Auckland University's student magazine Craccum sat media side for the closing show of NZ Fashion Week: Kahuria and bore witness to the explosive debut of the MaeSteal collective.
Elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder, and the occasional armpit in face. The closing spectacle of NZ Fashion Week: Kahuria, felt more like a description for a night out than the subdued aura of the fashion week media pit. The ones responsible for bridging the gap and bringing the filth of Karangahape Road to a much more ‘pristine’ crowd were the beautifully bizarre artists of the MaeSteal Collective.
The penultimate show of NZFW finished 20 minutes late, meaning, for the large portion of the crowd also attending MaeSteal's closing show, intended to run back-to-back, there was a mad dash up the stairs of the Viaduct Events Centre - equivalent to a dam finally bursting.
It wasn’t just a river of people flowing into Maesteal Collective’s runway show - but the accompanying wave of expectations that come with attending something like NZFW: to look on-trend but still unique, have the price tag on your outfit be above a certain threshold and blend into the background of influencers’ photos. It is a balancing act between fashion being a form of self-expression, and fashion week being about fitting in.
These expectations were the target of MaeSteal’s dark, bold collection. It took aim at the compulsive gendering of fashion, as well as the confines of cishet styling and ‘professionalism’. It slowly distressed these into shreds, delivering a deliberately tattered show on ripping through fashion norms.
Strutting down the catwalk cosplaying the office tycoons of Auckland’s Central Business District, each model wore the same monochromatic bases. Underneath, fabric cobwebbed skin, and above, molten plastic bubbled over - visualisations of the queer body breaking through the cracks.
The show devolved from structured formal wear, which literally unravelled at the seams, into the soft and formless, which then grew new hardware and transformed into something new, non-human. Office goers turned to drag performers, turned angels and demons, turned creature.
Appropriating business attire at the very epicentre of the YoPro: the Auckland Waterfront prompted viewers to question not only their place in the professional world but within the fashion industry itself.
Creative director Copper MaeSteal explained, "[Fashion Week] is a business with a ‘pristine’ reputation, and we aimed to spark dialogue by embodying queer experiences of distress and alienation through our designs.”
The audience took to the unconventional show with unconventional energy - the enthusiastic cheering and clapping a far cry from the silent judgement of most fashion shows.
Auckland Pride creative director Nathan Joe observed the marked energy shift, stating that it, “felt like a disruptive showcase of up and coming queer talent, inspiring grins and whooping from an appreciative audience that might be more subdued in your typical NZFW show”.
For the collective, assuming the role of the closing performance of NZFW also held profound symbolic significance -stressing that their position as the last show guaranteed undivided attention for their message.
It was a recognition of the weird, the bizarre - an affirmation that all forms of expression are not just accepted but celebrated. Their message resonated with the essence of welcoming emerging creative talents, embracing queer communities and revealing an aspect of Auckland typically hidden, known only to the night owls of the club scene.
Comprising friends, friends-of-friends and kindred spirits, the group breathed life into every facet of the show, driven by a strong sense of community. Copper MaeSteal, in the role of house mother, recollects how their own home became a hub for creativity, overrun with sewing machines during the two-month sprint to create 20 unique looks. They likened the experience to a "pressure cooker" at times, the intensity a testament to their dedication.
From set design to music production and visual elements, the collective was the creative force behind every aspect of the show. Together, they forged an atmosphere where alternative selves and art could flourish.
Yet, the recognition that their show bore a broader responsibility beyond the collective was not lost on them, with the group acknowledging the weight of their duty to their communities and to the generations that would follow.
Copper Maesteal encapsulated this sentiment with a resounding declaration. “If you want something, go out and snatch it. We weren’t invited. We asked to be here,” declares the indomitable house mother.
For a collection that was ultimately about queer distress, the struggles of presentation and wrestling with authenticity over assimilating, the triumph of putting it all out on the runway left a satisfying tease of an aftertaste - a craving for more from MaeSteal. With several exciting projects lined up for the rest of the year, Copper MaeSteal advises to enter with no preconceptions: "No two shows will ever be the same.”
