FashioNZ Chats to Myken Stewart

FashioNZ caught up with NZ Fashion Festival brand manager, Myken Stewart, to chat with her about the event.

With NZFF now in its second year, and much larger than last year’s event, what are you hoping to achieve with this year’s Fashion Festival?
2011 NZFF is two years old and nearly there with a complete schedule that is to be part of our three year plan to introduce the event to NZ.  Last year, we were one show and the garage sale and this year there are four official NZFF runway shows, the MAC beauty seminar and the Garage Sale all held down at Shed 5 and 6 at 90 Wellesley St and the Vidcom Business Breakfast at Clooney as well as all the other events on the Super City schedule. So in a nutshell, it’s much bigger with more to offer, more designers and a lot more tickets out there for the public to get involved.

What can people expect from this year’s event?
What we want to achieve and also the aim of the event is to be inclusive and not exclusive and to present in season collections which you can buy the next day.  It’s all about making the wheels go around in the industry and ultimately that’s selling product.  NZFF is the event for the public to see what collections are out there and everything that is fashion. People attending the events should be expecting a good night out.  Each night is sponsored by a different magazine and has different designers, so there is something for everyone.  There will also be a complimentary magazine and some cool sampling and giveaways happening.  The Shed 5 Speed Shop  will be the home to the NZFF bar serving drinks from 6pm and along with all the motorcycle and car memorabilia (great for the boys)  there is some seriously cool art and graffiti to checkout and mingle  with the crowd before the show,  which be buzzing with media and fashion industry members.

Why did you decide to extend Fashion Festival to include the Vidcom Business Seminar and MAC beauty seminar, and the various other Big Little City events?
The plan has always been to add more shows and business and beauty seminars. The Super City schedule is all about other fashion activity going on in town during the week which only supports the industry and gives fashionistas more to do and see.  In years to come there will be more of everything.  This year is all about getting it out there and educating about what is NZFF.

What for you personally will be the highlights of this year’s Fashion Festival?
My highlights for 2011 are similar to 2010 and are a lot to do with the differences yet similarities between NZFF and NZFW, which is our other event which is for trade and not the public. Seeing people who are enjoying a drink with friends and writing down their favourite pieces they are seeing in the shows and knowing we are achieving our goal of taking fashion to the people.  It’s a good feeling.  I’m also totally stoked about MAC Seminar and the Vidcom Business Breakfast.   It’s not all about fashion shows and they will be two great events.