Your NZFW Styling Playbook
With last year’s disruption to the usual programming, New Zealand Fashion Week Kahuria 2025 marks a long-awaited celebration for the country’s sartorially inclined. Falling on the same week as the underground fashion week Āhua, this August, you can expect the streets of downtown Auckland to look like runways in their own right. Exciting as it is, attending the shows can be just as anxiety-inducing.
One question sits at the back of everyone’s mind: What will I wear? To the untrained eye, that may seem superficial, but it’s more than just an outfit. Whether you’re invited or have purchased a ticket, attending a show is a privilege. It’s a chance to support a designer you admire and, perhaps, to make a statement, especially when the odds are high that someone will snap your photo. At a time when there is so much worth speaking about, take a page out of Gary Chiles’ book—who exclusively wears an all-over cannabis-print suit to the Parliament—and consider how your Fashion Week attire could make an impact.
If you already own a piece by the designer whose show you’re attending, building a look around it is a good starting point. Otherwise, look to their work for inspiration and reinterpret it using pieces you already have. Note the kinds of fabrics they favour, the silhouettes that reappear in their collections and how their lookbooks are styled.
Below, we’ve styled five looks inspired by designers showing at NZFW this August. There was only one rule—we couldn't use a single piece from their collections.
