From flares and platforms to skinny rib tank tops and aviator sunglasses: New Zealand in the 1970s was nothing if not unique.
To celebrate the diversity, a free pop-up exhibition The Age of Aquarius, is being held until 13 October at the Geyser building in Parnell, Auckland. It provides a platform to see and experience New Zealand in the 1970s through the wardrobes and stories of six individuals.
Geoffrey Bailey was 36 at the beginning of the decade and worked for the civil service, but outside of work he expressed his passion for clothes.
Eloise Watts was 54 in 1970 and together with her husband Vic was the proprietor of the London Bar on Wellesley St, a working life that required a glamorous, yet practical, wardrobe.
Kathie Figgins was 25 and working as medical laboratory technician in 1970. Although she had married in 1968 she continued to work and earn her own income, which she put partly towards clothes.
Rachel Stace was 20 when she left home and moved to Auckland. Parties, weddings, music gigs and the like were motivation and inspiration for purchasing something new and for dressing up. Rachel (1973) is our cover girl.
Anita Arlov was a 13-year-old student in 1970 in Christchurch and shares her wardrobe over a decade of growing up. Also living in that city, Zora Price, a 39 year old who spent the 1970s working as a teacher, a dressmaker, a housewife and a mother of three girls.
The Age of Aquarius
14 September – 13 October 2013
Geyser, 100 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland
Mon – Sat, 10am – 430pm