All posts tagged: Napier

The best Art Deco Weekend accessory ever

Yes, I totally hauled my sewing machine all the way to Napier for Art Deco Weekend. That’s me, sitting on the floor of the dorm room between two bunks, with the sewing machine on a little table 18″ off the ground, the iron cord curling around me, just finishing up the ‘Little Bit of Red’ dress. On Saturday night. And I wore the dress on Sunday. Yeah… that’s how I got everything done! Check out my twist-curled hair. Fun as it was, I’m never doing that again!

Art Deco Weekend roundup

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week I posted the tiniest bit about my wardrobe for Art Deco Weekend 2012, but I didn’t really tell you much about what it was about. Napier holds an annual Art Deco weekend because an earthquake (and resultant fire) on Feb 3 1931 devastated the city, killing 256 people in the greater Hawkes Bay area, and necessitating the rebuilding of the entire downtown business district. All the rebuilding was done in the Art Deco and Spanish Mission style. So every year Napier holds a festival to celebrate it’s Art Deco heritage, and commemorate the earthquake. Or so goes the official line. Sadly, my impression was that the festival was really just an excuse to sell stuff, wear silly clothes with only the barest veneer of historicism, and drink too much. There were a few tours about architecture, and a 20 minute ceremony about the earthquake, but I found the lack of history and recognition of why the event was held vastly disappointing. Also, the whole event puts a huge emphasis on the 1920s. The …

The Hawke’s Bay

Published by The Dreamstress

The Naiad’s* time in New Zealand is almost up. For the last 4 months she’s been chefing at a fancy lodge in the Hawkes Bay. She’s just finished working, so I flew up to visit her, and to spend a little time seeing the Hawkes Bay before she flies off to spend a year on working holiday in Australia. I visited the Hawkes Bay when I was first in NZ, and had a lovely time, but other than two slightly disastrous road-trips through in the ensuing years, I really haven’t spent any quality time there. Time to rectify that! So what is the Hawkes Bay? It’s everything between the big curve on the East Coast of the lower North Island of New Zealand and the nearest range of mountains. The climate is perfect for vineyards, stonefruit orchards, apple orchards, berry farms, kiwifruit orchards, and every other sort of agricultural endeavor, giving it the nickname of the ‘fruitbowl of NZ’. In other words, Dreamstress heaven. I’m all about fruit. And the countryside. Which is what most …