New Zealand based Kagi has been expanding across the Tasman, but the chance to feature in the prestigious New Zealand Fashion Week was an opportunity to good to pass up, according to designer Kat Gee.
Gee enlisted the help of creative director Morag Brownlie and her cast of burlesque dance performers, Birds of Paradise, to showcase Kagi’s latest collection of the same name, creating an unusual and entertaining piece of
performance art.
Narrated by a New Zealand interpretation of David Attenborough, the performance saw performers bring the Kagi jewellery to life through a mix of operatic singing, ballet and burlesque dance.
Given Kagi was the first jewellery brand to present on the catwalk in the event’s history, Gee said she wanted to ensure the performance caught the audience’s attention.
“We wanted to do something different, risky and innovative,” Gee said. “It had to be unique so we really used the catwalk as our theatre with these stunning burlesque dance performers to bring our jewellery to life.
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” Gee continued. “I was quite nervous about it, because it was quite a risky proposition to revolutionise the catwalk theme, but from what I have seen there has been more than 20 articles or feature stories written about it and not one of them has been negative.”
Gee said a lot of work had gone into preparing the performance so it was a great relief to see the audience react well when it began.
“I was out the back watching it on the big screen and I was particularly watching the audience’s reaction. Often audiences at fashion shows don’t appear to be having fun, but as soon as David Attenborough came out I saw big smiles spreading on faces and I thought, brilliant, they get it,” Gee said.
The appearance has generated massive amounts of media interest in New Zealand, which Gee said was a great reward for taking a risk with a different way of promoting the company.
“We thought it was the best format for us to get the media excited about the brand. There is already so much coverage around fashion at that time that it made sense for us given Kagi is a fashion brand. Yes we are jewellery but we are first and foremost a fashion brand, and we thought the alignment with fashion week and the coverage it would give us would be perfect. ”
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