How Bizarre? The Weirdest Serendipitous Moments In New Zealand Fashion

From huh? moments to a-ha! moments, a veritable assortment of fashion faces and stalwarts regale us with the times in fashion that left them, well, speechless.

It was the boat ride to Waiheke Island for a sponsored fashion award that ultimately never happened, inside a mansion hosted by socialite Pearl Going in 2008.

There was the taping of America’s Next Top Model at the top of Auckland Museum in 2009 where we were asked to react in faux surprise at the final winner for over three hours.

It was the countless and endless meetings with brands that set up shop and then left the country without another word - from Ed Hardy’s parade of embellished T-shirts to Affinity Diamond’s four-month existence in the New Zealand market between July 2002 and December 2022, after setting up an expensive showroom at the top of an Art Deco Auckland building at 33 Shortland St.

There was the designer Rochelle Goodrick, who showcased a collection of modest dresses at New Zealand Fashion Week in 2016 where Maria Folau walked the runway and Stan Walker came out singing.

There was the other time at New Zealand Fashion Week when Jay-Jay Feeney was sitting in my seat and when I’d kindly asked her if she could move to her seat, she scowled at me before I made my way to a vacant seat behind her.

The fashion industry is made up of smoke and mirrors and as one of the perils of the job, I have found myself an unwilling participant in some of the most random situations.

All of the aforementioned scenarios have happened and left me thinking, “What the f*** was that all about?”

Below, I’ve corraled other fashion industry figures to share the moments they found odd, weird, amazing and surreal as an exercise in nostalgia and a chance to look back in a Fashion Week-less year, at some of the most bizarre occurrences that will never be forgotten.

Margi Robertson, Nom*D

The Nom*D founder and designer recalls a fashion purist’s dream encounter.

From the early 90s Margi, from Nom*d, embarks on her twice-yearly buying trip to Paris to purchase collections for their Plume stores. In the mid-90s, the trip led to a serendipitous encounter, thanks to Graça Fischer whom Margi had hired at the time.

Graça had previously worked as a fit model for Martin Margiela, and it was through this connection that an extraordinary moment unfolded. Margiela, known for rarely making personal appearances, took a special interest in meeting Margi.

“This encounter was really special because Margiela was known for being quite reserved and hidden, always staying behind the scenes,” says Margi.

“But something about my visit caught his eye. He actually came down from an upstairs office to meet me, intrigued by how a store on the opposite side of the world, the most southern city of the southern hemisphere, could possibly find a market for his avant-garde designs.

“The staff at Margiela were also astounded that he came down to speak to me and also asked after Graça.

“That serendipitous meeting with Graça, who at the time worked in our retail store, Plume, and the special connection formed with Margiela, led to Plume becoming a stockist of the brand.”

Benny Castles, World

For the past 35 years, the World team have seen some seriously bizarre moments mixed in with the surreal. Here he shares several weird moments.

“There was the time a customer returned a pair of trousers, apparently unworn, yet had their excrement on the interior in the backside, that was similar but dissimilar to the time we found a customer had left a number two in the changing room... a bizarre gratuity indeed,” recalls World’s designer and director Benny Castles.

“There was the time we received nude pictures from a customer for consideration for a lookbook model, or the under-pantsless gentleman whom we had to help pull up the trousers for after we advised him he would now have to buy. Quite the sight.

“Quite the sound too were the two ladies who found a prolonged intimate moment in one of our High St changing rooms, only to appear after a short while flushed and in a fabulous mood, and ready to buy.”

Of course, when it comes to the surreal and wonderful moments of the local fashion industry, World’s eccentric fashion shows have always been a highlight.

“Our shows have always endeavoured to be a little bit surreal,” says Benny.

“There was the full-to-brimming Auckland Town Hall with Blue Monday dialled up to peak volume; or the boys in Reuben Paterson glitter suits in the old ‘snot green’ room at the Northern Club; or the Aotea Centre packed with 2000 drunk hairdressers as the late, great drag artist Bambi dazzled in a black business suit, heels as tall as the Sky Tower and a tiara fit for the princess he was, while Tom of Finland images flashed on the screen behind him. There was the time we sent a model down the catwalk in a Zorb ball covered in rainbow fur, and she survived... that’s still around here somewhere.

“Possibly the most surreal moment was when Andre Leon Talley and Miss J. Alexander spent an afternoon with us in the World workroom. During their time in New Zealand as part of America’s Next Top Model filming and seemingly underwhelmed with Auckland, the two sauntered into a World store and immediately demanded their chaperone take them to our studio.

“Without further ado they showed up at our office and played dress-ups in our couture room for an afternoon. Andre, after absorbing our wares looked me squarely in the eye and said ‘I bet you’re the camp queen in here’, I said ‘I’m in training’ and nodded at our creative director Francis Hooper, and said ‘he’s the one you are looking for’.

“Surreal it seems now, but terribly fun at the time!”

Doris de Pont (ONZM)

The fashion designer and founder of The New Zealand Fashion Museum recalls a New Zealand Herald sports reporter’s eager review.

“When you work in fashion it is difficult to think of anything as bizzare, you are programmed to expect the unexpected,” says Doris.

“There was however one occasion that did surprise; our New Zealand Fashion Week show was reviewed by a sports writer. In 2002 DNA staged its show, Where Wild Things Are, at the Auckland Art Gallery.

In the front row was a celebrity line-up that included Sex in the City costume designer Rebecca Weinberg, Lucy Lawless and international fashion writer and commentator Colin McDowell, who said of the show ‘I liked the spirit. It had a creative edge,’ (NZ Herald, 2002). Perfectly echoing the week’s promotional language, which used ‘create an edge’, playing on the in-vogue edgy descriptor of New Zealand fashion, the cutting edge of innovation and alluding to our place, at the edge of the world.

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“Also in the front row was first-time Fashion Week attendee and sports writer for the Herald, Tony Wall. He was on the edge of his seat. His review in the Weekend Herald was headlined ‘Action, flesh - all a bloke could ask for’. He called the show ‘fast and furious’ and wrote that ‘this was the most exciting thing I had been to since, well, a Canterbury - Waikato clash a few years back’.

“The whole article was full of sporting references: ‘The place is abuzz, the anticipation is high, it’s almost kick-off time. Then there is a hush, some rock music starts up and out comes a series of amazing, long-legged creatures who stride like prize race-horses before a Cox Plate.’ Anyway, I think the gist of his review was that he had enjoyed the fashion show but as far as I know, he didn’t ever change codes.”

Marc Moore, Stolen Girlfriends Club

The creative director for Stolen Girlfriends Club reminisces about two of the brand’s seminal runway shows.

2014 Fashion Week Show at Western Springs Speedway

“At the start of our show, we had two cars doing burnouts near the beginning of the runway to create all of this smoke,” says Marc.

“We sent the first model on to the runway, and we were all too busy marvelling at how cool it looked. I’d forgotten to tell the audio team to start the runway soundtrack.

“So, the first model just walked down the runway in complete silence. In some weird stroke of luck, the moment became even more powerful and eerie with no music. It was definitely what we call a happy accident, and people thought it was innovative.”

2018 Fashion Week show at Red Bull HQ

Another Fashion Week moment that left Marc speechless was in 2018.

“We were backstage, keeping an eye on each model as they hit the runway, making sure the timing was perfect. As each model returned from the runway we would ferry them down to the wardrobe area for their next change.

“About midway through the show, this random girl - obviously quite tipsy - managed to walk the runway completely unaware, right back through the entrance, out to the backstage area where we were and asked where the toilets were. Somehow, she had managed to walk down the runway - fully unaware - going against the flow of the models.”

The brand is synonymous for knowing how to throw a good party. “Pre-drinks perhaps weren’t her best idea that day.”

Madeleine Richards, Daylight Moon Studio

The former founder of MAW and ex-creative director of popular 2000s retail concept store Made shares a sweet moment of serendipity.

“Recently we were invited as a family to the Auckland Museum to view our family taonga of my grandmother’s rag rugs that are in the archives up there,” says Madeleine. “When we arrived one of the curators was wearing a pair of Daylight Moon pants as she loves the label.

“She was amazed to see the connection as she had been researching my grandmother, who was a fashion designer and opened one of the first womenswear boutiques on Queen St in the early 1940s. She then in later life became a rag rug maker who was very prolific with her work and has pieces in both the Auckland Museum and the Dowse in Wellington.

“Through her research, she also knew that my great-grandmother had owned her own business in Auckland making clothing and my mother had her own knitwear label as she too was a designer.

“She pointed out to me that I am now the fourth generation of clothing designer who has her own business in the New Zealand fashion industry and just how special and interesting that was. I haven’t really ever spoken about it to anyone but it did give me a greater sense of belonging to what I do and a deeper understanding of why I do.”

Liam Bowden, Deadly Ponies

Before the popular leather goods brand had any retail stores, they opened their first-ever pop-up in Ponsonby - which turned out to be quite the experience.

“We had set up a pop-up shop above an antique store Flotsam and Jetsam, leasing it for a few months leading up to Christmas,” says Liam. “The store was a huge success; so much so that we had to order more stock, bringing in about $100,000 worth of Deadly Ponies products for the festive season.

“But about six weeks before Christmas, we were suddenly asked to move out with no explanation. It was a very stressful time with a lot of stock coming and not many options.

“I spent days going door-to-door around Ponsonby, searching for a new space.

“Eventually, I came across what is now our Ponsonby Flagship, which was a Garry Nash glass-blowing art gallery at the time. I asked if they would consider part-leasing the space and as it turned out, they were already planning to move out. They offered us the space, and from there, things moved pretty quickly.

“I reached out to interior designer Katie Lockhart, and within weeks, with the help of her husband and a friend, we transformed the space using redwood trunks for display units and opened what became our first Deadly Ponies store.

“What started as a total ‘what are we going to do?’ moment turned into a key turning point that pushed us into our own retail spaces, completely shifting our focus and changing the direction of the business.”

Dan Ahwa is Viva’s fashion and creative director and a senior premium lifestyle journalist for the New Zealand Herald, specialising in the intersections of style, luxury, art and culture. He is also an award-winning stylist with more than 17 years of experience and is a co-author and co-curator of the book and exhibition Moana Currents: Dressing Aotearoa Now.

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