Gigs, guts and getting up there
“A friend emailed me afterward and said he heard a guy in the crowd behind him say ‘we don’t do that shit in New Zealand’. ”
Crust is a weekly newsletter on taste and culture from Tāmaki Makaurau.
Mōrena, ever wondered what it’s really like to take the mic? I wanted to know what it takes to drag yourself on stage and sonically spill your guts to a room full of people. From busking at Botany Town Centre to seeing Dave Grohl smoking darts and rocking out to your set, the drive to make music and the need to stop, Chelsea, Lucy, Steve, Dorian, Jeremiah and Joe told me about the nerves, rituals and nostalgia of live shows (and whether it ever gets easier). Also in this week’s newsletter: Ryan Murphy’s adapting The Shards, Hailey Bieber is on the cover of Vogue, and two great local brands are hosting archive/sample sales.
Watching Chelsea Jade work the throng of horny millennials at her Auckland show in March was buzzy, hypnotic even. She dished out crowdwork with a cabaret flavour. Locking eyes with her chosen few, cultlike, one at a time she pulled them into the performance. Everyone knew the words. That buzzed me out too, it always does when it’s one of your friends (Chelsea and I met in the art room at high school) and, though I’ve seen her perform more times than I can count, I struggle to comprehend how she does that, how any of them do that, get on stage in front of a room full of strangers, perform something they’ve created from scratch, and remember all the notes and lyrics. I feel sick just thinking about it, and wondered if they do too. So I asked around, calling on friends and acquaintances from different genres and stages of their careers to talk about the work of gigs and stagecraft.
What was your first time on stage like, and do you remember much from that night?
Chelsea Metcalf delivers dreamy sounds as Chelsea Jade: I was up there at an age where it might as well have been a dream for all I can remember. As far as music outside of show tunes goes, in fifth form I was in a band called... Temper Trap? I wanna say? The band had recruited me on athletics day simply because I claimed I could do it, I believe. We went all the way to the televised national finals of the Smokefree Rockquest. Thrilling. My performance style involved a lot of knee-knocking and jerking around. I remember lying in the backseat of my parents' car, stricken with shame after my performance. We did get interviewed on Juice TV in the lead-up. My side part was very deep and the back of my hair very teased.
Steve Woolley, vocalist for hardcore band Too Late: My first on-stage experience would have been 2005 or so. A high school band, we had written some songs and booked a show. It all became very real very fast. I don't remember much from it, the audience would have been 40 or so teenagers. It can't have been bad since my memories are sparse.
Dorian Noval, drums and bass in post-punk two-piece Tooms: I think I was 18 when I played my first proper gig. It was at Happy Bar (RIP) in Pōneke, with my old band dyke?dyke?dyke? (lol) which was me on drums, my best friend Sam playing microkorg and her lil sis Jenae running her mic through this cute lil circle-shaped Japanese amp she bought for cheap on the internet which distorted the vox so much it fully worked. I can't remember the lineup aside from us and Sharpie Crows (known then as Bastard Sons of Grey Power) but I remember drinking like three long-neck beers and being kinda wasted before playing but the music was so demented it didn't matter too much lol.
Jeremiah Fale performs a blend of R&B and pop as Hales: The first time I ever performed on stage was in 2015. I was 13 and had enrolled in an after-school performing arts program called S.U.P.A., which was run by Pasifika legends Adeaze. I was one of the soloists for our end-of-year showcase. The band we performed with was Adeaze’s touring band, but at the time, I couldn’t comprehend just how crazy that was — haha. After that, I was hooked and knew it was something I wanted to do more.
Lucy Suttor, vocalist for punk band Dick Move: First time on stage that I can remember would be Smokefree Rockquest 2005 with my band Pain Repaid, sounds like a death metal band but we actually had much more of a twee Lily Allen vibe, and wore matching lil black dresses with checkered belts. We performed at the Gisborne War Memorial theatre which was a huge buzz, there weren't many opportunities to play on a big boy stage in Gizzy at the time. The feelings I remember from that night are EXTREME pre-show jitters, absolutely nothing from the time on stage except relief. I nailed my cute and simple guitar solo, and afterwards — buzzin.
Joe Locke, producer and artist behind P.H.F: The first time I was on stage I genuinely can't really remember — I think it was probably some kind of Rockquest or adjacent thing but I definitely was nervous. I just remember it being in the middle of the day and probably to exclusively other people in bands and their parents, but it wasn't that memorable honestly, I just thought it was cool that a stage tech tuned my guitar and still to this day the most in tune I have ever had a guitar be for a show.
Does it get any easier? How did it feel like the last time you played a gig?
Chelsea: I played Cubadupa in Wellington the night after I played Double Whammy in Auckland in March. I told myself the right secret before the Wellington show and also reinstated the handheld microphone I had replaced with a headset the night before. One rigorous head shake and it had gone to shit! I was aiming to feel less of a barrier between me and the onlooker with nothing in my hands but it felt unreliable. I’ll have to revisit the headset after some more calculating. In Wellington I was outdoors and ended up standing on a concrete plinth in the middle of the crowd for a while. A friend emailed me afterward and said he heard a guy in the crowd behind him say “we don’t do that shit in New Zealand” regarding my crowd mingling. I thought, how funny to have my fears so perfectly confirmed and how little consequence it actually has on my desires after all. Every first time in a run of shows I feel like I’ve made the life choice of a sicko but real-time problem-solving through playing to an audience every night is why I like performing so much. I wish I could afford to do it all the time.
I will do whatever I can to play live and having a show to suit a party of one means I can say yes more often. When I went on tour with Yumi Zouma across North America, I was re-programming my show in the van every day and trying it out anew at night. It was exciting and I could experiment with the mood quite easily. I did love and envy hearing Yumi Zouma debrief after every show. It’s a comfort to have that ongoing connection so you don’t take too many of the inevitable failures too personally. When you’re on your own, you don’t have too much access to perspective and it can hurt riding the waves from city to city with no one to keep you acclimated to a realistic perception of the stakes — which on balance are very low. You do just take on the emotional experience of everyone and what they are willing to offer you when you play. Before, I was touring with two dancers/singers and I really loved that. We would time our set-up and tear-downs and get quicker every time. PB four minutes. They were great company. They used their brains to troubleshoot tech issues, helped me run the merch table, brought the songs to life and even saved me from a spiked drink in Detroit. Camaraderie is heaven! It’s also expensive plucking people from their lives for so long.
Steve: Yes but never easy. Frequency helps make it more comfortable and positive thinking is a great tool but there's always some anxiety about what might go wrong or not as planned. Fortunately you find later that those things, even if they do happen, are inconsequential to your audience. The last gig I played was a reunion and the first show in eight years for me and so far out of practice I was very anxious. It was the inaugural Start Today festival and a great honour to be asked. They do amazing work in Wellington with monthly shows prioritising accessibility for youth and foster a positive space for a niche corner of alternative music.
Dorian: I still get Pretty Nervous (understatement) before a gig!!!!! The last gig I played was last year for the 1:12 Christmas party at Whammy Bar, a while ago now, but I'm actually playing another one tonight [May 2], so I'm pooping my pants tbh. It's gonna be at Audio Foundation with Paradox Princess and Ex-Partner. Audio Foundation GOAT.
Jeremiah: I like to think of performing as a seasonal thing. The more you’re in season and performing often, the easier it is. So, getting back into performing is always a challenge. The last gig I played was at the Pasifika Festival, where I ran an intimate acoustic setup, which was pretty chill and low-stakes. From a logistical standpoint, [solo performances are] definitely easier, but the showman in me loves to give a performance that does right by the audience and also serves the music — I feel like it wouldn’t feel as full without a full band.
Lucy: It definitely does get easier, and it also depends where we are playing. For some reason I get the most nervous playing at Whammy, which is weird because it is our home, but I think it's just because I love it so much so maybe the stakes are higher in my mind. Same way I would feel more nervous playing for my friends in my lounge. For the first two years of Dick Move I would get so nervous pre-show I would almost dissociate, and maybe drink a bit too much, which I very quickly learnt that is a bad idea when I have to say so many words at such a rapid pace. Nowadays the nerves definitely aren't as bad, or maybe I've learnt to trick myself into thinking I'm just really excited. The last show we played was at Spark Arena opening for Shihad. It is always a bit nerve-wracking when you aren't playing to "your” audience, but I think I won them over with some Warriors banter and by the end of it I could see some of the dads bobbin' their heads.
Joe: Now it's totally fine depending on my mood I guess. I don't really play that many shows anymore because I'm in a down period where I'm not feeling that inspired by music anymore and now that I don't have a live band it's less fun and more just about getting paid which kinda sucks. Think I have played maybe one show in the last year even, but I guess I did a US tour last March so I'm not totally tapped out.
How do you prepare mentally and physically before getting up there?
Chelsea: I tell myself a secret and every time someone walks by I think to myself — I know something you don’t know. When I go onstage I want to give it everything but in order to have enough in me to keep going, I have to keep a little something to myself. I used to get off stage sometimes and feel so inconsolable before I realised that. This is a little psychic way around.
Steve: In my current state of middle age I stretch. I warm up vocally by pushing some air around, most importantly I focus on appreciation for the audience and what it takes to get out of the house and down to events in the modern age. It's all rounded up with a little walk alone and some quiet time to gather it all up. I believe in giving all the energy you can so you can ask for it back with conviction. Normally works out.
Dorian: I like to stretch and do vocal warm-ups, drink hot water, eat a Kurol (f**k a Vocalzone, taste like shit and is expensive, Kurols are the best lozenge for your throat I PROMISE) but then I also bring my noise cancelling headphones and just watch stuff and play games on my phone to get my mind off being nervous while I wait to play.
Jeremiah: I like to warm up my vocals, although I’ve never really known how to do it properly — so most of the time, I’m just making things up on the fly. I usually buy a 2L bottle of kava from Four Shells and share it with my band before getting on stage. I find that it helps with the nerves and brings us all together, if that makes sense. I also write the name of the event on the bottle’s label once it’s empty, as a way to remember the performance or occasion.
Lucy: I have one job as the vocalist, and that is to write the set lists. Usually I take this time to find a quiet spot by myself and jot down the set, and do some embarrassing vocal warm-ups. Then I like to have a shot of tequila, and before we walk on stage I will slap the shit out of every part of my body to make sure I'm pumped and ready.
Joe: The way I play now I have a set that I premake where all the songs run into each other, there's like DJ tags and sound effects etc because I hate talking during my sets and don't want the dead air — so I basically just practice the songs like that for a couple hours then I'm good to go. Pre-show rituals is a Monster energy at sound check and then I need some beers or something because it helps me loosen up and I generally just don't like crowds so it kills two birds with one stone.
What do you like to wear on stage?
Chelsea: I wear a black suit and Mary Jane sneakers. I have worn the same suit at every show for about four years now. It’s got an exaggerated silhouette since I like to be backlit when I’m up there. Sometimes I wear a silver chain charm sash I made. It’s got crude drawings I made of my album covers etched into each silver charm, a bull in repose for my star sign, my name, a pearl, a bead I slipped in my pocket when I was volunteering at a home for the blind making beaded necklaces, one of Lorna Denholm’s silver supermarket tags. Varying levels of good and evil and neutral, all on one chain. I perform in the audience mostly and I want to be able to slip through the crowd when there is one and not think about what my clothes feel like when I’m moving around. It just has to be trustworthy. For example, I asked a group of men from the audience to carry me around for a song on my last tour and knowing myself in my suit very well helped me to avoid hesitation when the mood struck.
Steve: It's a hot and sweaty experience so I no longer wear jeans but stick to shorts or loose pants and T-shirt. I have a longstanding tradition at this point to start the set with a jacket or hoodie on and take it off first chance I get. No explanation for that behaviour.
Dorian: I like wearing shorts and I also play drums with no shoes on. Fuck I guess close to naked is what I prefer to wear when I play lol. There's some hippy analogy there somewhere probably but I just like not many physical restrictions when I play.
Jeremiah: I used to worry a lot about what to wear, but nowadays, not so much. If I want to play it safe, I try to wear anything made of leather — I feel like a lot of the music icons I look up to have rocked some form of leather in their performances (MJ, Elvis, Prince).
Lucy: Jeans and a T-shirt. I've never worn anything else so I don't feel the need to change it. And I do have some really great T-shirts.
Joe: The same shit I wear not on stage — I've never really put too much thought into that part of it I just want to be comfortable — I guess my main thing is having a hat though and pushing it down over my face which is now just like a joke between some of my friends but I guess I just feel better when my face is covered especially when people are taking videos and shit. I always wanted to get some kind of balaclava-type thing but I think I would get too hot and sweaty cos I like to perform in the crowd rather than on that stage so it feels like more of a communal experience than standing on a stage and people watching. Plus I want to force some kind of energy cos it's boring when people just stand there honestly.
What's the coolest or wildest thing you've seen happen from the stage?
Chelsea: Nothing too crazy. Minneapolis on the Muna tour springs to mind. Two muscular men standing front and centre dipped below my eyeline for a sec and came back up wearing blonde bob wigs to recreate my record cover. Surprising how moving a pair of wigs can be.
Steve: I feel very lucky to have seen loads of venues and audiences in the years of shows. Having a room of people screaming along with your lyrics is always surreal. I've seen broken bones, fights, the entire room dancing along. It's all been a trip.
Dorian: I will never get sick of seeing musicians I admired growing up or admire now coming to gigs I'm playing at, enjoying the music.
Jeremiah: I went to see Twenty One Pilots on their Bandito Tour, and the drummer, Josh Dun, did this thing where he backflipped off the piano — it was insane. (Currently learning that Fr).
Lucy: A small toddler rocking out on her mum's shoulders up the front of the crowd at a festival in The Netherlands last year. Nothing really that wild about it, but it felt very cool at the time. I'm going to add another one, but I'm cheating because I wasn't on stage. At Psyched As fest last year in Sydney when Antenna were playing, and some tradies appeared on their cherry picker from across the fence drinking beers. It was just the most authentically Australian thing I've witnessed. The wildest thing I’ve seen from the stage was probably Dave Grohl and Josh Freese smoking darts rocking out to our set at the Foo Fighters show. So distracting.
Joe: One of the coolest things happened a year or so when I did a super rare acoustic show in LA with some of my friends over there and pretty much everyone in the audience was singing along to my songs, I've never had that happen before and was kinda shocked that people knew the words to some of the real old stuff. I guess my usual live sound is really loud and over the top so it's never fostered that kind of energy really but American crowds are just different, honestly people really seem to go hard over there but also that's prob some tall poppy shit I don't know.
What's the best local gig you've been to?
Chelsea: Boycrush at a house party on a hill during an insane thunderstorm. Felt like being trapped in the right universe.
Steve: In 2009 I flew to Auckland to see Terror and it changed my world, I was spellbound by the energy and the sound. I took a microphone and sang a chorus, stage-dived. It was a room of strangers at the time but many I've met in the years following and many more became friends.
Dorian: This will be forever my answer I might have been under 18 but I saw Disasteradio play at the Timezone (RIP) on Courtenay Place in Pōneke, in the glow-in-the-dark laser tag area while people were also playing laser tag fuck it was sick.
Jeremiah: I may be biased since he’s my friend, but Sam V has got to be one of the best live acts I’ve seen. Whether it’s just him and a guitar or he’s backed by a full band, he never fails to put on a show with moments that leave you talking about it for the rest of the night. A true showman!
Lucy: So tricky! One that stands out to me is Voom at the Kings Arms 2017 (I think?) I was new to the scene, had a new boyfriend (S/O Taylor MacGregor), had just started working at Whammy and had made all these new friends, and we were all up the front singing our heads off. All very cute wholesome stuff.
Joe: The Mint Chicks hands down are still the best live band I have ever seen and I'm so fucking glad I was a teen and going to shows when they were playing cos that was my shit man. I'm pretty sure I went to all their Auckland shows and their big day out set when fuck the golden youth came out was so fucking sick. I don't think I have ever been so hyped after a show in my life.
If you could go back in time to be in the crowd at any New Zealand show what would it be?
Chelsea: Tadpole, Goldenhorse, Stellar. The greats!!! Anything that was happening before I turned 18, I would risk a Time Machine trip for.
Steve: Yes. Time machine question. I would go see Th' Dudes in 1980. Price of beer.
Dorian: Prince Tui Teka in the 80s, there's this full video of him playing a variety show that I feel would have been magic to be in the audience for.
Jeremiah: I’m not too clued up on iconic shows but I guess going back to when Bob Marley came to Aotearoa in 1979.
Lucy: Prodigy, Big Day Out 2009. I find it's always the most talked about BDO performance, everyone says how they were soaking wet from the sweat rain pouring from the roof of the boiler room. Also deeply regret missing them when they came back 10 years later!
Joe: I'm probably supposed to say some like 70s/80s punk shit but I would go back in time to that Mint Chicks show at Big Day Out again just to relive it.
The best gig venue that's gone?
Chelsea: The Wine Cellar. I used to be there every weekend either playing or seeing. I lived over the road on Cross Street, worked at Alleluyah cafe upstairs and my boyfriend at the time worked through the corridor at Whammy. It was a great radius to live inside! Only my mother cried seeing how I lived.
Steve: Kings Arms and Bar Bodega. Both missed, with some great memories attached.
Dorian: Happy Bar, The Wine Cellar <333
Jeremiah: Anthology Lounge was where I held my first headliner show. It was an important gig for me because I didn’t know if I could draw an audience but luckily all my friends and family came and showed support! Still one of my favourite venues to date!
Lucy: The Kings Arms And The Wine Cellar <3 hard, because what exists now in its place is big and awesome with the same family running the show, but it was a very special place. And I love playing gigs on the floor.
Joe: Honestly fuzzy vibes. That place was so iconic and we have ZERO all-ages venues that I know of that are in town anymore. I don't even know how long it was around for really but every time we played there whether I was playing in P.H.F or MILK or whatever band, it was always such a good night, they were really doing god's work the people who lived there and put those shows on. It makes me kinda mad that we have lost so many small diy venues now and even stuff like Wine Cellar now has been turned into a 300-cap venue with a 1k booking fee, and I know it's hard for these venues to make money don't get me wrong but I just want to play small shows or house parties now cos its way more fun.
The best gig venue that's still with us?
Chelsea: Underqualified to answer since I’ve been living in Los Angeles for 10 years now!
Steve: The Powerstation is always tremendous.
Dorian: Whammy / Double Whammy DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeremiah: Tuning Fork is a real dope venue. I think for me that’s the biggest stage I’ve performed on and seeing it packed out is always an encouraging feeling.
Lucy: Smash Palace in Gisborne, RIP Darryl Monteith <3 (and also Whammy/Double Whammy of course).
Joe: Honestly Old Folks Ass. Other than a house show I played at the end of last year that was the only other Auckland show I played now that I remember and it was fun as fuck
Favourite live act now?
Chelsea: I always love seeing The Beths play. Their audience celebrates them in a way that honours the integrity of what they’ve built. People GET it, and that’s no small feat for anyone with a fresh vision. Liz and I used to busk at Botany Town Centre as teens, so she’s come a long way from the indifference we enjoyed then.
Steve: Go check out Brainwave.
Dorian: O/PUS IS PERFECTION !!!!!! Liz Mathews, Beth Dawson, Jade Farley and Stefan Neville SUPERSTAR ROCKSTARS OF MY LIFE!!!!!!! I also love watching Half Hexagon!
Jeremiah: I love Dijon and Mk.gee. I always watch their live performance clips on YouTube and TikTok. I think the way they’re able to capture the rawness and emotion of their original songs is crazy and it's something I’m trying to incorporate in my own.
Lucy: International — Amyl and the Sniffers. We were lucky enough to open for them this year at Meow Nui, then I came to both shows in Auckland the next two nights. Amy Taylor is a force of nature. Local — Grecco Romank. Simply the best.
Joe: I don’t really know, like I feel so tapped out of the Auckland scene these days cos I barely leave my house anymore so everything above that I just complained about I'm part of the problem. I'm also old as fuck now and don't go to many shows cos like I said I don't like big crowds and it gets worse the older I get.
Anything else you want to add?
Steve: Thank you for listening.
Dorian: Sanrio and Labubu please sponsor me.
Joe: I hope Auckland still has a thriving DIY scene that I'm just totally unaware of and that there are still kids making music and doing cool shit because we have some really sick artists in this country that don't get the shine they deserve and always and forever — REST IN PEACE REUBEN WINTER <333
Chelsea is selling very cool charm bracelets and cassettes on her own webstore. You can find all her albums here. @iamchelseajade
You can listen to Too Late on Bandcamp, they’re playing a gig on May 30 at Big Fan in Morningside. @toolatehc
Tooms are playing an all-ages show at Mount Eden Scout Hall on May 31, and their latest album Fake Teeth is in stock at Flying Out. You can find some of Dorian’s past work for Exit Fear, Natural Glow, and on the compilation Welcome to the Arse End of the World on YouTube, a “great time in punk music”. @toomssucks
You can listen to Hales on Spotify. @musicbyhales
Dick Move can be heard here, and are writing and recording new music at the moment. @dick_move_dick_pics
P.H.F music and very good merch can be found on Danger Collective Records and Bandcamp. @p.h.f
Feeling… unsure about the news of a Ryan Murphy-helmed FX series adaptation of The Shards, Bret Easton Ellis’ paranoia-drenched doorstopper about rich high schoolers in 1980s LA; they wear easter-egg coloured Ralph Lauren togs, take drugs and drive around the hills as people keep disappearing. Kaia Gerber’s involvement is good (she was in my head casting after reading the book two summers ago). Tonally though, I don’t know whether Murphy and director Max Winkler — both of whom have done a lot of successful shows about lot about rich, bad people —are the right fit. Luca Guadagnino was — in 2023 Ellis said he was directing for HBO — but decided to adapt American Psycho instead, reportedly set to star Austin Butler (if you’ve seen Dune: Part Two or The Bikeriders you’ll understand). I’d like to see what Rose Glass would do with The Shards. Perfect name besides, she proved with Love Lies Bleeding that she can handle the trippy Americana, casual violence and eroticism that are the foundation of Ellis’ novel. I loved that book, and recommend reading it while listening to this playlist of every song in the book (Split Enz is in there).
Liking… Gucci’s resort collection (speaking of 1980s style).
Catching… up on Australian Fashion Week. Wynn Hamlyn was in a group show that included Paris Georgia, and compared to the brand’s past solo outings in Sydney, it meant they could focus on what they wanted the collection to deliver for the season (Resort 2026) rather than a show. “Which is a trap that I think probably we have been guilty of,” designer Wynn Crawshaw told Viva’s Madeleine Crutchley, also sharing how beneficial it was to take a break from the runway in 2024, meeting with buyers and industry in Sydney instead. “The year off was a huge relief.” 2025 Australian Fashion Week nearly didn’t happen — IMG pulled out, non-profit Australian Fashion Council stepped in — and with that near miss, a condensed schedule and focus on trade over entertainment (shows were invite only, with no public tickets) some coverage has questioned the perceived exclusivity, gatekeeping and the purpose of fashion weeks, a debate that happens every year and everywhere. Nicol & Ford and Iordanes Spyridon Gogos looked cool. Emma Lewisham did the beauty for Beare Park’s models, who wore the brand’s Sunceutical SPF 50 Mineral Glow Serum, with the show serving as the product’s global launch (it’s out in Aotearoa on May 27).
(I have to confess, when I quickly scanned the subject line of that email in my inbox, I mistakenly thought it was announcing a partnership with Auckland FC. Humour me here: it actually wouldn’t be an out-of-left-field idea for a beauty brand to go in that direction, and not without precedent. The club has Huffer-founder Steve Dunstan signed on as Creative Director — he’s done a limited-edition capsule of streetwear - and we all know sports are where eyeballs and, increasingly, fashion and beauty dollars are. The All Blacks have Rexona, FC Barcelona has Shiseido Men, so why not Auckland FC and Emma Lewisham — they share a hometown, distinctive brand colours and ambition.)
Listening… to the new song by Grecco Romank, Chainlinks, which gathers an impressive line-up of guest talent, including Anthonie Tonnon, Lucy Suttor, David Feauai-Afaese and more. The album release party for Arts Colony is on Saturday, and there’s a book too.
Thinking… about the trend for shearling-trimmed coats, and what’s led to their renewed popularity. Do they signal a new era of bohemianism or represent aspirations of jet-set luxury? It’s interesting that people have taken to calling them “Penny Lane coats” because Kate Hudson wore one in 2000’s Almost Famous I guess, and that colloquial terminology is a textbook case of aesthetic recycling and degradation of context. The very late 1990s saw a revival of 1960s and 1970s culture — That '70s Show started in 1998, while Dick and The Virgin Suicides (both starring Kirsten Dunst) came out in 1999 — and Britney Spears was wearing Afghan Coats a lot. The garment was a convention of 1960s and 1970s counterculture fashion; i’ts distinctive look and understood origins (whether the real deal or not) communicated worldly bohemianism, and the story of how they became a cornerstone of the sixties look is one of mercantile opportunity and hippie mythology. Before they were worn by The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. Unlike many fashions adopted by the West, this one at least kept a name tied to geographic and cultural origins (while also serving the romanticism and exoticism that helped sell the clothes). Embroidery trimmed hair-on sheepskin pustakis (long-sleeved) and pustins (ankle-length) coats were traditional — and practical — attire in Afghanistan, originally made in Ghazni. Niloufar Haidari and Fabrizio Mollo have written about the latest revival and it’s origins, and Tim Bonyhady has written at length on how the garment went from local Afghani attire to Kabul’s famous “Chicken Street” and, picked up by “Hippie capitalism”, to Granny Takes A Trip on London’s Kings Road, a 1971 cover of the New Yorker and beyond, where it became part of the a look that continues to trade on it’s cultural cachet. That’s visible in the current iteration of sheepskin-trimmed outerwear, which also nods to another era of hedonism and bohemian ideals, the Jazz Age and its fur-trimmed coats, as well as the utilitarian aspirations of shearling aviator jackets.
Reading… A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr. I needed a novella, and this one’s about a World War One veteran uncovering a mural in a church.
Remembering… the time Shihad played (for free) in Aotea Square. One of those “were you there?” shows (I was, sixteen, in that famous rain on the front left) that people still talk about (I’ll have more of those in next week’s newsletter). It’s been 20 years since then, and Chris Schultz wrote about it and addressed the urban legend that the crowd quite literally broke the square and the car park underneath.
Collecting… the velvet top I bought from Penny Sage. It’s romantic and moody and the motif is by Briana Jamieson, based on paintings she did of roses growing wild by the sea.
Wondering… whether the Hailey Bieber Vogue cover is a recession indicator or simply a reflection of the current state of celebrity. Her fame rests, I think, on her ability to be an avatar for her fans. Appearing frictionless and fine-tuned, she’s treated like a projection screen — just look at all that lore and all those imitators — and she’s quite literally bottled that magic essence with Rhode.
Africa Day is on this Saturday at Silo Park? I’ve been the past couple of years and it’s a great vibe.
Smith & Caughey’s is closing for good? This is really sad, though not unexpected, nor without precedent. I wonder what will happen to that building.
Bar Celeste on Karangahape Road is too.
Vintage marketplace Vinted is now the top clothing retailer in France? Interesting!
Boiling, steaming, poaching and soups are now being called “water-based cooking”? I heard about it on a podcast this week, and as a fan of all these things, I hate this.
Georgia Jay is having its annual sample sale this weekend? It’s at White Studios in Grafton, Saturday 10am-4pm, Sunday 10am-2pm. These are always great (as are the bags) so I do recommend going.
And Standard Issue is holding an archival next week? They’re doing a pop-up store at Ponsonby Central Monday May 26 to Sunday June 1.
New here? Catch up on Crust.
Wellingtonian fashion and what’s behind Buddy’s collaboration with Emma Jing.
Have you ever lost (and found) yourself in a dusty pile of the past?
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