Noelle McCarthy has a look at New Zealand fashion icons and has this to say about John Key's new friend Titewhai Harawira
What vision was this, walking alongside Honest John? Who was this apparition, with her oversized sunnies and eggplant-coloured hair?
Watching Titewhai Harawira sashaying on to Te Tii Marae hand-in-claw with a discombobulated-looking Key, it was clear New Zealand was having a fashion moment not experienced since Donna Awatere Huata went blonde in prison.
Move over Alexis Colby, hang back Jackie O, Titewhai Harawira put together a Waitangi Day look so flat out it must have had the fiercest drag queens crying into their make-up bags.
It soon became clear that this was no sartorial flash-in-the-pan either. She followed it up the next day, appearing on Close Up in a splendidly bizarre symphony of colours and sparkles topped off with a corsage that would have done Carrie Bradshaw proud.
The hand in claw line is pretty good. There is some debate about the impact on the electorate of the hand in claw photos. At one level they must have caused some consternation on the 9th floor (because of their implications for the post election deal making), but there are some, such as Tracy Watkins of the Dom Post who are suggesting that news of Key's new friends may not be playing well out in the heartland (Watkins was talking more about the Iti hongi, but others are equally questioning about the Titewhai photos). We shall have to wait to see in the next few opinion poll results.
