Fancy being catapulted back to the 1930s? SUE PRESTON attends the ultimate dress-up party for grown-ups, the Tremains Art Deco Festival in Napier, New Zealand.
A 7.8 MAGNITUDE earthquake may have brought Napier to its knees in 1931 but for nearly 30 years now the city has staged one of the most remarkable “knees-ups” the world has ever seen.
Every February, tens of thousands of people of all ages flock to join locals in the glorious Art Deco Festival, organised by the hard-working Art Deco Trust and its band of volunteers.
The event effectively winds the clock back 80 years to when Napier emerged from the ashes to build the most beautiful Art Deco city centre to be found anywhere in the world.
For five fun-filled days and nights, T-shirts and jeans are relegated to the cupboard and furs, feather boas and parasols come out in the midday sun. If you want to be one of the lucky ones soaking up the fun and glamour next year, you should start planning now as accommodation books up quickly.
Here’s our checklist on how you can look the part among the razzle-dazzle of the 2017 Tremains Art Deco Festival:
Dress the part
Turn up at a festival event in ordinary clothes and you’ll feel as out of place as if you’d gone to a ball in your nightgown.
For women, it’s all about the dress or the frock, plain or pastel, perhaps with a small flower print, and below the knee please. The most important accessory is a hat with the cloche (a brimless bell-shaped hat) the popular choice for most women. Court shoes (pale colour) and gloves, some pearls or a vintage piece of costume jewellery are all that’s needed to complement the outfit.
For men, a striped or plain blazer with baggy pale trousers and a Trilby, straw-boater or panama is the outfit of choice.
If you don’t have time to hit the op shops before you leave Australia, or are short on inspiration, there are plenty of shops in Napier where you can buy or hire outfits and accessories.
There are also pre-festival events where vintage fashion enthusiasts and historians will show you how to get “the look”.
You can even learn the basics of the Charleston and the tango at dance classes before the festival gets under way.
Spend a little, a lot, or nothing at all
There is a range of free and ticketed events – around 250 in all – but the old adage “the best things in life are free” really does apply here.
It costs nothing to stroll the streets, watch the dancing, listen to capella singers, take in the vintage car street parade, cheer the soap box derby and the dry boat racing, applaud the Bathing Belle entrants and look to the skies for the jaw-dropping vintage aerial displays.
I can’t think of a city more perfectly positioned for a street party. Wide streets, flanked by grassy slopes and the sparkling sea, provide the perfect back-drop for a party that keeps on giving.
The highlight event is the Great Gatsby Picnic where friends and family get together to set up glamorous marquees and picnic settings on the grassy foreshore.
Champagne corks pop, luscious cream cakes are drawn from wicker baskets and gramophones are cranked into action.
Young children who have been wrestled out of their normal rough and tumble attire pose self-consciously in garters for a family photo.
There will be events you want to buy tickets for We attended the Prohibition Party designed to relive the dark days when bootleg liquor was consumed under a cloak of secrecy.
We uttered the secret password and stepped beyond the black curtain into a world of intrigue where dark figures loomed over casino tables and a scantily clad young lady hung upside down from a trapeze loop pouring champagne into raised glasses.
The festival is nothing if not authentic. For something quite different, we “dressed down” for the Depression Dinner, walked through the streets in our humble clothes rattling soup pannikins in the hope of a copper or two before settling in a large tent on wooden benches for a feed of stew and potatoes.
And no Art Deco festival would be complete without a high tea. One of the highlight events was the Dilmah High Tea with the head of the Dilmah Tea Corporation, Merrill J Fernando, sons Dilhan and Milak and their families.
Simply walking around the beautiful city of Napier can be reward enough for a visit at any time of the year. Horrific though the earthquake was, it did present the townsfolk with a blank canvas to rebuild their city. As a result, Napier City boasts one of the world’s best collections of original and intact 1930s architecture.
The best examples can be found on Emerson, Tennyson and Hastings streets and include the Daily Telegraph Building and the Municipal Theatre, the Hawke’s Bay Opera House and the Louis Hay-designed National Tobacco Company offices in Ahuhiri.
And don’t worry about wasting any outfits you’ve bought. Once you’ve been to the festival you’ll want to go again and again and again.
* Sue Preston was a guest of Hawke’s Bay Tourism and flew courtesy Air New Zealand.
It's all just so civilised
THE Tremains Art Deco Festival will be held from February 15-19 next year, and from February 14-18 in 2018.
GETTING THERE:
Hawke’s Bay Airport is a 10-minute drive from the city centre. Air New Zealand, one of the festival’s sponsors, offers flights from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch – www.airnewzealand.com.au
If you are driving from the north, there are two main routes into Napier. The Thermal Explorer Highway takes you down the centre of the North Island and through the geothermal areas of Waitomo, Rotorua and Lake Taupo.
Or you can take the road less travelled along the Pacific Coast Highway from Coromandel, Tauranga and Whakatane.
From Wellington you can travel on part of the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail that runs through wine growing areas with plenty of opportunities to stop and explore the cafes, antique shops and galleries that have sprung up along the way.
Grand Pacific Tours that visit Napier throughout the year are the 19-day New Zealand Showcase, 19-day Ultimate Discovery, nine-day Northern Spectacular and nine-day Ultimate North Island – www.grandpacifictours.com
STAY:
Navigate Vue Apartments in the seaside port settlement of Ahuriri offers striking and spacious contemporary accommodation. This satellite village of Napier has a growing list of cafes, bars, restaurants, galleries, apartments and boutique stores – www.navigatenapier.co.nz
The Crown Hotel in Ahuriri has elegant heritage suites in the original 1932 Crown Hotel or contemporary suites with large decks overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Step downstairs to breakfast at Milk & Honey – www.thecrownnapier.co.nz
EAT:
Bistronomy. Fresh Hawke’s Bay produce is turned into surprising, imaginative dishes described as “fresh, fun and foraged”. The menu is divided into Raw, Protein and Mineral – www.bistronomy.co.nz
SHOPPING:
The Art Deco Trust has a fabulous range of items including women’s and men’s accessories, novelty gifts such as lamps, figurines, china, glassware and stationery.
You can book the Art Deco walks, vintage car rides and tours at www.artdeconapier.com
Napier i-site Visitor Centre is a one-stop shop for accommodation, tours and activities, ferry and bus tickets as well as gifts and souvenirs – www.napiernz.com