There are few weeks in the FQ calendar quite as exhilarating — or logistically challenging — as New Zealand Fashion Week. Shows run late, venues span the city and, somewhere between filing stories, posting to social and making it to the next runway, there’s usually an outfit change or lipstick touch-up to contend with.
This year, however, getting around was remarkably easy. Our NZFW companion came in the form of the all-new 2026 Audi Q3 SUV, finished in a suitably chic shade of sage green, which ferried the FQ team between shows, appointments and events throughout the week.
With the InterContinental Auckland serving as our NZFW base, mornings began with the Q3 gliding up to the hotel’s valet before we set off for another packed day. From Yu Mei’s presentation at Gow Langsford Gallery in Onehunga to Elle & Riley in Parnell, and the opening of NZFW at Giltrap Group in Grey Lynn, our itinerary took us across Tāmaki Makaurau — often with very little breathing room between stops.
That’s where the Q3 came into its own. When one show inevitably ran over, it whisked us across town in time for the next. Between venues, the spacious back seat became an unofficial FQ headquarters: laptops open, emails answered, stories filed and social posts scheduled while Auckland passed by outside. At other times, it doubled as a makeshift beauty room for lipstick and hair touch-ups before stepping back in front of the cameras.
Refined, intelligent and effortlessly stylish, the Audi Q3 SUV proved particularly well suited to the Fashion Week circuit. The latest evolution of Audi’s premium compact SUV pairs a sculpted silhouette and commanding Singleframe grille with striking digital lighting signatures, giving it plenty of presence when pulling up outside a show.
Inside, the considered design continues. Premium materials meet a driver-focused layout, while a panoramic digital display, intuitive infotainment and next-generation connectivity bring a distinctly modern feel to the cabin. Supportive seating and generous interior space made it equally suited to chauffeuring a fashion team — laptops, garment bags and all — as it would be to navigating everyday city life.
And during a week when timing is everything, there was a certain luxury in knowing the journey between shows was taken care of. No frantic searches for parking, no calculating how long it might take to get across town and no panic when the previous runway finished later than planned. We simply packed up our laptops, slipped into the back seat and headed for the next destination.
For FQ, that may have been the Q3’s greatest luxury of all. In the midst of Fashion Week’s exhilarating chaos, it gave us somewhere comfortable to regroup, catch up and get where we needed to be — in suitably stylish fashion.
