We’ve rounded up some of our biggest and brightest Viva Premium stories of the year so far.
Rugby jerseys, food truck kitchens, blue eyeshadow, mental health awareness, the cost of weddings, mountain-topping harvests, indoor rock climbing and an iconic infomercial queen.
At Viva Premium, our coverage is wide-ranging and sometimes
Fashion
“New Zealand’s roster of heritage brands is few and far between, but only one can lay claim to dressing the first Māori Battalion, rugby legend Jonah Lomu and Jason Segel on How I Met Your Mother in one breath,” writes creative and fashion director Dan Ahwa.
In this piece, as local brand Canterbury marks 120 years in business, Dan considers the long history of its clothing, from the iconic “stubbies” to the “Uglies” jersey collection. He also speaks to Tom Gould, the director behind the 120th anniversary film, who highlights an interest in the nostalgia that surrounds Canterbury.
“Reliving that precious footage of the Māori Battalion arriving home wearing uniforms made by Canterbury (Lane Walker Rudkin), to Jonah Lomu in his first All Blacks try or Mal Meninga holding the Winfield Cup. All of these moments spark memories for people that take you back to a time in your life. I wanted to ignite that feeling for people again.”
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Advertise with NZME.On the ground at Polyfest this year, Dan Ahwa noted a shared sentiment among the crowd.
“Several of the performers I spoke to on the day shared mixed emotions; some only mere minutes before walking on to the stage to perform to family, friends and judges. The overall mood was one combined with nervousness and pride.”
In this edition of Viva Street Style, Dan documented the detailed ensembles donned by various performers. Above, Jana Taakitao, the leader of the Tongan group from Baradene College, wears an embellished black tapa cloth dress known as teunga kakala, adorned with shells and leaves.
So far in this series, award-winning photojournalist Dean Purcell have also covered the looks of attendees at Pasifika Festival 2024, Ōamaru’s Steampunk Festival and boulderers on World Climbing Day.
At the beginning of June, Dan Ahwa travelled to Ōamaru to capture the annual Steampunk NZ Festival (the biggest gathering of the subculture in the Southern Hemisphere). The fashion director, noting he’s seeking a wallflower orientation and has come unintentionally unprepared, catalogues his sartorial entrance.
“I arrived at one of its scheduled events to interview its founding forefather, Iain Clark aka Agent Darling at the ‘League of Victorian Imagineers’ Mess Dinner – dressed in a Huffer anorak, jeans and a pair of hiking boots. On my head was not a bowler hat but my lucky Roger Federer cap.”
Clark’s response?
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Advertise with NZME.“Look, mate, I hope you’re coming to the other ball tomorrow night with something to wear because you really do stick out like a sore thumb.”
Karen Walker is a household name. The designer is now in her 35th year at the helm of her namesake business, steering the brand alongside her husband Mikhail Gherman. Jessica Beresford profiles Karen Walker in her Ponsonby home, where the designer revisits her rich catalogue (from uncouth, KFC-adjacent marketing techniques to the runaway success of the Runaway Girl) and her plans for the future. To accompany this piece, Viva also canvassed a selection of style leaders who shared heartfelt stories about their favourite Karen Walker pieces.
“It’s easy to make the reductive assessment that plus-size garments are generally free-flowing, shapeless silhouettes, but there’s a selection of well-made garments that harness the power of something slightly more tailored,” Dan Ahwa writes.
The fashion editor speaks to a range of experts, including fashion designer Sarah-Jane Duff of Lost and Led Astry, creative director and stylist Dihilia Terri Moana Teuru, Caroline Marr of The Carpenter’s Daughter and Rachel Korpus and Linda Wadman of New Zealand’s biggest plus-size clothing retailer K and K Fashion. They offer insightful perspectives on stigma, tailoring and fabric choice.
Tactile fabrics combined with something luxe – the best way to approach the assortment of technical sportswear is to elevate it to the next level. Reporting on fashion in an Olympic year brought the influence of technical wear into focus for Dan Ahwa. In this shoot, photographed by Matt Hurley, there’s a reimagining of the way we can integrate sportswear into our wardrobes while injecting a dose of joy. Ahwa also explored how sportswear took over our wardrobes (and our lives) in an accompanying feature – with a helpful breakdown of key trends like gorpcore, biker and tennis wear.
Food & Drink
Homegrown has always been part of Sherwood’s story but executive chef Chris Scott’s newest garden is literally next level. Writer Kim Knight pays a visit as the kitchen begins an alpine harvest.
“At Sherwood, if the chefs lose a customer between entree and mains, they know they’ll find them in the garden sipping wine and taking selfies. What used to contain a couple of old dumped cars is now a tumble of nasturtium flowers, Chilean guava and heirloom tomatoes, overlooking Lake Wakatipu’s Frankton Arm. There are drifts of corn and rainbows of chard. Pineapple sage, regular sage and every other herb you can think of. It’s beautiful and delicious but it’s not even a quarter of the story.”
We all love knowing what and where our food heroes like to eat. To mark the Pink Ribbon Breakfast Month, some of our country’s top foodies shared their standout breakfast plates from the year so far. Among their picks are fresh crumpets, homemade Cilbir eggs and taramasalata-topped toast.
The new generation of hospitality talents in Tāmaki Makaurau commands a long list. An overly abbreviated version would include Peach’s Hot Chicken (Panmure), Butter Baby (Westgate), Jo Bro’s Burgers (Titirangi) and Banh Mi Boy (Māngere). And many of these rising talents in our local dining scene are being welcomed into permanent locations from tiny food-truck kitchens. Madeleine Crutchley meets the teams behind three brick-and-mortar spots – The Muriwai Deli, Hapunan and The White Lady – to find out how restaurants are making the move work.
Dining out editor Jesse Mulligan paid a visit to Tala earlier this year, dining at the new Samoan restaurant opened by chef Henry Onesemo and his wife Debby.
Of the experience, Jesse observes, “The food is exceptional, without exception.” He continues, “Even a simple dish of fruit is special – the slice of apple, for example, humming with the citrusy flavour of the spices sumac and amchur.”
Deputy editor Johanna Thornton trains her keen eye across Auckland’s hospitality scene, noting down every shift and move worth knowing. Just after this year’s halfway mark, Jo provided a extensive catalogue of the newest openings in town.
“At Viva, we encourage readers to support their favourite restaurants, whether they’ve been around for a long time or a short time. Every week we review a new restaurant, or revisit an old favourite hoping to shine a light on the hardworking teams behind these eateries, and promote the excellent food they produce night after night.”
On the ground at the Auckland Food Show, the annual culinary celebration that takes place every winter, senior writer Kim Knight found pesto everything, pickled onion-flavoured cheese and new ways to consume your greens.
“They came, they saw, they consumed,” Kim writes.
“No stomach was unstuffed, no free sample left behind. By midday, the average attendee was 90% cheese. No toothpick injuries were reported but it is, surely, just a matter of time.”
Wine editor Jo Burzynska complimented the calibre of wineries in this year’s awards. She reported that each worked hard to highlight the distinctive places where their wines are grown.
“These wineries illustrate what is truly exciting in wine in Aotearoa today: the discovery of the unique and varied taste of its land,” Jo said.
Throughout the wine awards, we also highlighted the top bottles from throughout the country and made shortlists for the best reds and whites.
Beauty
For our second beauty week of the year, beauty editor Ashleigh Cometti considered the rise of whimsical blue hues in the approach to beauty (coming away from the minimalist makeup trends that have long dominated algorithms). Working with photographer Babiche Martens, stylist Annabel Dickson, hair and makeup artist Shirley Simpson (for Aleph Beauty) and model Rainer Majasa, Ash takes a tour through “the shade of the season” (while also cataloguing historically significant uses of the colour).
At the end of January, the Environmental Protection Authority announced a ban on the use of PFAs or ‘forever chemicals’ in cosmetics from December 31, 2026.
As Ashleigh Cometti writes, “Aotearoa is among the first countries to adopt such a stance on PFAs in a bid to protect both consumers and the environment.”
News of the ban quickly spread through our local beauty industry. To capture the response, our beauty editor canvassed a collection of local industry experts, who offered their insights into what the ban means for the industry and its consumers.
Lucy Vincent, the founder of Sans Ceuticals, welcomed the ban, saying “It’s about time, actually. It’s a great stance for New Zealand to make.”
Vincent tells Ash, “Most people think natural is good and synthetic is bad, but that’s absolutely not the case. There are things [that are] not as black and white as that. Online resources that have strong data are a great place the consumer can go to, and I think that’s where founders of cosmetic companies should be drawing their information from as well.”
We often defer to the experts to share their valuable insights. In this piece, makeup artists from around the country share their picks for the best foundations, from lightweight and breezy formulas to bottles delivering heavier coverage. Surprisingly, one formula came highly recommended, over and over again.
“We’ve all been there,” writes Ashleigh Cometti.
“Wound up with a fragrance from a great aunt that smells all wrong, fallen prey to a panic purchase of foundation that’s about two shades too dark for daily use, or hit pan on one shade in an eyeshadow quad only to leave the three remaining hues untouched.”
Ash offers helpful, earth-conscious advice for those looking to clear out their collections, from recycling to re-selling.
At Home
“Is there a house that changed you? A house from your past or present so profound it set your life or career on a certain trajectory?” begins deputy editor Johanna Thornton’s architecturally curious article.
Johanna speaks to a handful of local architects, who share their thoughts on the buildings that have inspired their imaginations. The favourites vary greatly – from a rurally set 1970s single-storey to a mountain retreat overlooking Lake Wakatipu and a home interspersed within Titirangi bush.
Ahead of the Aotearoa Art Fair in May, we met with Melbourne-based ceramicist and contemporary artist Zhu Ohmu. Ohmu spoke to Dan Ahwa about the role of nature in her work, working with Kate Sylvester and building resilience.
“All ceramicists will tell you about coming to terms with failures. Cracked greenware when clay is dried too quickly, a piece exploding in the kiln, a glaze that didn’t turn out quite right. During a firing, temperatures go up to thousands of degrees Celsius – so you really have to submit to the kiln.”
Within our coverage of art-adjacent matters, we’ve also spoken to woodturner Sam Choi, designer Martino Gamper, creative Evie Kemp, artist Katherine Rutecki and potter Yannick Fourbet among others.
Samantha Elliot, an interior architect, designer and self-described “organic geek”, welcomed Viva into her West Auckland home, sharing a look at her bright, minimalist space.
Deputy editor Johanna Thornton writes, “At home in Titirangi, the afternoon sun is streaming through those red-framed windows, creating warm reflections on the oak floor. Paying homage to the surroundings and the homes of Titirangi, Sam’s home is testament to the power of organic architecture.”
Culture
Yuki Kihara, interdisciplinary artist and Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi arts laureate, is a history-making artist. Amanda Linell profiled the artist following the announcement that three of her works were acquired by New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Yuki speaks to her motivation.
“I don’t make this work to be famous. Yes it gives me recognition, but I do it because I want to change the system. I want to change it from the inside.”
Senior writer Kim Knight profiles the television icon, exploring the winding path that led her to infomercial fame and where she’s been since Natural Glow commercials went off air.
“Suzanne Paul is the sales savant who wooed a nation with plastic pots of Natural Glow. She flogged a face bronzer and became a millionaire. She tried to establish a Māori-themed entertainment village and was declared bankrupt. Vibrating pillows, Ginsu knives and an eponymously named scarf clip. Weddings, divorces and IVF failures. From Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner to Dancing With The Stars to – well, she can’t say what’s next, but watch this small screen space.”
Suzanne Paul was also the cover star for our autumn fashion special, donning ostentatious prints, vivid colours and glamourous textures.
Muslims make up 25 per cent of the world’s population but are severely under-represented on screen. For this cover story, Dan Ahwa spoke to the ensemble cast behind hyper-local show Miles From Nowhere to find out how they aim to change that narrative.
“The show is also really important in saying that there is no one way to be Muslim,” says Arlo Green, who plays Said in the series. “Muslims should feel like they have a place; for hijabis and non-hijabis to feel like they have a place without judgment. The community has a lot of judgment internally as well as externally, but I don’t see how judgment has any room in Islam.”
For the cover story of our Wellington-themed week, we invited of coterie of creatives to gather within Parliament House. There was one simple provision we asked that they follow: Come as you are. In this story, Dan Ahwa speaks to writer and poet Romesh Dissanayake, stylist Chloe Hill, restaurateurs Stina Persen and Max Gordy, designer James Bush and muse, artist and model Jillian Allen. Each creative shares their perspective on the clothing that makes them smile and the spots in Wellington that are special to them.
In Viva’s other writings about the capital for this celebratory project, we considered the best places to eat right now (and the spots recommended by local chefs and foodies), visited the best places to shop, toured a glossy few wine bars and found out about a fragrance looking to capture the city’s scent.
In August, a new platform seeking to bring together artisanal makers from across New Zealand launched. Ahead of the launch, Johanna Thornton spoke to Jade Barber (Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāti Kahungunu, Tainui) and Aleisha Roulston, the co-founders of Rita Edited. The pair spoke from Hawke’s Bay about bringing together 120 New Zealand makers and creating a unique online marketplace.
“It was there I was having conversations with stall holders and sellers and understanding their struggles being found, having their own websites, or struggling with sales. They’d come to Wonder Markets for the day and it’d be amazing and they’d have all these great conversations and make money. But it was one day. I felt there had to be a better way,” Aleisha said.
Life
Behind The Smile, a photography and audio exhibition launched by mental health charity Voices Of Hope, spotlighted 11 personal stories from everyday New Zealanders. The project, which took a year to produce, explores the connections between culture, creativity and the processes of healing.
Ahead of the exhibition’s opening, Voices Of Hope co-founder Genevieve Mora reflected on the aims of the showing.
“These images portray a vulnerability and strength that signals no shame; when one person shares their story, it allows a safe space for others to seek the help and support they deserve.”
Wedding costs are skyrocketing and guests are among the people feeling the pinch. Off the back of wedding season, Rebecca Barry Hill spoke to a bride-to-be, a disgruntled attendee and an etiquette coach, seeking to better understand the ethics around finances, gifts and nuptials.
Going Places
Johanna Thornton has an unforgettable memorable meal at this fine dining restaurant in the Ruapehu District. The sense of wonder actually begins before Jo even enters the restaurant doors. She takes a two-hour drive up a mountain in an all-terrain vehicle through sub-tropical rainforest, passing waterfalls and wild pigs. But, there’s more to love at this restaurant above the clouds, where chef Jack Cashmore cooks in an open kitchen.
“The open kitchen allows diners to watch the chefs at work, a vital part of the experience, and you’re welcome to walk through the kitchen and ask questions. I stood at the pass a few times, admiring Jack and Ben diligently plating some of the most beautiful fine-dining plates I’ve seen in New Zealand.”
Jo Elwin first visited Kangaroo Island in 2014. The writer made another trip earlier this year to see how the destination’s Southern Ocean Lodge has been rebuilt after the devastating wildfires of 2019-20.
“Perfect as it was, SOL 2.0 has been rebuilt to pretty much the same specifications and footprint, with a few minor improvements. The wine cellar is double the size to accommodate a private dining table and more bottles for guests to help themselves to. The expanded bar, which is also help-yourself 24/7, makes mixologists of us with all the right spirits, liquors, digestives, aperitifs and mixers, many South Australian.”
