A Historic Opening Show
Kiri Nathan's 2023 New Zealand Fashion Week show wasn't a typical single collection. Instead of one, she presented six, built around wahanga o te ao Māori, the different components of Māori life. Instead of a standard 30-garment lookbook, the show produced 130 images. It was, by any measure, an unusually ambitious way to mark a milestone.
That milestone was real: in the event's 22-year history, no Māori designer had opened New Zealand Fashion Week before. Vogue Australia's description of the show as "the changing of the guard" reflected just how significant the moment was seen to be within the industry.
The Pounamu Tie That Referenced a Parliamentary Stand
In February 2021, Rawiri Waititi, co-leader of Te Pāti Māori, was ejected from Parliament's debating chamber for refusing to wear a necktie. In its place, he wore a pounamu hei-tiki, arguing it met the standard of Māori business attire. Speaker Trevor Mallard disagreed and had him removed. Waititi called the tie requirement "a colonial noose."
The story didn't end there. By the next evening, Mallard scrapped the tie requirement entirely, a rare, fast reversal that made international headlines. Waititi later said his hei-tiki was "a tie to my people," not just a personal styling choice.
At Kiri Nathan's 2023 show, Waititi appeared on the runway wearing a pounamu tie, a design directly referencing that 2021 stand. Set inside a runway celebrating Māori fashion on its biggest stage, the callback turned a political flashpoint into something closer to a victory lap.