Being a Kiwi, as great as it is, I enjoyed that VICE featured NZ in their global trend report. However, with all the focus on cities around the world, they managed to put NZ, the COUNTRY, not a city such as Auckland or Wellington, or hell, Palmy either!!
Here’s what they said:
“It’s slightly disappointing that no one in this majestic land actually looks like Frodo or Xena. Yes, that is all most of us know about New Zealand. Oh, and Flight of the Conchords, which isn’t the funniest thing ever, but it’s a little bit funny once in awhile. Eagle Vs. Shark was pretty good too—like Napoleon Dynamite but with cute accents and kind of sadder. What other good movies were made in New Zealand? Oh yeah, Heavenly Creatures. That’s an old fave. So anyway, instead of mythical creatures and lesbian schoolgirls, what we have here is a bunch of young cool kids being cool in their cool clothes that, we are slowly coming to realize, are the same cool clothes as everywhere else in the world. Globalization blah blah blah. Nevertheless, New Zealanders look like a pretty good time. It’s like new rave never stretched its poisonous tentacles all the way over there or something. NZ girls are good at mix ’n’ match. High-end designer pieces (Yohji Yamamoto Y’s, Zambesi) are carefully thrown together with more “street” items and bits of vintage. (MY FAV!) A simple black-and-white outfit accented with a Chanel purse plus arm tattoos plus pink hair with long bangs plus Docs equals “Let’s do this.” And wait, is that a tattoo of the Little Mermaid on her arm? OK, fine, let’s fucking do this. Everything is black-and-white, and color only occurs in the context of a perfect plaid shirt, which is harder to find than you think. Again, the preppy look for boys is a big winner, with a nice, muted-color Comme des Garçons cardigan and other tried-and-true classics, while the more metrosexual types keep up the snazz with either a slick cyberpunk vibe or a hobo kind of look. (Actually, hey, the guy in the floppy felt hat here is almost approaching hobbit territory!) Finally, all boys have uniformly decided, “Fuck it, let’s carry tote bags, what the hey.”
Check out THIS Kiwi Style:
FOURFONTAINE – THE LABEL
Fourfontaine is a New Zealand clothing label specializing in mainstream streetwear, underwear and kidswear. Fourfontaine began in 2003 as a part time business and hobby by then 18 year old Mark Hurley whilst completing his university degree. He wanted to create a brand that had the styling and quality of the high end boutique streetwear labels rarely seen in NZ, while offering them at an affordable price to the 16 – 28 year old target market.
Since the brand was created in the small summer town of Kerikeri, Bay of Islands (LOVE IT THERE!!!) four years ago, Fourfontaine has forged a very strong base of stockists with over 60 throughout the country. Fourfontaine also offers a comprehensive online store, shipping internationally, as well as a brand new flagship store located in the sort after location of Nuffield St, Newmarket.
For more info or to view the complete range checkout www.fourfontaine.com
