Local Focus: Art Deco brings out the Borzoi Russian wolfhounds on show

Napier's annual Art Deco festival is world renowned for the city's architecture, vintage cars, dancing, music and stunning 1930's outfits.

Less well known are the four-footed VIPs, or very important pooches - Borzoi, an ancient breed from Russia.

This year the Borzoi Club held its national show in Napier, one of more than 200 Art Deco Festival events.

Borzoi Club secretary, Wendy Finlayson said the breed was at its height of popularity in the Art Deco period.

"You will find it on a lot of pieces in your antique stores, so we thought what better place to showcase our Borzoi than at the Art Deco Festival," she said.

"They were bred in Russia for hunting wolf and other game and owned by czars and nobility. They were owned by movie stars and the very wealthy – they were the glamour dog of the era."

The Borzoi's form and movement embodies the Art Deco aesthetic.

"It's their shape, it's their glamour, it's their curves, their balance - the elegance of the era."

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