REVIEW: NEW ZEALAND FASHION WEEKEND 2016

Despite the speeding ticket we got on the way to Auckland, my Sunday spent at New Zealand Fashion weekend was pretty good. It was my first time to go to a fashion show and I was so glad to have attended it with one of my best friends, Antonia (who also blogs: http://tiredgirlsews.weebly.com) as well as Anwar (our driver and photographer for the day). To be honest, I only knew about NZ Fashion Week four days ago so we were only able to get our hands on tickets for the Wedding show (standard seats) and Ponsonby presents (premium seats which came with a goody bag). Nonetheless, I was really surprised to see how affordable the tickets were as I thought they would be expensive considering it is a fashion  show. With our tickets, we also had general admission to the pop-up designer sale as well as beauty and technology booths within the ANZ Viaduct Events Centre.

Once we got into the building, you could instantly smell the alcohol from all of the wine and champagne being served and there seemed to be free apples everywhere, infact this year there was a whole wall of apples as a background for people to take pictures next to. As mentioned before, there were also a lot of booths and the most intriguing one to me was the Samsung booth showcasing the new Note 7 (if I’m not mistaken) where some were attached onto a wall with water flowing down to show that they were waterproof. There were also many booths offering to do hair and makeup for free (well I knew that The Body Shop was doing them for free) or had specials for the products they had.

The first show that we went to was the Wedding show at 11am and I was so excited as I had always wanted to go to one. The show did not disappoint as in my opinion, all of the dresses were all elegant and beautiful. I was even more excited when I realised that for one of the  designers, they had used one of Yuna’s (my favourite Malaysian singer) song, Lullabies (listen on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3baQwUrTxzE or the remix version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsGiBwK4Ycc). The style for wedding dresses had included beading, lace, tulle and bejewelled bodices. Many of the dresses had really nice details at the back with small white fabricated buttons or an open back. There were also long sleeved and off the shoulder dresses as well. The last dress was definitely a statement dress as it was bright red and velvety with the longest veil I had ever seen in my life (they needed four people to help with the veil). Nonetheless, the show had also showcased suits for men as well.

The next show was due at 3pm so beforehand, we checked out the designer pop up sales upstairs where most designers had heavily discounted their clothing. So if you ever wanted to buy New Zealand designer clothes at a cheaper price, NZFW is the place to be.

Ponsonby Presents was a rather interesting fashion show as it showcased ‘Hipster’ looks. In our goody bags we had a lot of food such as bliss bites, body products and vouchers to use at shops in Ponsonby. In the show, most of the girls were wearing chokers and sparkly socks. I thought that the guys were a lot less ‘hipster’ than the girls where they dressed more casually with streetwear. Nonetheless, I noticed that the girl models wore a lot of long sleeved (sometimes off the shoulder or had cut outs), baggy/big with deep necks for the tops or dresses; they also wore flowing pants or skirts with splits.

Overall, I’m really glad to have gone to New Zealand Fashion weekend as I had a good time and it gave me a lot of fashion inspo from the runway as well from the people who attended the event. Needless to say, you will definitely see me at NZFW next year.