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PoliticsOctober 18, 2023

Shop the fit: Election night special

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Just when you thought the style advice from politicians was over, we’re back with the biggest Shop the fit yet.

Marama Davidson

Who said that dressing green had to be about natural fibres in neutral earthy tones? With Davidson it’s all about drama, shine, big pussy bows and ballooned sleeves. She wears the $359 LeDoré Silk Bow Blouse by Auckland based Sweepstake Winners. It is “crafted” from 100% silk and “floats effortlessly with every move,” according to their website. Life is a special occasion but I do reckon the extremely large bow is for even more special occasions, so it’s great that it’s detachable. I do not know what Davidson was wearing on the rest of her body. Frankly, it is irrelevant.

Rawiri Waititi

I have been after Rawiri Waititi’s style secrets since the beginning of Shop the fit, and have finally acquired them. Let’s start at the top. The hat is handcrafted in Australia by the brand Akubra, who have all your hat needs sorted. His glasses are from Zenni Optical, and I’m pretty sure they are the Square Glasses 4448731 in ‘Storm’. Zenni have a “wow price” of only $35.95 (including basic prescription lenses). I am feeling very stupid to have paid $200 for the glasses that live in their case on my desk full-time. The earrings were a gift, and yes they are Mako Mōtai – shark teeth – pretty badass. If you want to gift some to yourself, John Mayo, a “retired” jeweller, has some available for $220

Waititi’s carved taonga is not something you can buy. The sperm whale tooth was carved by Rangi Kipa and is a generational taonga of the Waititi whānau.

Waititi bought his trippy shirt in Te Atatū from the New Zealand brand confusingly called Berlin. This pattern isn’t available on their website, but if you like paisley and flowers you’re in for a treat. Perhaps surprisingly, his jacket is from Farmers and costs $199.99. I’m wondering if this is the hottest scoop of election season because it looks really good. I was unable to get a good look at his pants but he said they’re from Tarocash, which is a tag I often see in the op-shop. 

Max Key

I do not know if M-Key knew the election was on, or that he would have to be going out in public, or if he was going for quiet luxury. I also do not know why people wear caps at night-time. I do rate this highly as a home-outfit. You too can look sleepy, with a $12 women’s elite half zip sweat from Postie. If you really want to wear a hat inside at night time Culture Kings has a bewildering selection LA Dodgers caps, most of them for $59.95.

Darleen Tana

Darleen Tana’s outfit caught the eye of one very busy Spinoff journalist stationed at the Green Party’s party on Saturday. Charlotte Muru-Lanning then caught Tana’s eye with a “little weird wave”. Tana told Muru-Lanning that her dress was vintage, and her overcoat was custom-made by Māori fashion designer Jeanine Clarkin. Clarkin sees her work as fashion activism, allowing people to wear and feel pride in their cultural heritage. 

Chis Hipkins

If I were to publicly lose so catastrophically, I would simply not front up to do a speech. Instead you’d find me in the attic of my house curled up in a ball. I think this is where Chippy’s tie was trying to get to. You could take your solid satin red tie to a better place with a $19 Kmart fan.

Bruce Carley

Bruce Carley, once an Act candidate, and now Act online store’s biggest customer. He has it all: an Act vest, Act dog tags, an Act badge, Act T-shirt and a crocheted Act-themed figurine in his own likeness poking out of his pocket. Sadly, none of these items are currently on the Act online store, though you could get an Act T-shirt. Before you attempt to crochet your own likeness, grab a box of Heinekens. Carley endorses it.

Shane Jones

“Get you a girl who can do both,” so the saying goes. Well Shane Jones can catch fish and also look very convincing as Winston’s deputy, just hours apart. He seems to have a weakness for the colour pink, saying to Duncan Greive on the big night that “These events can be challenging,” because, “sometimes you have too much rosé”. There are rosé coloured T-shirts available from The Warehouse for just $16, and they even have a little pocket for the small secrets you, and Jones, keep. I think you can get a black suit, white shirt and patterned tie from any men’s shop.

Brooke van Velden

At some point in the evening Brooke van Velden boldly abandoned her ultra pink jacket. By “some point” I mean when it was apparent she had nabbed the Tāmaki seat and no longer needed the jacket’s political power. Also, she looked pretty warm and shiny amidst the celebrations. Underneath the jacket was a resplendent pink and pink dress, reminiscent of blossoms. 

Van Velden bought the dress especially for election night. She saw it in the window of Veronika Maine at the mall in Newmarket, and when she found out it had pockets, it was a done deal. The dress is made from a lustrous European satin, and is $439. Van Velden says she will be wearing it “again and again”.  She wore her Michael Kors bag which we have already covered, and a pair of tan coloured “everyday work heels” since she knew she would be standing all night. Resplendent and practical.

Gaia from Upper Hutt

In case you’ve missed it, Crocs are trendy now. You will see more of them on Karangahape Road or Cuba Street than Doc Martens these days, and sales of blister plasters are presumably way down at pharmacies nationwide. The particular shade of pink worn by Gaia, one of our dogs at polling booths, appears to be from a previous season, and the colour around the sole a post-purchase addition. You can, however, buy softer pink crocs for $69.99. If that’s out of budget, The Warehouse has perfectly passable dupes for $15. Either way, like Gaia, we should all admit that Docs are uncomfortable, and give in to trends that are good for us.

Lower Hutt events centre waitstaff

The waitstaff at the saddest party in politics wore their usual uniform. Black trousers, white shirts unbuttoned at the collar and, audaciously, electric blue waistcoats. No doubt the waistcoats were bought in bulk from nzties.co.nz. I do not know why someone didn’t make the call to simply take off the waistcoats. Perhaps it was to keep the canapes and serviette bearers easily visible in a sea of depressed red. Perhaps the institution is strict on rules. Perhaps they think waistcoats are flattering. All these reasons were convincing until Chippy’s voice broke.

Christopher Luxon

If you think PM-elect Christopher Luxon looks a little too well after a night of celebrations, it’s because he does not drink. He could even be New Zealand’s first teetotaller prime minister. With absolutely no hangover, he woke up early to watch the All Blacks defeat Ireland at the World Cup. He must have been feeling pretty bloody good, even if his wrist was weighed down by a rather large watch.

He’s taken inspiration from Kieran McAnulty, who showed us how to do the Kiwi Classic look, but with a one big difference. Luxon’s jersey features the very sponsorship logo McAnulty went out of his way to avoid. American International Group (AIG) is a US insurance company that sponsored the All Blacks from 2012 to 2021. Though the new merch no longer has the AIG logo, there are a few on TradeMe for anywhere between $29.99 to $75.

‘Help keep The Spinoff funny, smart, tall and handsome – become a member today.’
Gabi Lardies
— Staff writer
james shaw and marama davidson and david seymour faces with lots of pink and green questionmarks
Image: Archi Banal

PoliticsOctober 18, 2023

Who are the new Greens and Act MPs?

james shaw and marama davidson and david seymour faces with lots of pink and green questionmarks
Image: Archi Banal

Both the Greens and Act increased their party vote percentage from 2020. Combined with reshuffled lists, that means plenty of new faces – here’s a quick guide to the new MPs from both parties. 

GREEN PARTY

Lan Pham (Electorate: Banks Peninsula)

Pham was a councillor for six years on the Environment Canterbury regional council. She trained as a freshwater ecologist and was appointed as a freshwater commissioner but chose to run for the Greens after becoming frustrated with a bureaucratic approach to water governance. She’s replacing Eugenie Sage, who also campaigned in the Banks Peninsula electorate, as the Greens’ highest-ranked MP based in the South Island. Pham wasn’t running an electorate campaign in Banks Peninsula, but still got 6,470 electorate votes, more than her new caucus colleague Ricardo Menendez-March, who tried really hard to run a two-tick campaign in Mount Albert. Read our full profile of Pham here

a woman smiling in front of a graffiti wall
Pham is proud of her Vietnamese heritage and excited to be the first Vietnamese-heritage MP (Image: Shanti Mathias)

Hūhana Lyndon (Te Tai Tokerau)

Lyndon has been CEO of the Ngātiwai Trust Board, and has a background in forestry, working with the government’s One Billion Trees programme to get native trees planted across the Northland region. She’s run in several local government elections before being selected as a 2023 Green candidate. Interestingly, Lyndon did way better on the electorate vote than the Green Party did in the party vote in her electorate. 

Steve Abel (New Lynn)

Abel, a long-time Greenpeace campaigner, just missed out on an MP position via the list in 2020 – he even attended the workshops for incoming MPs just in case he got in on the special votes, so this is his second time being induced as an MP. He’s contributed to campaigns against oil drilling, mining and water pollution, and has made several albums as a musician too. 

Fa’anānā Efeso Collins (Panmure/Ōtāhuhu)

2022 Auckland mayoral candidate and a former councillor, Collins lost out big in the 2022 local body elections. Formerly associated with the Labour Party, Collins chose to put his hand up for the Green Party after the Auckland floods this year, when he wanted to unite the social and environmental concerns connected in natural disasters. In an exclusive interview with The Spinoff earlier this year, he said that he thrives in chaos – hopefully he’ll find some of that in parliament. 

Efeso Collins (Image: Archi Banal)

Scott Willis (Taieri)

Willis ran in Taieri, the electorate that includes South Dunedin and rural areas south of the city. His background is in energy resilience: he’s worked with a trust that supports insulating homes and distributing peer-to-peer electricity, which he says is a key part of energy resilience for the climate crisis. He ran, unsuccessfully, for Otago Regional Council in 2019 and practises taekwondo. 

Darleen Tana (Tāmaki Mākaurau)

Tana is a scientist; she stood for the Greens in the Northland electorate in 2020. She worked in Europe for nearly two decades before moving back to Aotearoa. 

Tamatha Paul (Wellington Central)

Another Greens candidate with a local government background, Paul was president of the VUW student association in 2019, when she also campaigned for election as a Wellington councillor. In one-and-a-bit terms as a councillor, Paul has been outspoken for students, housing and transport initiatives in the city, and ran an electorate-only campaign in Wellington Central, with James Shaw stepping aside to run only on the list. Despite polls not showing her in a position to win, her incredibly strong and consistent volunteer campaign got her into parliament, solidly ahead of Labour’s Ibrahim Omer. 

Green Party candidate Tamatha Paul

ACT PARTY

Andrew Hoggard (Rangitīkei)

The former president of the farming lobby group Federated Farmers, Hoggard is very well known in rural Aotearoa; a “rural celebrity”, as Stewart Sowman-Lund put it in this electorate profile. Likely for that reason, he ended up well above several sitting MPs on the Act list. He’s told Stuff that he would like to change farming regulations once in parliament. According to his Act Party bio, he and his family have 500 cows. 

Todd Stephenson (Southland)

Stephenson was born and grew up in Southland, although he lived in Sydney until earlier this year. Trained as a lawyer, he’s had a corporate career in the pharmaceutical industry and told Stuff that “it’s time to use the skills I’ve got to help get New Zealand back on track.’’ Hopefully he’s been trying not to use the wrong party’s slogans since then. 

Act’s Andrew Hoggard (Image: Act, Design: Tina Tiller)

Parmajeet Parmar (Pakuranga)

Parmar was a National list MP from 2014 to 2020, where she ran in Mount Roskill against Phil Goff and Michael Wood. She announced her switch to Act earlier this year, and campaigned against former caucus colleague Simeon Brown in Pakuranga through the election campaign. She has a PhD in neuroscience. 

Laura Trask (Banks Peninsula)

Trask is trained as a pharmacist and now helps to run a fire evacuation company – going to Auckland for work a lot has helped train her kids for sharing their mum with parliament, she told The Press earlier this month. (She also said that she didn’t think the Act policy of fining youth offenders would work.) Greens candidate Lan Pham, also running in Banks Peninsula, told The Spinoff that she liked Trask’s energy.  

Cameron Luxton (Bay of Plenty)

Luxton ran for Act in 2020 in the Tauranga seat where he finished fourth. He told the New Zealand Herald he was focused on crime and cost of living, and has said that if he were minister for culture, arts and heritage, he would get rid of the Human Rights Commission (which is not part of that ministerial portfolio). His Act bio says his background is in construction, farming and sports.

‘He mea tautoko nā ngā mema atawhai. Supported by our generous members.’
Liam Rātana
— Ātea editor