Whether it is a tiki pin by one of Aotearoa’s celebrated contemporary jeweller’s Warwick Freeman or a retro-inspired blazer cut with a modern finesse from local menswear stalwart Strangely Normal, Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery’s inaugural director Andrew Clifford is the well-dressed figure in our local arts scene who understands the value of personal identity through how we dress.
The experienced curator and arts writer is also a trustee for the Len Lye Foundation and Circuit, the leading voice for artist moving image in Aotearoa; and he also played a pivotal part in helping shape the sound of music locally, producing music programmes for 95bFM and Radio New Zealand during the early to late 2000s.
This year in March, Andrew played a vital part in inviting our inaugural guest editor for Viva Magazine – Volume Seven, Grammy-winner Lorde, to be photographed in the tranquil surrounds of Te Uru's Titirangi home.
Andrew is one of the few figures in our local arts scene who understand the value of fashion, supporting and collaborating with a host of names including the New Zealand fashion Museum's Doris de Pont, and others such as Maureen Lander, the Pacific Sisters, Areta Wilkinson, Lisa Walker and the Mata Aho collective.
Describe your personal philosophy when it comes to your style.
Music has always been a big influence on my sense of style and identity. Growing up, following the so-called alternative music world gave me a healthy disregard for mainstream norms and a preference for exploring offbeat, less-travelled paths.
Associated magazines like Planet and Pavement, and broadcasters like 95bFM, were also a gateway to other connected worlds like comics, fashion and film.
Eclecticism and innovation are recurring impulses that filter through most of my interests. I particularly enjoy the progressive spirit and various fusions that emerged in the music of the late 1960s and early 70s, including the cross-pollination of jazz, funk and rock.
But also the radical reset and experimentation that came after punk, and the new sounds that emerged with late-90s electronica.
But vintage style and comfort food are good, too Elvis, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Dusty Springfield, The Smiths and Marlon Williams are timeless, as are classic sneakers and good denim. If it's comfy, quirky and looks good, I'm happy.
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Advertise with NZME.What is one of your earliest fashion memories?
Having scanned a bunch of early family photo slides during lockdowns, I now have a few recovered memories of specific garments, including my dad and I getting matching gold aloha shirts for Christmas when I was maybe 6.
And many items that Mum made for us, including some very funky dresses for herself. More self-consciously, by intermediate age, I was proud to have some white pants so I could look like Don Johnson in Miami Vice, and also for unknown reasons was using a lot of hair product to have spiky punk hair. Thankfully there are no photos from the latter era.
What was the last fashion item you purchased?
Aside from socks and things, it was probably a couple of blazers found while exploring the new mall in Newmarket.
A natty checked number from David Jones and a laidback pale jacket from Rodd & Gunn for afternoon events where you don’t want to feel like you’re in your work suit not that I ever wear a full suit.
I have some fancy statement jackets from World but it’s good to pad the wardrobe out with some other (cheaper) options to make it all last longer, and for more options.
You've been working in the arts sector for a number of years how does your taste in art intersect with the way you approach fashion?
I do wonder if art people tend to be more interesting fashion people because of their focus on all things visual and, increasingly, socio-political contexts too.
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Advertise with NZME.Creativity and individualism are important, even if you’re wearing primarily black. Artists may not follow fashion but they definitely think about style, especially when they’re students and starting out, and having to improvise in op shops.
This is maybe where my appreciation for vintage styles comes from, and I do enjoy new takes on this from the likes of Strangely Normal.
Also, the art world can be very social with multiple exhibition openings to attend every week, so dressing for work means thinking about where you’re going afterwards. And you meet with all kinds of different people each day, so you need to be versatile and not dull.
As someone who also has a passion for music, it was a joy to collaborate with you and the gallery on our Viva Magazine cover shoot at Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery with Grammy-winning singer Lorde. How does music influence the way you work and dress, if at all?
My path into the arts was through music, which remains my primary passion. I was a DJ on 95bFM and in venues, made programmes for RNZ and wrote for a variety of magazines. So it has been and still is a big part of my life, but primarily just for pleasure these days.
Music can contribute a lot to someone’s sense of identity, including how they dress. But you don’t want that to become a uniform or straightjacket, and I’ve always been a bit of a magpie, musically and stylistically.
Fashion, design and art also have a lot to do with how we consume music, including in music videos, cover art and advertising. Painters have appreciated these synergies for a long time, with many early abstractionists taking their influence from music, as have film-makers including Len Lye.
From the 1960s, more and more bands and musicians started in an art school context, demonstrating how creative endeavours can cross over, e.g. The Beatles, The Who, Roxy Music, Talking Heads, Split Enz, Suburban Reptiles, The Gordons, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, etc.
And then there are performers, whatever their background, that conceptualise and integrate whatever they do as a total work of art that integrates all outcomes as a total work of art, something Germans have a word for: a gesamtkunstwerk.
When it works, it can be very powerful and I’m interested in anything that opens up the boundaries of how people think about art, or provides new ways in.
You also sport a great moustache. What do you do to take care of it?
I need to look into proper products, otherwise it’s all about endless trimming and tricky shaving, especially now that it has spread into a beard, and I’m lucky that it doesn’t need any extra attention.
In my teens and early twenties, I fussed a lot with my hair. So many fads, so little time spiky electro-pop in the 80s, then discovering Metallica and Iron Maiden, then a mullet segue into a floppy fringed undercut a la Stone Roses.
Luckily, I haven't had to think about it much since then with the legendary Mana Dave taking care of things on top he's been my hairdresser since he was a trainee doing free cuts for students in the late 90s. So now I fuss around with my facial hair instead.
Do you think fashion can be political?
Like good art, every element carries meaning. Is it locally made, handmade, recycled, upcycled, or gendered? What’s it made of?
Do the colours or prints indicate cultural or political (or sporting) interests? Do certain garments carry historical associations?
There’s so much to consider, whether it’s a personal gesture or a public statement.
As if it’s not hard enough just making sure your colours are coordinated.
Okay ... but is fashion art?
It can be but it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes fashion crosses over into the art world and sometimes it’s an art form in its own right in both instances, there’s a place for it in galleries.
One of the highlights of my first visit to Tokyo was an exquisite exhibition of Issey Miyake designs. It's a very Western idea to separate the art forms and to also think of them as distinct from everyday life when it has been more integrated.
Some New Zealand galleries like Te Uru, Objectspace and the Dowse Art Museum are more open to the full spectrum of art, design, architecture and craft.
Years ago, I enjoyed working on the New Zealand Fashion Museum's first project a retrospective of Gus Fisher's El Jay label. More recently, I supported Te Uru in hosting the New Zealand fashion Museum's Moana Currents: Dressing Aotearoa Now exhibition about Pacific influences on fashion in Aotearoa.
Artists such as Reuben Paterson and Lisa Reihana have collaborated with fashion houses, designers including Doris de Pont have worked with artists, and others such as Maureen Lander, the Pacific Sisters, Areta Wilkinson, Lisa Walker and the Mata Aho collective have pushed textile, adornment and weaving practices into the worlds of installation, sculpture and performance art.
It was pleasing to see Maureen, Areta and Mata Aho all acknowledged at the recent Arts Foundation Laureate Awards, along with Tame Iti, whose practice defies categorisation.
In the first year of lockdown, it was exciting as a representative of the Len Lye Foundation to work with the legendary fashion house Dries Van Noten to support a range influenced by Len's films, not to forget a previous Len Lye fashion project with Deadly Ponies he was a true original and an inspiration to many, myself included.
Some of these projects can’t be easily categorised, and maybe they don’t need to be.
We have such a great community of contemporary jewellers. Have any made their way into your personal collection? Any highlights?
Most of the jewellery coming into our house usually ends up with my wife, Karen, through whom I can vicariously enjoy collecting some cool pieces.
There’s a lot of room for men to up their game in this department but I do usually have a badge or button on my lapel.
With my involvement in the Len Lye Foundation, I couldn’t not have Warwick Freeman’s tiki pin, and I have a beautifully fine bone niho pendant by carver Alex Sands.
It was inspiring to attend some of last year's events for the 50th anniversary of the Polynesian Panthers and a couple of badges and a pin from that are often talking points.
What keeps you grounded?
Maybe it’s a getting older thing but I’m increasingly getting interested in genealogy and whakapapa learning more about where I’m from and connecting with my Irish, Scottish and English ancestors if I can find their burial sites or places they frequented.
I still enjoy going to little, rowdy underground gigs and hanging out with friends I’ve known since well before I got involved in the art world. Cleaning up after your cats is a great leveller.
But it doesn’t get more grounded than spending time with whanau from the secluded rural community of Matakana Island.
Summer is a great way to explore an exhibition what's coming up for the gallery that people must come and visit?
We've just opened a fabulous exhibition by Waiheke-based designer Jeanine Clarkin, which I'm glad we could give a showing in Tāmaki after its original season at the Waikato Museum was disrupted by Covid, particularly with the Auckland border cutting it off from audiences up here.
Then, over summer, it's mostly about clay with the annual Portage Ceramic Awards. Alongside that, we have an interesting project called Earth Posters, which is a collaboration between artist Fiona Jack and writer Courtney Sina Meredith, resulting in wood-fired text panels.
And also some impressive ceramics by students of Kelston Intermediate, led by artist Carla Ruka, as a result of the artist-in-schools programme.
In the new year, we can’t wait to be the first North Island venue for Te Papa’s touring Rita Angus exhibition, which is our contribution to the Auckland Arts Festival.
