EMILY NORMAN
Wairarapa people will be strutting their stuff on the catwalk as a fundraiser for Aratoi next Thursday.
The second ever Aratoi Fashion Show will kick off at 6pm on October 26 onsite, and will showcase this year’s summer fashions from Kuripuni’s Hebe and Churchfields.
Donna Burkhart, a Friend of Aratoi helping to organise the fashion show said it was designed to not only be a fundraiser for the art and history museum, but to “expose Aratoi as a destination of a range of arts, and draw people in to the building who may not normally go there”.
She said fashion was a form of creativity and art and that because Aratoi was beautiful building, “it really lends itself to this kind of event”.
“It was really successful last time but there were areas we could improve on.
“It’s going to be a much bigger and better event.
Mrs Burkhart said there was “certainly a Kuripuni flavour” to the event, what with the involvement of Hebe and Churchfields for the fashions, and Tonik the hair salon for hair styling.
“There is an incredible amount of volunteer time going into this,” Mrs Burkhart said.
“All the girls will have their makeup done in the shop windows of Hebe on the Thursday afternoon, so that will be interesting.
“Hopefully customers will pop in to Kuripuni Village and get their own outfits and style ready for the show.”
There will be 14 models involved in the parade, all volunteers of different shapes and ages.
Friends of Aratoi chair Sandra Debney said the fashion show would take place in the main foyer and windows gallery at Aratoi.
The guest speaker at the event is Mala Brajkovic, who worked as Karen Walker’s design assistant before launching her own label and store on Auckland’s Vulcan Lane.
She now lives in Raglan and designs for her label, Bad Things Apparel.
Mrs Debney said she hoped the fashion show could help make “a few dollars” for the Friends funds.
“It would be great to get people through the door who wouldn’t normally come,” she said.
“We just want to make sure people know there is a huge range of things that happen at Aratoi.”
Tickets are available from Aratoi, Hebe, and Churchfields, and are $25 each – people will be getting drinks, nibbles and a show for that price.
