Back in Vogue

A Babs Radon dress from the 60s. Photo / Supplied

A new exhibition celebrates New Zealand's very own edition from the swinging sixties, of the world's fashion bible.

There are pretenders, but there is only one magazine whose title itself defines fashion: Vogue. Currently there are 18 editions worldwide, including the United States, Australia, Paris, Korea, Spain and Russia - and in the 1960s, New Zealand had its own edition of the world's most famous fashion magazine.

An exhibition opening at Te Papa this Friday takes inspiration from the elegant pages of Vogue New Zealand, first published here in 1957 (and incidentally, the first international edition to be established outside the US and Europe). Curated by Claire Regnault, the "boutique scale" exhibition looks at the New Zealand fashion industry between the years 1957 and 1968 when we had our own Vogue, and offers an insight into the impact of the iconic magazine.

Twenty designer garments and accessories drawn from the museum's collection are showcased in window display cases, which Regnault conceived as a spread from the magazine, taking authentic headlines and quotes from various issues ("The Way to Look in Wool" is one). Pieces from popular labels during the 1960s, like El Jay and Babs Radon, also feature throughout the exhibition; all appeared in the pages of Vogue. One of Regnault's favourite pieces showcases the connection between magazine and customer: an El Jay winter suit that appeared in a copy of the magazine, also in the exhibition, which the owner had seen in Vogue and was then gifted by her husband from El Jay's French Shop in Remuera.

The exhibition acts as an extension of the research Regnault did while writing the New Zealand fashion history book The Dress Circle, which she co-authored with Lucy Hammonds and Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, and reflects the industry's current appreciation for looking back - with the recent publication of two fashion history books, last year's fantastic El Jay exhibition curated by Doris de Pont, and the formation of the New Zealand Fashion Museum.

It's this, until recently, unappreciated fashion past that Regnault acknowledges when discussing the surprise many people have on discovering New Zealand had its own Vogue.

"Unfortunately a lot of people have forgotten that we had a Vogue, and it surprises a lot of people to know that. There still is this myth that the fashion industry is quite new in New Zealand, but in the 1960s it was a massive industry that employed hundreds of people, with garment producers right throughout the country.

"At the time the New Zealand industry was a burgeoning industry, and I think the [Vogue publishers in the] UK saw it - the fact that they decided that New Zealand was ready for its own Vogue magazine reveals that the industry was maturing and having a moment." In 1968 the magazine closed, after the publishers decided that the New Zealand market was too small, but not before producing some of the most charming and elegant fashion pages our industry has had, and giving us the likes of Michael McKay (then Walker), and Marie Studdard, who Regnault says was the first New Zealand-based fashion editor (she also went on to publish a guide to dressing called Fashion Is Fun).

So what was Vogue New Zealand like? Like Australian Vogue today, there was a combination of lifts from other international editions and locally produced content - stories that educated readers on "how not to be a perfume loser", a photo spread that showcased "Vogue's choice for the over 30s", and features on "attractive New Zealanders at home and abroad: how they care for their good looks" (in its final year of publication as we headed into the 1970s, there were also stories on yogis and gurus, and mind-altering drugs). For Regnault, what struck her the most about the magazine was the language.

"It has beautiful rhythms, it's just magical. There's a little bit of snobbism in there, which I quite like - in the exhibition we have a case called 'Exciting News for Dressmakers' which celebrates Vogue and its pattern service.

"There was a 'cheap' section for girls on a budget, and it talks about 'ambitious girls on the make' - it was an aspirational magazine but they did things so everyone could afford the labels. The quote is something like, 'if you happen to be great at sewing, or you're lucky enough to have a little woman around the corner' - those sorts of things."

The charming photography was also key for Regnault, who notes the work of photographers like Michael Gillies and Des Williams. "I love some of the English spreads where they sent garments to the UK, they would photograph New Zealand garments in quintessential English settings - you would have these great quotes underneath that said things like, 'Seen here in a London setting, this could also be worn while watching rugby or on the fairway at Middlemore or Titirangi ... or at Heretaunga and the Hutt Golf Club."

* New Zealand in Vogue, opening June 24, Eyelights Gallery, Te Papa, Wellington.