**The Viva team reports live from New Zealand Fashion Week Kahuria, with coverage of the major shows on the schedule. **

Today’s lineup opened with Caitlin Crisp, who had the first solo designer show, following her November headline appearance at the Christchurch Spring Fashion Festival.

We’ll also be reporting

Check back throughout the day for updated show reports, and head to Viva.co.nz for more Fashion Week coverage.

Caitlin Crisp

“Fashion and movement have always been connected in my mind. I’ve always loved clothes that make you want to dance,” read a quote from designer Caitlin Crisp on a bespoke CC Mail broadsheet handed out by striped sweater-donning ushers outside her debut show on Tuesday morning.

And dance they did. To the tune of Donna Lewis’ I Love You Always Forever, ballerinas Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson (Royal New Zealand Ballet) and Nadine Tyson (former RNZB and New Zealand School of Dance tutor) opened the show – pirouetting and standing en pointe as they moved fluidly down the white runway.

The Christchurch-based designer had danced with the pair during her childhood, long before her fashion career started. From ballet rehearsal to the big smoke.

Crisp’s return to the runway felt like a full-circle moment – she showcased an early collection brimming with playful appliques including feathers and ruffles as a student in the Graduate Show at New Zealand Fashion Week in 2018.

A lot has changed for the designer over the last eight years (juggling a bustling fashion brand with caring for her 1-year-old son Charlie) but the same vibrant energy remains.

The front row was awash with pink plaid, a sea of sequins and frilly pieces from the Caitlin Crisp archive. Spotted among the heaving crowd were fashion designer Kathryn Wilson (who has two shows on this year’s NZFW roster tomorrow night), Australian fashion journalist Patty Huntington, professional dancer and choreographer Nerida Jantti, makeup artist Emma Peters, and content creators Mandy Duncan and Hannah Barrett.

Models flashed toothy grins, high-fiving each other as they walked past the other three twirling ballerinas – a stark contrast to the often stony-faced expressions seen at other runway shows. A surprise appearance by content creator Ellie Haines elicited a few excited shrieks from the crowd, and the line-up featured other well-known models including Carrie Berkley, Lorraine Downes, Sakura Matches and Cassandra Grodd (who also works for the brand).

The collection highlighted a handful of bespoke showpieces created exclusively for the event, staying true to the theme of romance of performance. Meanwhile, the designer’s ready-to-wear pieces (which drop online and in-store from tomorrow) spanned palazzo pants and diaphanous maxi dresses in a variety of luxurious fabrications – think sheer chiffons, lightweight linens, and fluid silk.

A variety of floral prints were splashed across dresses, tops, shirts and skirts, as were hints of gingham and pretty polka dots. Argyle-patterned knits lent a preppy vibe, paired with tulle tutus. A pink-feathered ensemble was a crowd favourite.

“It’s all so wearable,” exclaimed my seat buddy, who feverishly snapped each look as it materialised on the runway. The playlist included Madonna’s Like A Prayer and SNAP!’s Rhythm Is A Dancer, which had everyone wiggling along to the beat in their seats.

A fresh take on Dirty Dancing’s iconic dance sequence to The Time of My Life by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes was the perfect finale, performed by Josh and Nadine (yes, they did a version of the famous lift) before Crisp herself danced down the runway with a troupe of models in tow. We all danced in our seats, too, clapping along to the beat as cheers and claps rang out across Shed 10.

Is that the first time I’ve ever danced at a fashion show? Yes, and hopefully not the last.* – Ashleigh Cometti, beauty editor *

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