipment.
The lighthandedness does not stop there. When there are boxes of goody bags and booze lying around, even the well-heeled have felt entitled to help themselves.
Speaking of back stage, one photographer managed to get himself banned two years running for behind-the-curtain perving.
Runway Reality
Colin Mathura-Jeffree is a regular fixture at Fashion Week. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
You would think reality TV and Fashion Week would go hand in hand. In 2011, when the final of cycle of New Zealand's Next Top Model hit Fashion Week for the World Show, live television frayed many nerves. The show must go on was never more true than that night. The one-liners NZNTM judge Colin Mathura-Jeffree served up off camera would have made great (heavily censored) TV.
