Miromoda Announces Sneak Peek And New Model Agency Ahead of Fashion Week 2017
As the hype builds for NZ Fashion Week 2017, the eight designers featuring in the NZPost Miromoda Showcase are
predictably excited and anxious about their first time in the runway spotlight. They are the winners and runners-up of
the annual Miromoda Fashion Design Awards Competition, selected earlier this year by a judging panel that included NZ
Fashion Week founder Dame Pieter Stewart, Janey Evett and Lucire magazine publisher Jack Yan.
Selected from entries by emerging and established designers who identify as Māori, they can take comfort in the fact
that five labels that have been in their shoes in previous years will either have their own show or be part of a smaller
group show at Fashion Week this year. Miromoda founder Ata Te Kanawa says this is a huge milestone for the organisation,
a clear affirmation of the quality of Māori fashion and its credible contribution to the New Zealand fashion industry.
“It hasn’t been easy, but our efforts have not been in vain as a lot of budding designers have come through the
competition and are on their way to establishing themselves as commercial players,” she says. For the first time this
year, Miromoda will allow the designers to present the inspiration behind their designs to the public before they hit
the catwalk in a Sneak Peek event on the eve of the NZ Post Miromoda Showcase.
“We felt it was a shame that only the competition judges got to hear what went into the winning collections, inspired
their design concepts and see the garments close up,” says Te Kanawa. Also making its debut at the sneak peek is the
Miromoda Model Agency, specialising in Polyeurasian models.
“To enhance the indigenous aesthetic of fashion collections we cast indigenous models from the outset, but in the
beginning there were only four ‘brown’ models available,” says Te Kanawa. “So an agency was always a matter of when, not
if,” she says. “Thankfully we now have a larger number of models to fit the call for diversity.”
Te Kanawa believes it’s not just the runway but commercial advertising and branding that will desire models of
Polyeurasian roots. “Whether people want to admit it or not, the country is browning up nicely,” she says. Collaborating
with a new indigenous wine collective, the Sneak Peek Miromoda function will host a panel discussion with the topic:
Indigenous Aesthetic – What’s the big deal?
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