How the West Was Worn

Costume designer Katrina Hodge helped create New Zealand’s most famous television family, the Wests. She talks to Margo White about the creation of bogan-chic.

“There’s been quite a bit of discussion about the idea of the Westie not being a geographic thing,” says Amanda White, Exhibitions Manager at Auckland Museum. “But it’s a type of person, with a way of dressing and a way of being that runs throughout the country, has its genesis from this particular locale in Auckland.”

“When the show started I think that type of look was geographically limited, she continues, “but now seems to have fed out into everywhere. When something has that level of history and that level of popularity, you really do have to ask the question, to what extent does it feed into the cycle.”

Outrageous Fortune, the longest running drama in New Zealand history, has been so culturally significant that it has now inspired a museum exhibition, opening 15 November, at the museum. Think of the paraphernalia of the show as a collection of 21st century artefacts, through which we can examine our culture, our politics… our sartorial tendencies.

“There’s no question that the leopard print phenomenon is huge,” says White. “Or that there is a Westie chic look that people have picked up on.”

So we can blame Katrina Hodge, head costume designer, for the revival of the leopard print. Apparently the leopard print heels that shoe designer Kathryn Wilson showcased during this year’s Fashion Week, were partly a tribute to Cheryl; Social Development and Employment Minister, Paula Bennett, has had her electoral office painted with leopard print, and furnished the interior with matching car seats – evidently hoping to tap into Cheryl’s popularity; and Fashion Quarterly named Cheryl one of the best-dressed people of the first decade of the 21st century. According to the latter: “Amateur sociologists might say the West family and the bogan outfits they have popularised over the past few years – all those white jeans, that leopard print and lashings of tight tops – are a sign that New Zealanders are no longer looking overseas and instead celebrating, and indeed even revelling in, their own culture.”

It was bound to happen; high street shops all over the world have drawn inspiration from American street wear, so it would follow that the streets of New Zealand would be influenced by a television series about a criminal family from west Auckland. Still, who’d have thought that bogan could be linked with chic, that “bogan-chic” could be said out loud, not even in an ironic way, not even as a tautology.

Katrina Hodge, of course, was only drawing on what was already out there. She did her research, which mostly involved spending a lot of time people-watching at Henderson Square or at Henderson’s main mall, Westgate. “We watched and watched and watched,” she recalls. “And the most common things were tight jeans, that feathery hair, and the trashy jewellery. And lots of jewellery; not just one necklace, but several.”

Hodge was not unfamiliar with the so-called Westie look – she currently lives out West, in Te Atatu Peninsula. Nor was she unfamiliar with the type of character. To say she grew up in a demolition yard would probably be an exaggeration, but her mother’s partner did own one, in Grey Lynn, and she spent a lot of time there. “I could say that I have met or known a lot of the characters in Outrageous… that’s one of the reasons I’ve felt quite a strong attachment to them.”

She also knows a lot about clothes; her mother owned vintage clothing stores on Karangahape Rd, such as No Go Zone and Kaos. “We used to go around to the bailers and the sorters who used to stash stuff for us; I don’t know if that was kosher, but you’d turn up and there would be three bags of 1950s cotton dresses, and we’d buy them for next to nix and sell them for next to nix.”

When she left school she worked in various clothing retail outlets, at Victoria Park market, at Hunters and Collectors and a shop in High Street. In between she studied pattern making, although that wasn’t really her calling. “I’m not a numbers person and you had to be really spot on with numbers in pattern making.” Sometime in the early 90s, through a friend’s mother, she scored a gig on South Pacific Pictures’ Plain Clothes. “And so I ended up working as a trainee in the costume department, for $150 a week, working stupidly long hours, and dressing police extras out of a truck.” Something must have clicked; that contract was followed by a job on Xena, a show she describes “as a breeding ground for some really skilled technicians.” After that she worked as the design assistant on Mercy Peak, where she eventually ended up as head designer.

One of the most satisfying aspects of Outrageous Fortune, says Hodge, is that as the series went on – and on and on – she was able to develop strong and enduring relationships with many New Zealand designers. As fashion spotters would be aware, characters like Loretta and Pascalle paraded some of our top labels, such as Karen Walker, Kate Sylvester, Cybele, Kathryn Wilson’s shoes, et al. “That became really poignant to me and quite special because we were so well supported by such fabulous New Zealand designers. And so I always tried to get lots of New Zealand product on screen.”

Not that this was just about showcasing the latest designer’s collection. Hodge often draws on fashion faux pas to highlight the personalities of even the most fashionably dressed. Such as Pascalle, who often had her midriff hanging out the top of her jeans, or skirts and frocks revealing too much thigh. (Among those in the wardrobe department, Pascalle’s skirts were commonly known as belts.) “Costume is not about making people look good on screen, but using clothes that work with their characters,” says Hodge.

Loretta, arguably the best dressed of the lot – at least in the later series – was loosely based on American fetish model Dita von Teese. “She is a good example of a transformation,” says Katrina. “She started out in t-shirts, jeans and trainers and didn’t give a fuck, hadn’t had any sexual experiences, didn’t care much about her body and while she was manipulative, she wasn’t aware of the power of the seduction.”

Then she figured out that looking good helped her get what she wanted. “The younger Loretta always wore a black t-shirt so we kept her in black clothes and while her look was fitted and sexy it wasn’t particularly revealing. She didn’t have to get her twins out. It was a prim look, but sexy.” (Twins, incidentally, a noun used by wardrobe department for a part of female anatomy commonly known as breasts.)

Then there was Cheryl, who started out as a mall shopper (white jeans, tight tops, heavily textured bra showing) who became decidedly funkier as time wore on. “More of a rock chick,” says Hodge. “ I took inspiration from the Westies, but also iconic people that I really like, like Patti Smith and Joan Jett, people that I felt were strong female characters – no bullshit, strong, sexy.”

And so it has ended, which Hodge says is something of a relief, tinged with nostalgia and sadness. She has since finished work on the upcoming Almighty Johnsons, is working on her own kid’s label, Rookie, and continues, she says, to work too many long hours.

“But I had a bit of an epiphany lately, because you often do work stupid hours in this industry, you don’t have enough time at home with your family, you get tired, you miss your child’s first day of school… Although I didn’t do that,” she adds quickly, “I took the day off. But you get really tired and you think, ‘why do I do this?”

“But I was talking with someone about it about how our industry thrives during a recession because in a recession people tend to watch more television. And the person I was speaking to said ‘you have to understand that you help create what makes people feel good’. That made me feel so much more attached to what I do because, you know, if the television isn’t on we don’t exist and yet you can get pretty caught up on the little things, like, ‘oh my god Cheryl’s ring is missing’ or ‘we’ve forgotten the shoes’. “

“You get really stressed out about stuff that you would feel is not important, but is important. So I now have this vision of the end product, that it creates a feel-good factor for a lot of people. It has given me a new surge of dedication to what I do, and respect for people that I work with.”