Mia Brennan and Hohepa Thompson got engaged on the catwalk. Photo / Viva
It was a Fashion Week first - and the crowd went "aahhh" - when Hohepa Thompson proposed at the end of the runway to fellow designer Mia Brennan this afternoon.
The couple, who had just shown their collection of garments dyed in a hangi, met at the Auckland event three years ago.
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"It's like our anniversary," explained Thompson backstage. "I'm not the type of person to do public things, but being how we met here, this is special to us."
The proposal on bended knee took Brennan by surprise, but she quickly nodded her assent in front of around 500 people at the Miromoda showcase of Maori designers.
"I was over the moon, it was a very, very sweet thing to do," she said as the congratulations flowed.
Thompson said he had discussed the idea only with his brother. He had considered popping the question the night before on what had been Brennan's birthday, but the fashion moment just felt right. "I've just been holding it in all day."
Thompson, of Ngati Kahungungu ki Wairarapa and Brennan, who is Australian Aboriginal of the Kamiliroi people of north-west New South Wales, clicked three years ago when she was invited as an indigenous designer to be part of Miromoda. They now live in Byron Bay and have a seventh-month-old daughter Tallow.
This year was the first time the couple both in their thirties have shown their joint collection at Miromoda under their Hori and Mimi label. Thompson was back for a fourth time, having previously show more political pieces, including T-shirts with Frederick Goldie portraits and images of Maori radical Tame Iti juxtaposed with Osama bin Laden. Brennan's focus has been on screen-printed cotton pieces, using Aboriginal design motifs.
Their Hangi Collection brought together her summer-friendly dress designs with an environmentally friendly dyeing method they cooked up together. Clothes are left to simmer in a hangi only to emerge with a sepia print effect. Any irregularities, including the odd scorch mark, are integral.
"We were just talking about family and food and how it brings everyone together and the idea of country and cloth," said Brennan. That set them experimenting, with joint dye and design time sandwiched between Thompson's day job as a painter in the relaxed resort town.
As to when and where there will be a wedding, Brennan is still processing the proposal, saying: "We don't really know."
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