Blog Archives

Lessons in Transeasonal Dressing By Maggie Hewitt

Lessons in Transeasonal Dressing By Maggie Hewitt

Maggie Hewitt, the Auckland-based designer behind the “liveable luxury” label Maggie Marilyn, talks Vogue Australia through her brand’s fresh take on transeasonal dressing. Hewitt, 23, says she thinks her line is unique because: “[There is…

Napalm Records Signs Speed Metal Band Stalker

Napalm Records Signs Speed Metal Band Stalker

“Fearless” Wellington three-piece Stalker, who have just signed to Austrian label Napalm Records, are set to release “a most sinister monster of an album” – Shadow Of The Sword – on 17 November, according…

Netball’s Natalie Milicich Singapore’s New Coach

Netball’s Natalie Milicich Singapore’s New Coach

It was a search that required almost a year of patience, but Netball Singapore (NS) is confident it has landed the right person to lead the national team, and it is Natalie Milicich, 50,…

Scott Dixon One of the Best Drivers of All Time

Scott Dixon One of the Best Drivers of All Time

Chip Ganassi Racing’s managing director Mike Hull believes that four-time IndyCar champion, New Zealander Scott Dixon, 37, stands comparison with the legends of the sport. Dixon has scored 41 race wins in his IndyCar career,…

Evelyn Marsters Finds Home in Berlin Four Years On

Evelyn Marsters Finds Home in Berlin Four Years On

“What has collapsed the barbed edges of my experience and allowed me to feel like I have a community and live in a place where I can not just survive – but actually…

Jane Campion on Her Ovarian Series

Jane Campion on Her Ovarian Series

The legality of prostitution and commercial surrogacy, the exploitation of women involved in both – in the end, Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake: China Girl explored those issues more than it explored the…

Speaking Te Reo Maori All Year Round

Speaking Te Reo Maori All Year Round

The real question is whether the enthusiasm around the annual Maori Language Week (Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori) can spill into the rest of the year. “Te Reo Maori Week should be an…

Kiri Te Kanawa Sings Her Last Public Note

Kiri Te Kanawa Sings Her Last Public Note

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, one of opera’s most celebrated stars, has told the BBC she will never sing in public again. Te Kanawa, 73, said she stopped performing a year ago, but had not…

Sam Neill Nominated for Another Emmy

Sam Neill Nominated for Another Emmy

A few days out from the Emmy Awards, where Sam Neill, 70, has been nominated in the outstanding narrator category for his work on documentary series Wild New Zealand, the actor showed he was…

New Zealand Secure Record Win Over South Africa

New Zealand Secure Record Win Over South Africa

World champions New Zealand ran in eight tries as they thumped South Africa 57-0 in Auckland, their biggest winning margin against the Springboks, BBC Sport reports. Victory extended their lead in the four-team Rugby Championship…

Quest to Rediscover Lost Pink and White Terraces

Quest to Rediscover Lost Pink and White Terraces

Roughly the size of a city block and up to eight stories high, the Pink and White Terraces were one of the top tourist attractions in New Zealand during the 19th century, Atlas Obscura…

Mt Doom, Ski Fields and Bike Redemption

Mt Doom, Ski Fields and Bike Redemption

A scenic North Island train journey takes in the dramatic landscape, the Whakapapa ski fields – and an unexpected two-wheeled catharsis for Guardian journalist Lucy Clark. “When you haven’t been on a bicycle for four…

UFO Home for Sale in Warrington

UFO Home for Sale in Warrington

A rare spaceship-shaped home located in Warrington and designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1968, is for sale, attracting international interest as sci-fi and architecture nerds scramble to secure a UFO abode by…

New Zealand’s 10 Most Desirable Airbnb Getaways

New Zealand’s 10 Most Desirable Airbnb Getaways

Airbnb have revealed their most wished-for holiday homes in New Zealand with listings including a truck with a sea view, a city centre loft apartment and romantic bush chalet, Emilia Mazza writes for the…

Model Lili Sumner at New York Fashion Week

Model Lili Sumner at New York Fashion Week

Every year for a week in September, the bustling streets of New York are overrun with leggy models running from casting to casting in anticipation of fashion week. New Zealander Lili Summer, 23, is…

Jordan Rakei’s New Album Gets Paste Excited

Jordan Rakei’s New Album Gets Paste Excited

There’s so much good music slated to come out in September, according to Paste magazine, who list their top 15 artists, including New Zealander Jordan Rakei. Rakei’s new album Wallflower is out on 22 September. “As…

Isaac Giesen to Row Solo Across the Atlantic Ocean

Isaac Giesen to Row Solo Across the Atlantic Ocean

Isaac Giesen, 24, has set his sights on being the first New Zealander to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, an extraordinary mission to raise funds for awareness about depression. All funds raised will be…

Legendary Reggae Stars Katchafire Play Sydney

Legendary Reggae Stars Katchafire Play Sydney

They’re the band who have stamped themselves as pioneers of the reggae movement in New Zealand. And now Katchafire is set to show northern beaches music lovers what they’ve been missing out on when…

New Zealand’s Very Own Sex Witch Shaney Marie

New Zealand’s Very Own Sex Witch Shaney Marie

An exotic dancer from New Zealand has transformed herself into a “sex witch” and plans on putting her spell on disciples around the world. Melbourne-based Shaney Marie, 31, delved into witchcraft after spending years…

Georgia Fowler Stars in Haute Couture Shoot

Georgia Fowler Stars in Haute Couture Shoot

New Zealand model Georgia Fowler, 25, who was recently chosen to once again appear in the Victoria’s Secret Show, donned couture for a shoot at the newly renovated Hotel de Crillon in Paris. “The Hotel…

Sluggin’ It out with Wrestler Toni Storm

Sluggin’ It out with Wrestler Toni Storm

Auckland-born Toni Storm, 26, has wrestled in 13 countries, by her count, but the Mae Young Classic is her first experience in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and when she first came to the WWE…

New Zealand to Rebuild Christchurch Cathedral

New Zealand to Rebuild Christchurch Cathedral

More than six years after being destroyed in the deadly earthquake that struck Christchurch, the city’s iconic cathedral will be rebuilt by the Anglican Church. For many locals, the wreck has become a visual reminder…

Lindauer Portraits on Show in San Francisco

Lindauer Portraits on Show in San Francisco

Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, is touring 31 portraits of Maori by the famed artist Gottfried Lindauer, which will be on display at San Francisco’s de Young Fine Arts Museum through to April…

Timmy Chiew Wins Top International Gaming Prize

Timmy Chiew Wins Top International Gaming Prize

Timmy Chiew, 25, from Auckland has taken out the top spot at an international gaming tournament beating 10 of the world’s best Yu-Gi-Oh players, in a New Zealand first. Chiew, who has been playing card…

New Zealand’s Election No Longer Predictable

New Zealand’s Election No Longer Predictable

No one had expected New Zealand’s 23 September election to be much of a contest. The conservatives were expected to win, again. But that was before Jacinda Ardern and a wave of support that’s…

Callan Mulvey Joins Outlaw King Cast

Callan Mulvey Joins Outlaw King Cast

Auckland-born actor Callan Mulvey, 42, is joining the cast of upcoming American-Scottish historical action drama Outlaw King, which will be aired on Netflix. According to Variety, Mulvey will be playing the role of Sir John…

Vaea Fifita Rescues All Blacks with Solo Try

Vaea Fifita Rescues All Blacks with Solo Try

“New Zealand needed a second-half surge, inspired by Vaea Fifita’s stunning solo try, to shake off Argentina and record a bonus-point win in New Plymouth,” sports reporter Charlie Morgan writes for the Telegraph. “With just…

Emilia Wickstead Shares Royal Wardrobe Secrets

Emilia Wickstead Shares Royal Wardrobe Secrets

Auckland-born fashion designer Emilia Wickstead, 34, sits down with Hello! magazine to talk about her fashion philosophy, the art of dressing like a royal and what it’s really like working with a celebrity clientele,…

Photographer Gavin O’Neill Shoots for the Stars

Photographer Gavin O’Neill Shoots for the Stars

Earlier this year, 46-year-old Gavin O’Neill, who left New Zealand in 1996 to pursue fashion photography, received an email from the personal assistant of Kim Kardashian West. She had found his work on Instagram, the…

Karen Walker on the Shades She’s Wearing for Spring

Karen Walker on the Shades She’s Wearing for Spring

In celebration of the Vogue American Express Fashion’s Night Out (VAEFNO) event on 7 September, New Zealander Karen Walker, 47, will be making appearances in both Melbourne and Sydney where customers will have the…

New Zealand’s Best Ales Available in UK

New Zealand’s Best Ales Available in UK

“Antipodean ales are on the up, with more and more becoming available this side of the equator. These are the breweries you need to know about,” brewer and author Nick Moyle writes…

Neil Finn’s New Solo LP Contemplative and Tender

Neil Finn’s New Solo LP Contemplative and Tender

Neil Finn, the multi-talented Crowded House frontman, can make the most sophisticated pop music sound like the easiest thing in the world, according to freelance journalist Andrew Stafford, who reviews Finn’s fourth solo album,…

Pioneering Composer Annea Lockwood’s Common Ground

Pioneering Composer Annea Lockwood’s Common Ground

“New Zealand-born Annea Lockwood and the Brazilian Jocy de Oliveira are two composers separated by a distance that is geographical only,” Louise Gray writes for British music magazine The Wire. Their reissues, Lockwood’s Tiger…

Jamie McClennan Performs in Edinburgh

Jamie McClennan Performs in Edinburgh

New Zealand-born Jamie McClennan and Scottish folksinger Emily Smith celebrate 15 years of making music together in 2017. The pair will be appearing at the Edinburgh Folk Club, Pleasance Cabaret Bar on 20 September. “Their…

How Rugby Helped Jared James In Japan

How Rugby Helped Jared James In Japan

For a Japanese national, the question of why a person from the West would come to Japan is a fascinating one, so much so that there’s even a TV show about it: You wa…

Attica Redefining Australia’s Culinary Landscape

Attica Redefining Australia’s Culinary Landscape

New Zealand-born Ben Shewry’s Attica restaurant in Melbourne is ranked one of the best restaurants in the world for good reason, Jessica Wynne Lockhart reports in a feature about the rise, and rise, of…

New York Times Has Designs on Maggie Marilyn

New York Times Has Designs on Maggie Marilyn

Bristling on the back of an oversize coat, circling the sleeves of knits, bursting from the shoulders of a sweatshirt: Ruffles show up where you least expect them in New Zealander Maggie Marilyn Hewitt’s…

Colorado Audience Crazy for Opiuo

Colorado Audience Crazy for Opiuo

New Zealander Oscar Davey-Wraight, aka Opiuo, and his band recently played at Colorado’s Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. According to Denver-based online lifestyle site 303 Magazine, the group’s formation “was a bit more dramatic than…

Paul Cowan Sorts London Transport’s Lost Property

Paul Cowan Sorts London Transport’s Lost Property

As many as 1200 items arrive at Transport for London’s lost property office on Baker Street each day, revealing what the city’s inhabitants value enough to recover – and what they’re happy to let…

Kharl WiRepa a Vogue Designer of the Future

Kharl WiRepa a Vogue Designer of the Future

Fashion designer Kharl WiRepa is set to have his designs featured in British Vogue’s September issue, his clothing line selected among the magazine’s top 22 ‘Designers of the Future’. WiRepa is the first designer of…

Tracy Clark Aims to Complete Oceans Seven

Tracy Clark Aims to Complete Oceans Seven

A swimmer and coach from Norwich has set herself the task of crossing the North Channel as part of a global challenge. New Zealander Tracy Clark, 47, can often be found swimming in one…

Internet Ads Taking Over NZ’s Real Life Wild Spots

Internet Ads Taking Over NZ’s Real Life Wild Spots

A New Zealand public art project of physical signs bearing a striking resemblance to their digital cousins, is looking to draw attention to the ubiquity of online recommendations, which double as advertisements, and influence…

Reasons Behind the China Girl in Top of the Lake

Reasons Behind the China Girl in Top of the Lake

There’s certainly a great deal of thematic resonance in the first series of Top of the Lake and this one, beginning with women immersed in a body of water, a narrative of pregnancy secretly…

Te Manahou Mackay a New Force for Fashion Industry

Te Manahou Mackay a New Force for Fashion Industry

Te Manahou Mackay, 18, from Auckland, is the first transgender model to walk at New Zealand Fashion Week, “in a watershed for the industry,” the Daily Mail reports. Having quit school because she didn’t enjoy…

Sabryna’s the One in Los Angeles

Sabryna’s the One in Los Angeles

New Zealand-born pop singer Sabrina Salmon, aka Sabryna, is giving fans the perfect summer sendoff with her song Be The One, which has just been released in the United States. Entertainment news site Hollywood Life…

Photographer Amos Chapple’s Last Time Over Georgia

Photographer Amos Chapple’s Last Time Over Georgia

New Zealand-born photographer Amos Chapple’s aerial photographs showcase the unique beauty of Georgia in a mesmerising new collection called, One Last Time Over Georgia, just taken before the country imposes tight restrictions on drones…

New Zealand Wine Tourism Figures Soar

New Zealand Wine Tourism Figures Soar

Wine tourism in New Zealand has grown strongly and one in four visitors now go to a vineyard or winery during their visit, according to new figures published by trade body NZ Winegrowers. The organisation…

Where to Wine, Dine and Caffeinate in Wellington

Where to Wine, Dine and Caffeinate in Wellington

“When I first moved to New Zealand , I accidentally landed in Wellington and stayed for almost a year,” American travel blogger Liz Carlson, aka the Young Adventuress, writes. “Chill vibes, a cool creative…

Australia’s Unlikely Cosmetics Mogul Anna Ross

Australia’s Unlikely Cosmetics Mogul Anna Ross

She doesn’t have a multimillion-dollar laboratory or a celebrity endorsement deal. But New Zealand-born Melbourne-based Anna Ross is a bona fide cosmetics queen, with her Kester Black nail polish selling around the world –…

Stephanie Hinton Cooking Up a Vegan Storm

Stephanie Hinton Cooking Up a Vegan Storm

Vegan chef, Stephanie Hinton, 33, specialises in making aged artisan tofu cheeses – cheeze, to give them their proper name, and it’s one of the many ingenious creations the New Zealander is whipping up…

Nadia Reid Keeps Right on to End Of The Road

Nadia Reid Keeps Right on to End Of The Road

New Zealand singer-songwriter Nadia Reid, 25, is jetting in to Europe for her big summer tour stopping off at End Of The Road Festival in Wiltshire, UK where she joins such luminaries of the…

Ruth Park’s Words Endeared Her to Australia

Ruth Park’s Words Endeared Her to Australia

In the 1940s, many people resented the fact that a New Zealander was telling Australians about slums that many denied even existed. But author Ruth Park had been living in a run-down part of…

You Never Saw a Dolphin That Looked so Cute

You Never Saw a Dolphin That Looked so Cute

During the summer of 1955-56, the Northland township of Opononi attracted thousands of visitors from across the country. They came because they wanted to catch a glimpse of a visitor who’d appeared on the…

Danielle Cormack to Headline for Queensland Theatre

Danielle Cormack to Headline for Queensland Theatre

They killed her off in Australian prison drama Wentworth in 2016, but Auckland-born Danielle Cormack will live again on stage for Queensland Theatre next year. Cormack, 46, played Bea Smith in the television series…

Artist Paul McNeil Muses on Goofy As Surfing

Artist Paul McNeil Muses on Goofy As Surfing

The lackadaisical, drooping C-shape wave mural reflects the irreverence with which New Zealand-born, Byron Bay-based artist Paul McNeil approaches most topics, from surfing and surf culture to music and politics to philosophical ruminations, Matthew…

Crawford Falconer UK’s Top Trade Negotiator

Crawford Falconer UK’s Top Trade Negotiator

The New Zealander in charge of negotiating the UK’s trade deals once Brexit is finalised, has begun his tenure. Crawford Falconer has taken up the post of chief trade negotiation adviser at the Department…