Millie, 18, studying Bachelor of Arts
Do you feel people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?
Yap, expensive.
Do you feel it’s unique to the rest of the country?
When I think about the rest of the country, I think about farmers, girls in Wellington who love tartan and Doc Martens, and Dunedin I think just wears a lot of Nom*D. So that gives you something to compare it to.
What’s something you’re seeing everywhere around uni at the moment?
Fake Fentys.
What would you never wear?
Never say never.
Describe your city’s style in one sentence?
You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
Rachael, 23, studying fine arts
Do you feel people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?
There are plenty of aesthetics slapping around in Auckland. There seems to be a reasonable amount of expressive freedom and acceptance of others’ freedom within the art/music/others community.
Outside of that, it just seems to be a blur of yo-pro-money-making-trash-pastel-florals-checkered-suits-jandles-and-sneakers-idk.
Do you feel it’s unique to the rest of the country?
It’s probably the same everywhere. Every city has its goths.
What would you never wear?
Colour.
Who is your style hero?
The Void.
Dylan Cook,19, studying product design
Do you feel people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?
Yeah hard, you can spot a Jafa (Just Another Fucking Aucklander) from a mile away.
What’s something you’re seeing everywhere around uni at the moment?
The cuffed pants are still going strong in 2k17 #cuffthemup.
Describe your city’s style in one sentence?
Uptown baggies, downtown skinnies.
Esther, 20, studying commerce and science
Do you feel people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?
Not really, everyone’s kind of on their own shit. The international students from China are really on some other level though. You don’t really see head to toe SLP (Saint Laurent Paris) anywhere but Auckland.
What’s something you’re seeing everywhere around uni at the moment?
I don’t know if it’s just me but everyone seems to look extra stressed this semester, that’s kind of a trend right? Also, lots of Bape, like more than usual.
Who is your style hero?
90s Zack de la Rocha or D’angelo in his prime. By prime I mean when he was jacked and was topless 80 percent of the time. I wish that were me.
Gala, 18, studying fine arts
Do you feel people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?
Nah not really an aesthetic, people just wear what they want. I guess if that’s an aesthetic? It’s very laid-back, chilled out.
What factors feed into how people dress here?
Gots to suit all weather requirements, five seasons in one day, am I right?
Describe your city’s style in one sentence?
Neat like a freak, neat like fleek.
Eddy, 18, studying design
Do you feel like people in your city have a certain fashion aesthetic?
I suppose there are plenty of people that dress some type of way; whether that be your bleach-blonde 45 year old yoga mum hiding in a Porsche SUV, or a dress shirt ruining town lad with a sick fade, it’s a fruitful land of mystery and wonder. Other than that, there are a few eclectic congregations of kids that dress good, but they’re hardly worth mentioning as their individual aesthetics change like a mood ring.
Do you feel it’s unique to the rest of the country?
Auckland style is different to the rest of the country because our town lads have fresher fades, better skin care routines, more expensive dress shirts.
Tell us about town lads.
Other cities have town lads too, though, just different species of town lad. Key traits being: chino jogger pants, surf brand graphic t-shirts, gumboots. The lads in Auckland would probably dress like this too, if the clubs didn’t have strict dress codes. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll come across a ‘squad’ of elite town lads, wearing expensive, rare, high fashion garments. These lads pride themselves in the curation and execution of their fire fits and appropriated hair styles, often referring to themselves as ‘influencers’ or ‘stylists’.
I’m talking about these guys as if they’re specific to Auckland New Zealand, but there’s literally millions of them wreaking havoc with DSLRs in urban back alleys across the globe.
Credits
Photography Imogen Wilson