Politicians typically swat away questions about their appearance, but Te Pāti Māori has wielded fashion as a means of reclamation and defiance in the face of adversity. This story was originally published in The New York Times prior to the election.
The outfit is distinctly Victorian. A high, vintage lace
For Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, the co-leader of Te Pāti Māori, a New Zealand political party, it is a reclamation of the era when her ancestors first engaged with the British, who began colonising New Zealand in the early 1800s. She has worn this attire, plus a top hat, in Parliament.
“When you want to get a message out fast, fashion is a way to do it,” she said.
The message is largely the same since the party had a surprise return to Parliament three years ago: keeping issues of its minority community in the public eye and building political support. Its members are feeling particular urgency now because the future of several pro-Māori policies is on the line. In Saturday’s election, Te Pāti Māori is expected to win as many as five of the 120 seats in Parliament. It currently controls two.
The party “has been great at getting a disproportionate amount of media attention,” said Lara Greaves, who teaches political science at the Victoria University of Wellington. “They play that as a positive for their voters that they’re really out there representing Māori politics.”
Te Pāti Māori’s policy proposals have included decoupling New Zealand from the British monarchy and enacting a wealth tax. It has faced criticism from the right that it exhibits too much political showmanship with few concrete results.
A recent poll showed a slip in support for Te Pāti Māori, which, like other minor parties in New Zealand, often struggles for significance. It is unlikely to be a major political force or kingmaker, because New Zealand’s next government is all but certain to be a conservative coalition led by the National Party, which has promised to defund pro-Māori programmes such as a health agency for the community and has ignited racially charged debates.
Below Ngarewa-Packer’s mouth is a traditional tattoo called a moko kauae. Around her neck is a large hei-tiki, carved out of jade, for protection.
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Advertise with NZME.“We’re up against some yucky nastiness,” Ngarewa-Packer, who gave her age as “50s,” said of the race-baiting that has become more overt with this election.
About 17 per cent of New Zealand’s population identifies as Māori, and a significant portion of the community has long supported the incumbent centre-left Labour Party. Te Pāti Māori was formed in 2004 when two Māori politicians left Labour after a dispute.
In 2021, the Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi made headlines when he forced a rule change that no longer required male politicians to wear neckties, which he called a “colonial noose.” His choice of parliamentary footwear — Air Jordan sneakers — was widely criticised.
But Waititi has remained defiant, walking the runaway at New Zealand Fashion Week for Māori designer Kiri Nathan in his signature sneakers and a carved jade necktie.
“We must continue to decolonise our spaces down to our shoelaces,” Waititi, 43, wrote on TikTok after the show.
Far from being trivial, these acts of defiance are probably speaking to Te Pāti Māori voters, according to Greaves.
“Māori is an ethnicity, but it is also a culture, and people who feel connected to their cultural side are more likely to support Te Pāti Māori,” she said, adding that many Māori voters still have an affinity for the Labour Party.
The Te Pāti Māori co-leaders heard about the tie rule during an induction into Parliament in 2020. Ngarewa-Packer wore a tie during the ensuing controversy because female politicians were not subject to the rule.
Ngarewa-Packer’s style has been called “postcolonial.” The high collars, lace and ruffles of the Victorian era coincided with a period of trauma for the Māori that included land confiscation and wars with British colonisers.
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Advertise with NZME.“It is something that is incredibly Western and incredibly English, and, at the same time, it is incredibly powerful and incredibly Māori,” Bobby Luke, a designer and university lecturer, said of how Māori artists and designers have reclaimed the look.
Takutai Tarsh Kemp, a Te Pāti Māori candidate, is a counterbalance to Ngarewa-Packer’s near-gothic style. She favours bold patterns, bright colours and streetwear like sneakers and tracksuits, which reflect her involvement in New Zealand’s hip-hop dance community.
“It is all about being proud to be Māori,” Kemp, 49, said at a recent campaign event in Auckland with the party’s reggae theme song blasting in the background. She wore a dress from Jeanine Clarkin, another Māori fashion designer. The dress combined a printed cotton sheet with a vintage denim vest.
It is also an example of sustainability common to many Māori designers. Nathan, the fashion designer who featured Waititi, uses organic materials such as native flax.
“The most sustainable processes and practices that you could possibly integrate into your fashion label or way of life is to look at Indigenous practices,” Nathan said.
They also play a part in Te Pāti Māori’s election campaign: Its climate policy states that Indigenous knowledge is needed to stabilise global temperatures. It has also proposed increasing the use of traditional Māori seeds for farming.
Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, a 21-year-old Te Pāti Māori candidate, called Waititi’s and Ngarewa-Packer’s fashion moments necessary “housekeeping” to introduce a new era to Te Pāti Māori.
“I don’t need to wear a tie, because I have a taonga,” said Maipi-Clarke, using the Māori word for “treasure” to describe the hei-tiki that Waititi wears instead of a tie.
The next term is expected to be a combative one for Māori issues. The National Party has promised to ax the Māori Health Authority, and a likely coalition partner, the libertarian Act Party, wants to raise the retirement age to 67 from 65. That policy would disproportionately impact Māori, whose life expectancy is several years behind non-Māori New Zealanders.
The leader of Act, David Seymour, recently said that he fantasized about sending Guy Fawkes to eliminate New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples. Fawkes was hanged in 1606 for attempting to blow up the British House of Lords. Seymour later said that he was joking.
In response, Maipi-Clarke launched a T-shirt brand called Original Navigator to remind “younger Pacific descendants that we navigated the greatest ocean with our hands, the stars and the moon,” she said.
A small trial run of T-shirts sold out in two weeks.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Serena Solomon
Photographs by: Ruth Mcdowall, Getty Images
©2023 THE NEW YORK TIMES
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