Next in our campaign style series, Kieran McAnulty shows us how to pull off the Kiwi Classic look, even without a big red ute.

Last Saturday, as the All Blacks were running and scrummaging their way around the finest Parisian soil in the opening game of the Rugby World Cup, Kieran McAnulty was at the Upper Hutt Cosmopolitan Club in his finest Kiwi Classic fit . The Labour MP for Wairarapa, who is on the campaign trail for a second term, had ten bucks on Ardie Savea to score a try – a bet which he unfortunately lost. McAnulty sat alongside Chris Hipkins and Grant Robertson to watch the big game, but was framed outside of photos taken for Labour’s social media channels. Still, his fit was spotted by the finest journalists, who alerted me to its existence.

2011 official All Blacks jersey

“I’ve had it for quite a while,” says McAnulty. The day after the All Blacks announced they would be adding a sponsor (AIG) to the jerseys, he went out and bought this one. “I liked the idea of having one without sponsorship on it,” he says. It was a good move, as sponsors come and go but true fans and Adidas partnerships are forever. The jersey is 11 years old, and there’s one in the New Zealand Fashion Museum collection, and one on TradeMe (size M) with a $70 starting price. This particular jersey caused outcry when it was found that Adidas was selling it for almost double the price in New Zealand ($220) compared to the US and the UK. Its synthetic ClimaCool fabric has held up well, and so has McAnulty’s weight watching, “Nice to know I haven’t expanded much”. This World Cup, the home jersey has shiny black fern illustrations, and the world cup logo with the date – unlike McAnulty’s it will forever show its age.

Crew neck thermal

“I’m pretty sure I got the black polyprop from Postie Plus in Masterton,” says McAnulty. We’re pretty sure this is right because there aren’t that many other shops in Masterton, so the chance of confusion is low. At the moment, Postie is only stocking striped thermals of the adult crew neck variety, but Kmart has a great black alternative made from polyester and elastane for only $16. If your bougie preference is a natural fibre, fair enough – I too get smelly in synthetics. For us sweatsters, there’s the Icebreaker Merino 200, which for $119.99 gives you such features as odour-resistance, no-itch-comfort, and body temperature regulation – gorgeous. You can also linger around the pyjama section of the op-shop touching all the tops until one feels not like the other ones, decide its merino, and ignore the holes in it. 

Chino shorts

If you think every guy you’ve ever seen in public was wearing these shorts you just might be right. Kingly organic chino shorts are a Barkers bestseller. They cost $99.99, and come in four boring colours – McAnulty opted for “Taupe,” which seems like a fancy word for tan. He doesn’t have much to say about them, so let me advise you that they’re 98% organic cotton, and they have a teeny tiny coin pocket on the right hand side (kind of mean to lefties). Customers are overwhelmingly stoked with these, giving them a 4.9 star average rating on the website, with comments such as “Easy to dress up a bit with a shirt if going out,” “Beautiful!” and “Ok”. If you’re not fussed about the coin-pocket, or it personally offends you, AS Colour sells almost identical shorts 40% cheaper, and they have five boring colour options.

Your mate’s jandals

“The jandals were left at my place after having a few mates stay the night before,” says McAnulty. “No one came forward, so finders keepers.” Communally owned jandals could be the ideal legacy of Labour’s egalitarian aspirations, but this also gives me the ick. Being close to your friends, having sleepovers, and not thinking they have cooties is good, but is wedging the same piece of sweaty plastic between your toes too close? I know we don’t want anything fancy, because we’re probably going to forget them at our mate’s house, but may I suggest a perfectly plain pair of black jandals for $12.99 from Number One Shoes. 

Flip leather case wallet

McAnulty didn’t include this wallet-cum-phone-case in his answers, but there it is, on the table next to his hand – today, we will make inferences. This is probably from a little shop at the mall, you know the ones that sell matching sets of different sized wheely suitcases even though I’m pretty sure everyone travels with one suitcase and an overstuffed backpack. The phone case wallet though, is extremely practical (all-in-one, hard to lose) and on brand in that bright shade of red. I’d expect to pay close-to-but-under $50 for something like this. Accessories are important little nods and one’s alliances, which is to say, think carefully about the colour of your purse.

Bonus: Zoi in a jacket

McAnulty’s three-year-old greyhound, Zoi, is no stranger to parliament and sometimes steals the thunder with her zoomies, though most of the time she is chilling. It’s thought (by McAnulty) that she has reduced stress levels and improved the wellbeing of staff who love to pat her and take her on walks.

Zoi was adopted by the minister of racing from Greyhounds as Pets, who rehome retired racing dogs. Their adoption fee is currently $450, which helps to covers costs like vaccination, de-sexing, and registration. Adoption will also require you to have lots of love for your new family member. She’s named after New Zealand Olympic snowboarder, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott. Even though her red check jacket matches her bed, she prefers the off-limits couch, and has also been known to wear reindeer ears.

Verdict: Well he looks great, just like the average Kiwi guy. You could put your own twist on the look by wearing things that are in your wardrobe already, like any other era of All Blacks jersey, any thermal, any boring colour chino-style shorts and your (or your friend’s) jandals, so this look could potentially be free to you.