Sound bites: NZ designers’ fave runway music moments

6 May 2016
By Fashion Quarterly

L-R: Nom*D, Ruby, twentysevennames and Kate SylvesterWe asked four New Zealand fashion designers  to share their favourite runway music moments.

NOM*d
“Our music defines the atmosphere of our shows. In 2014, the presentation of our AW15 collection, ‘Noise’, was accompanied by seven live drummers – guests were offered earplugs on arrival. For our AW16 show, ‘R.E.M.’, the soundtrack was a recording of a live performance by Sam Hunt at Chick’s Hotel in Port Chalmers, with backing from local Dunedin artists. Dreamy!”
– Margi Robertson

Ruby
“My favourite runway soundtrack to date is the one we put together for our SS15 show at last year’s NZFW. The collection was called ‘Tonight, Tonight’ and from the very inception I knew that we had to include the Smashing Pumpkins classic in some way or another. It’s a song that’s so nostalgic of my teenage years; I had to hold back a few tears backstage when it started.
– Deanna Didovich

twentysevennames
“Our AW16 collection ‘Still Life’ is a celebration of women, so compiling an all-female playlist for our waterfront showcase at NZFW was a no-brainer. We wanted to reference two of our favourite coming-of-age albums – Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill and Spice Girls’ Spice. Boy did we have those albums on repeat in ‘96. We also needed some bangers in there (I dare you to find me one person who doesn’t appreciate ‘1 Thing’ by Amerie), and of course we had to give a shout out to the number-one rapper in the game, Nicki Minaj. Her verse in ‘Truffle Butter’ is so good!”
– Anjali Stewart

Kate Sylvester
“For our AW15 show we used The Jesus and Mary Chain from start to finish. Their music takes you on an emotional rollercoaster so it was the perfect fit for the collection ‘Tartt’, which references the complicated teenage worlds portrayed in Donna Tartt’s cult books. This soundtrack remains a personal favourite of mine as I have been such a huge fan of The Jesus and Mary Chain since the days of my own teenage angst. I’ll be front row at their Powerstation gig in March.”
– Kate Sylvester

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