Main photo Rebecca McMillan
Dayne Johnston’s second collection as head designer for Kowtow cements his vision for the eco-conscious label – refined, distinctive, and fashion-forward.
Even without a runway slot at New Zealand Fashion Week, Kowtow’s influence was unmissable in the front row. Unmistakable prints and silhouettes from Dayne Johnston’s Supernature collection.
Stylist Sammy Salsa in Kowtow’s pinstripe ‘Riley’ denim jacket and jeans. A strikingly modern take on denim that suits up when worn together, and unisex.
Ensemble co-founder Rebecca Wadey and stylist Kylee Cooke wore ‘Dress 05’ on different days – an understated name for such a beautiful frock of moody florals, and Ensemble co-founder Zoe Walker-Ahwa made an impression in Kowtow’s neon tartan ‘Impression’ dress.
Word on Fashion founder – that’s me – hot footed it to Kowtow, Newmarket as soon as images of the collection were released. I had to have the ‘Marta’ dress in the Monarch butterfly print; as well as the black and white contrast track pant inspired by vintage tuxedo trousers and the matching hoodie.
It felt doubly good to be wearing new fashion forward pieces that hit style markers and high-fived planetary health, present and future.
Kowtow ‘Marta’ dress with Monarch print – Supernature Collection.
Two years at Kowtow
It’s been two years since Johnston joined the team at Kowtow as head designer. He describes his move from Zambesi – where he worked for 20 years – as jumping out of his comfort zone and into a new way of working.
When we catch up, Johnston references his own interview with Dan Ahwa for the New Zealand Herald’s Viva when he says it has been “like learning a new vocabulary” because the Kowtow aesthetic is very different from Zambesi and he’s confined to working with Fairtrade Organic cotton. Quite the change from a plethora of suitings, silks, viscose and speciality fabrics. He’d also never done womenswear before.
Kowtow is also plastic-free which means no fusings with polyester, plastic buttons, and zips for that matter.
“The whole philosophy is regeneration. How it breaks down and returns to the earth. When I first started here it was like, ‘oh my gosh, we can’t use zips or fastenings. We have to do button flies instead’. That was a real design challenge when you take away all the trims but along the way I’ve found that the minimal resource we have pushes you further and makes you more creative,” he says.
“Here there’s such a sustainable lens on what we do, how it is traced from seed to garment. The sheer effort that it takes is actually mind-blowing.”
Kowtow designer Dayne Johnston. Photography Rebecca McMillan
It’s the first time Johnston’s worked with such a big team and it’s been a steep learning curve transitioning from making physical patterns to creating 3D designs on an avatar on screen.
Johnston works closely with Senior Creative Pattern Maker Marie Kelly, Creative Pattern Maker and Fit Specialist Megan Tuffery and Junior Textile Designer Olivia Simpson, designing garments, fabrics and prints respectively from scratch. Kowtow founder Gosia Piatek oversees from a distance and the pair have daily chats on WhatsApp.
“There’s a lot of groundwork and I don’t think any other brand in New Zealand probably does that. We start with the raw cotton, we construct every single loom and design every print. It’s a really luxurious process. Doing a mood board and dipping all the colours we want to use in the collection which I find really inspiring.”
Johnston is currently working on his fifth collection for Kowtow, which he acknowledges may seem crazy with his second only just released, but that’s how far Kowtow looks into the future. Each collection takes 18 months from conception to store.
Kowtow ‘Neon’ tartan print – Supernature collection.
When he first started at Kowtow he was criticised for using too much black, though it’s still a core part of the palette. The main focus is on colour and a joyful celebration of the brand which is what fans of the label resonate with.
“It took quite a long time to get my head there and curating drops within colour palettes of the collections is something that I really love doing now,” he says.
A beautiful example is Kowtow’s new neon tartan – blue, yellow and black. Hand painted and digitally printed.
For ‘Supernature’ Johnston was inspired by the work of German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans – exploring moments of energy and colour, and taking an artisanal approach.
“I’m really fond of his work. I saw a lot of his major work in Paris and Berlin. Street life photography where he captured real life and people. There’s a rawness to his imagery which tends to reference nature as well which is something we like to come back to at Kowtow.”
Kowtow ‘Wingspan’ vest and ‘Riley’ jean – Supernature collection.
Johnston took colours from Tillman’s photographs and the collection has an edginess that he likes. He describes it as a “quite noisy disrupted collection with beautiful moments” like embroidered flowers and butterfly prints building up to a bold final drop.
First collection drop
Johnston experienced seeing his first collection for Kowtow – Landscapes – launch online globally in real time which he says was a “pinch me moment” that was both exciting and a little terrifying. The sales team had a huge digital screen lit up with a map of the world showing what people had in their carts and what were the top sellers.
“I thought ‘I can’t believe I’m here and seeing the realisation of this collection go to market in a way like nothing that I’ve experienced before’. The things that were top sellers I had no idea would be top sellers. There was this moment of expectation and I felt terrified but it also felt like a celebration as well.”
There was much to celebrate. Johnston’s ‘Cityscape’ dress and shirt – a print from a photo he took of Wellington’s waterfront – were a hit as was the ‘Nova’ dress – a long sleeved utilitarian style with a dropped armhole in black poplin.
The narrative was about his journey from Auckland back to Wellington where he’d trained in fashion design at Wellington Polytechnic, and the surrounding landscapes.
Kowtow ‘Midnight’ polo – Super nature collection.
Being back in the Capital
A full circle moment that Johnston never envisaged but he’s glad he and his 11-year-old French bulldog Angus have made the move because it’s provided him with a sense of a different world that existed outside what he was used to, stimulation and the opportunity to extend himself as a designer.
“There’s an energy of the city where it feels so different from Auckland. I feel like I could be living in Antwerp in Belgium. On the street people are very individually dressed whereas in Auckland people follow trends,” he explains. “People don’t judge you here. You can be your own person and I think that has really opened me up. I don’t feel so self-conscious being in Wellington because I feel like I’m still anonymous here and no one really knows who I am. Auckland can get quite claustrophobic in a fashion sense but here I feel this new lease on life and it feels cool.”
Kowtow ‘Riley’ jacket and jean – Supernature collection.
20 years
As Kowtow prepares for its 20th birthday celebrations in 2026, it’s interesting to reflect that for much of that time Johnston was working alongside Zambesi founder Elisabeth Findlay as menswear designer.
Johnston says it was hard to walk out on a huge body of work that he’d done at Zambesi. “Liz taught me a lot, including being pure to yourself and not pleasing everybody. To be confident in your own sense of design. She was always like, ‘don’t try and please everybody. Try and just please yourself because at the end of the day if you’re happy with it, it will translate well. And I take that advice from Zambesi into Kowtow as well because it’s always about intuition and being passionate and fighting for what you believe in as well.”
He and Findlay worked well together because they were on the same wavelength and vibing on the same things. And he’s grateful to also have that with Piatek, especially as she had nothing to do with his employment.
“We hadn’t met before I started work here and when she arrived from London at the atelier we were both quite nervous to meet each other but we just clicked.”
He recently spent a week with Piatek in London visiting art galleries and walking the streets, as well as a week in his beloved Paris.
Kowtow ‘Luca’ vest – Supernature collection.
Future focused
Johnston says it feels very authentic to be working at Kowtow and being guided by the brand values. “If it’s not Fairtrade we can’t do it and I commend Kowtow for such discipline and to be so staunch in their values and in the way that they produce and Gosia has always been a visionary for that,” he says.
“It feels like a very cool time to be involved with this label. Working with a larger team and driving the lens on something that feels forward thinking. Sometimes it feels quite daunting that I’m responsible for that but the challenge is there and every day feels very stimulating.”
“It makes me feel good to be working with organic cotton and knowing that it’s not bad for the environment. There’s so much waste in fashion and the landfill that it is creating, it makes me feel quite sick. There are a lot of synthetic fibres out there that can’t break down and will live forever. It makes me feel good to be creating plastic free, organic cotton clothing and knowing that it’s not bad for the environment.”
