Seven Wellington creatives brought together a group of 150 movers and shakers to attend a mysterious event that showed off the design aesthetics of the Capital.
In a want to revitalize and reinvigorate Wellington’s design scene with a series of conceptual events steering away from fashion’s traditional catwalk presentation with a move towards design collaboration and lifestyles.
Elements that make up a Wellington lifestyle are brought together including fashion, interior, architecture, visual art, hair, makeup, furniture, lighting, paint, and textile.
The founders describe SHOW as a series of conceptual exhibits with a focus on designer collaboration and creative community. The brand is intended to be a window into how this world is created revealing the layers of thought behind the product. What is it that moves designers to create, make and influence?
They gathered professionals who are brining the standard for art, design and fashion in Wellington. Those who are engaged in creative, challenging and boundary pushing work – which ultimately created an immersive and unique event.
The first SHOW was on May 2 and was a component of two parts – a group installation show and a solo show.
Guests were told to meet at TSB Arena before boarding buses to embark on their SHOWcase journey.
The group installation took guests to the old Airforce base in Shelley Bay, which is now home to Propeller Studios. Here they were taken through the maze of themed rooms.
Spaces featured fashion designers who had collaborated with design stores to bring the space to life and showcase the elements that coexist to make up a Wellington lifestyle.
Trelise Cooper, ES Design, Empire of Genius, HMS Studio, Ziggurat, Skandi, highnoontea, Willis York, Mandatory, BoConcept and Resene all put their spin on their current seasons and current lifestyle trends.
The models became part of the installation, interacting with furniture and other design elements.
The second part of the event saw dancers Loughlan Prior and William Fitzgerald from the Royal New Zealand Ballet arrive in Range Rovers to then open the Zambesi catwalk show.
Models walked the Z-shaped catwalk that ran the length of the studio space.
Known for creating a spectacle, Zambesi did not disappoint. They created a rustic, industrial surrounding decked out with scaffolding timber bench seats and oil drums all in Zambesi’s signature black.
The entire experience is powered by iBeacon technology via a bespoke app from digital design agency, Hashbang.
Notifications were pushed to each participant’s iOS device as they moved about the event, allowing them to find and favourite the details of each element they saw – the look on a model, the table, the light fighting as well as what they were eating and drinking.
“We want to encourage people into retail. New Zealand designers are so forward thinking in their designs and have such a proclivity towards great quality that seeing the way these lifestyle elements work together could have no other outcome than wetting their appetites for spending,” says co-director Trina Edwards.
For its premiere event, SHOW certainly created a new concept that hopefully will be back next year!
All images in this article was sourced from SHOW‘s Facebook page.
