Rags are Riches is a show about making so-called ‘high fashion’ more accessible to rangatahi in Aotearoa. It celebrates a creative DIY mindset, and looks to challenge dominant, classist associations often made about what is fashionable. And the ‘FITS people… they’re going to be good.
Throughout the series, Mai FM radio host Randy Sjafrie and comedian Courtney Dawson will tour a rotating cast of celebrity guests through various fashion hot spots. The first episode shows the duo competing in a styling competition, dressing Chris Parker and Lance Savali in The Warehouse’s finest threads. The team runs riot around the store, with some real kid-in-a-candy-store energy, before assembling some very cool looks. Cue a runway down aisle 13. Sjafrie and Dawson keep the creativity flowing as they pull in kid’s accessories as well as some pieces of heavy workwear.
The rest of the series will explore secondhand fashion, with locations like Savemart, Titirangi’s Re:Generate Markets, and Newmarket’s Recycle Boutique, along with Aotearoa’s own brands, like VNTGVAMP and EFFN. It’s the newest piece from Joe Daymond’s Gen-Z focused media company WEST PARK, and the first episode is a promising launch. Rags are Riches is a piece for fashion fans to giggle along to, while penciling in their next opshop.
An opshopping guide to Tāmaki Makaurau.