Auckland Museum celebrates NZ fashion

MEDIA RELEASE

Auckland Museum celebrates NZ fashion

Auckland Museum opens two glamorous exhibitions this week, with a retrospective of avant-garde fashion house, WORLD, and a look at the first fashion event in New Zealand's social calendar, The Gown of the Year.

We fought fashion and lost: WORLD 1989 - 2005 presents a range of fabulous garments from innovative designers Denise L'Estrange-Corbet and Francis Hooper, who over the last fifteen years have developed their label from a 50 square foot cupboard at the back of an Auckland arcade, to an internationally acclaimed fashion house. This is the first time that a New Zealand label has been acknowledged with a solo exhibition at a major metropolitan museum.

Fashion on Wheels: The New Zealand Gown of the Year showcases a fairytale fashion competition which wowed the nation between 1958 and 1964. Modelled by gorgeous women around the provincial towns of New Zealand, Fashion on Wheels brought a touch of glamour to community halls and theatres, with locals voting on which gown they liked best. The annual event launched the careers of designers such as Kevin Berkahn, Rosemarie Muller and Michael Mattar, and the exhibition includes a selection of the original winning gowns.

Coinciding with Air New Zealand Fashion Week, both exhibitions are on display at Auckland Museum from 27 August until 7 November 2004.

Fashion on Wheels was curated for the Hawke's Bay Museum by Claire Regnault, with the support of Creative New Zealand. Both exhibitions are generously supported by the Radio Network of New Zealand and are entry by donation.

-ends-

© Scoop Media