Natural, plastic-free, and circular. This is key to Kowtow and the vision that founder Gosia Paitek laid out from the start in 2006. Fast forward 20 years and Kowtow is a coveted brand in fashion circles and a global leader.
Earlier this week fashion illuminati gathered at Kowtow‘s Auckland Newmarket store to celebrate the brand’s 20th birthday with mini pavlovas and Prosecco.
Founder Gosia Piatek wasn’t there in person – she was in Italy supporting her niece at the World Youth Speed Climbing Championships – but she did send a message delivered by Kowtow managing director Emma Wallace who’s been with the brand for 13 years.
Piatek began by thanking those in the room for their support and for “believing in a fashion future without harm to our beautiful whenua”.
Photography Hope Patterson
“I started Kowtow 20 years ago with a laser-focused vision but also a very simple proposition. How do I make clothing that comes from the earth and returns back to the earth without harm?” said Piatek.
That journey has been documented in a thought provoking 120-page coffee table book titled The Unmaking Of, which will land in stores early-August. It was supposed to be released on 23 July.
“We chose to print it locally and use recycled paper, but as you know, the right decision doesn’t always go to plan,” laughed Wallace. “Unfortunately, the release is delayed by a couple of weeks, but this is our world that we live in. It’s a take on the past, the present and the future and how we see the future of fashion.”
The dress code was Kowtow. Photography Hope Patterson
Kowtow head designer Dayne Johnston spoke to the inspiration of the special 20th anniversary capsule collection.
Johnston said he wanted to have some fun with it as well as reach into the archive. The result is a “mash-up” print created by multi-disciplinary French artist and Kowtow’s first art director, Yoan Jolly.
The 20th birthday print of Yoan Jolly’s illustrations drawn from the brands archive.
Layering 20 years of textile archives into a punk-like collage, the print acts as a rebellious visual history honouring the evolution, experimentation and persistence behind the brand’s creative journey.
“There’s just so much history and richness in the archive that he created while he was there,” says Johnston. “I wanted to pull together iconic prints that Yoan had done. This edit become the basis of this print. Then he went off to his studio and started hand painting the prints again, which was a really nice process recreating it.”
The closer you look at the print the more you see. Plastic-free messages, a recreation of Kowtow’s compost print, the return of “the little angry cloud”, flowers and a little sailing ship (Johnston’s fave) that first appeared on a T-shirt as an embroidery.
“It’s a celebration of Yoan’s work that he did at Kowtow and it was really special to collab with him,” said Johnston.
The limited edition capsule collection also includes a number 20 rugby jersey and oversized boxy tee.
Kiwiana was part of the celebrations with pavlova and Kowtow’s take on the rugby jersey.
Rather than presenting a polished success story the soon to be released book, The Unmaking Of, embraces the friction, complexity and imperfections of trying to build a fashion system differently.
Part celebration, part provocation. It looks back on 20 years spent unmaking fashion as we know it, while looking forward to the future still being built: one that is organic, certified Fairtrade and fully plastic-free.
