Costume Revolution
Splore & Fashion Revolution NZ present: Costume Revolution.
As we prepare for the greatest costume party in Aotearoa, it’s time to start a conversation about festival wear, unnecessary waste and cultural appropriation. We love the richness of eclectic clothing influences, inspired designs, and the downright craziness you all bring to Tāpapakanga, and we want to encourage your creativity while keeping Splore a sustainable and culturally respectful space for everyone to enjoy.
Visit Costume Revolution in Camp HQ and take part in Aotearoa’s Greatest Costume Swap. Bring a garment or accessory to swap at Splore; or channel your creativity at free bejazzling & up-cycling workshops hosted by Fashion Revolution NZ.
Splore’s Festival Fashion Statement
It’s time to overthrow single-use plastic accessories and overcome our addiction to tiny shiny sparkly things. Kiss goodbye to using costumes as a one-night-stand, and start treating every costume with love.
Splore invites you to costume with character, consideration, creativity. Express your ultimate self with respect for others and the environment.
Switched-on Style
Splore Festival has a reputation as New Zealand’s greatest costume party and this year will be no exception. Here at Splore HQ we’re already dreaming and scheming up our outfits: we love dressing to impress as our most flamboyant selves.
This handy guide will help you to source the costumes and accessories of your dreams. We’ve put together some pro tips from veteran Splore costumers, based on the ‘Buyerarchy of Needs,’ so you can show us your flair, without letting your costume languish in landfill.
‘Buyerarchy of Needs.’ by Sarah Lazarovic
Use What You Have
Decide on your festival persona: are you channeling Infinite glamour? A psychonautical space princess / prince? A kooky, colourful raver? Look online for festival outfit inspiration, then have a scratch around your wardrobe and see if you can give an old garment a new lease on life.
Pro-tip: plan ahead! Last-minute costume shopping usually means you’ll end up sweating it out in an ill-fitting polyester number from Look Sharp. Yucky. Allow some time for pimping that cute denim jacket you bought 5 years ago and haven’t worn since.
NEWS FLASH: pimp your ‘fit at Splore’s Costume Revolution zone in Camp HQ. Our friends from Fashion Revolution will be onsite hosting free DIY bejazzling & up-cycling workshops on Thursday 4 - 8 PM, Friday 12 - 6 PM, Saturday 10 - 4 PM.
Borrow
Do you really need to buy that 80's ball dress, or could you just hire it for the weekend? Take a trip to your local costume hire shop and go wild - this option often comes with the added bonus of styling assistance from the hire store staff. Got a pal who's into costumes? Borrow! It’s better for your bank balance and better for Mama Earth.
Swap
Host a pre-Splore costume swap! Get your pals together, share your outfits & accessories, mix & match so you've all got a fresh look. Swapping garments and accessories will save y’all from buying something you may not wear again.
Thrift
Your local flea market, op shop, or weekend / car boot market is a goldmine of treasure just waiting to be discovered. Make an afternoon or a weekend of it and head out on a hunt with your fellow Splorers - inspire each other. Pretty much everything you need can be found in a second hand store or on Trade Me - with a bit of foresight, you can put together an incredible costume which doesn't cost the earth (literally & figuratively).
Make
Do It Yourself! Make something using fabric, accessories, trimmings - usually there are shelves full of crafting stuff in your local second hand store. Host a 'DIY' costuming event with your friends one weekend or evening.
Pro-tip: a powerful headpiece can take your outfit to the next level and can be worn again and again. Decorate an old hat or pair of sunnies with fabric, cute trimmings and treasures from the op shop. Go wild: nothing is too crazy for Splore.
Why Buy?
Before you get your wallet out, think about what you’re spending your money on
If you can’t use what you have, borrow, rent, thrift or make that essential costume item, approach your purchase through a lens of what you need, not what you want. Second-hand should always be your first port of call for buying the things: check out your local op shop, car boot or garage sale, flea market, community Trade & Exchange; or online community marketplace (e.g. local Buy, Sell, Swap on Facebook, Trade Me).
If you must buy something new, a good start is to make sure it’s locally made, ideally from natural fibres like cotton, wool, silk, hemp, bamboo, and something that you’ll wear again in ‘real life’ or treasure as a special costume piece. Support local artists and the wider creative community by purchasing from your local craft market or Etsy.
Shop with intention
Buy something because it makes your heart sing. Buy it because it’s the piece de resistance for that outfit you already have in your closet. Buy it because you’ve been dreaming about it at night. Buy it because it will support a local maker. Buy it because you’ll love it and wear it forever. Buy it because it’s something your children might wear to Splore one day.
Sleep on it, before you get out your wallet. If you wake up the next morning still fantasising about it, it’s within your budget, and you hand-on-heart love it, that’s when you’ve found the dream costume item.
Avoid buying something as a quick fix, for a dopamine hit, or when you’re in a hurry. Always try before you buy.
Shine Like You Mean It
Don’t let the gleam of glitter blind you from a huge tiny shiny problem. Micro–plastics are messing with marine life, and glitter (even bio-glitter) is no exception.
How about letting the sparkle shine from your eyes, instead of plastering yourself with tiny bits of metal and plant-based plastic?
While we’re talking sparkle, leave those stick-on crystals and tinsel at home too, ain’t nobody got time for that.
Glow sticks and bracelets are single–use plastic tubes filled with nasty chemicals. It’s a lot of toxic waste to make for just one night of glow up. Instead, maybe try adding UV body paint or solar–powered fairy lights to your Splore looks.
Our Feathered Friends
Spare a thought for our feathered friends, and forget those feather boas and feathered headpieces. We won’t go into the gory details, but suffice to say those feathers don’t come from a happy place, and usually end up sprinkling the festival site with their lost chances.
Tickle your fancy fantasies with ethically-sourced neck and head adornments: pump up the glam with necklaces, beads, scarves: more is more, especially when it can be worn one more time.
Culture is not costume
We encourage everyone to first consider what cultural appropriation means, and to be mindful of this before they come to Splore.
Cultural appropriation happens when a culturally important garment or sacred symbol is worn as a costume or fashion trend, and is stripped of its significance and context, especially when items from a minority culture are worn by someone from a colonial culture.
There’s a fine line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. We want Splorers to lead the way in navigating these issues by having a healthy conversation about the possible impacts of your costume choices. While some people might call it politically correct, we just call it showing respect and love for your fellow humans!
How can you avoid cultural appropriation? If you admire a culture, but you're not an active participant within those communities, then it's always best to ask questions and to respect the voices of the people who are caretakers of that cultural knowledge.
Yes to Personal Expression - No to Ethnic & Racial Stereotypes
Think twice before getting dressed up in a costume using traditional clothing from cultures that aren't your whakapapa. Using a person's cultural heritage as a party costume can be hurtful, and it's easy to avoid! We know that you're creative enough to invent new styles and blow some minds. There are plenty of ways to explore a connection to nature, mysticism, mana, and spirituality. Channel your powerful inner vibe: be bold, be subtle, be unexpected!
Yes to Indigenous Solidarity - No to Feathered War Bonnets
In the traditions of many Native American tribes, women don’t wear war bonnets (a major costume faux pas at festivals around the world). Feathered war bonnets are traditionally reserved for men and two-spirits, and in many tribes each single feather is earned through an act of bravery. Wearing a war bonnet is the same as wearing a medal you didn’t earn: it’s disrespectful and it belittles the people who actually earned them. Show your admiration and solidarity in other ways: respect for the land, support for indigenous rights, and promoting love and understanding.
Yes to Sparkly Adornment - No to Bindi or ‘Tribal Style’ Facepaint
Summer festivals are awash with beautiful happy faces covered in sparkles and patterns of every kind. But it would be a tragedy if the accessories and designs that accentuate your happy face bring sadness to the faces of others! Non-Hindu women wearing bindis, or non-indigenous people wearing 'tribal style' face paint: this kind of make-up can make others feel disrespected, so channel your own imagination instead!
Wearing a bindi on the forehead is an ancient Hindu tradition with deep religious significance, not a cute festival accessory! And many tribespeople from around the world paint their faces with sacred designs that communicate their heritage and mana. Adornment is as old as time; stay fresh and encourage your own creative interpretations!
Yes to Empathy - No to Disrespect
Every culture has faced their struggles and victories, with symbols that reference and represent these times. When you realise this, the elements and symbols have context and make more sense within the bigger picture. Once you know what the symbols you are wearing mean, you can better understand what that might communicate to the humans around you. If people have taken the time to explain that copying elements of their culture is disrespectful and hurtful, we can take the time to listen.
Stay Open to Learning
What strengthens my mana and inspires my own sense of self?
What do I find most meaningful and how can I express that in my own way?
Do I really need to copy from other cultures to express myself?
Am I honouring the knowledge of indigenous peoples and their cultural heritage?
If people have specifically asked that others not appropriate certain elements of their cultural heritage, do I have the sensitivity and humility to listen?
How can I help my friends and the wider festival community better channel their inner magnificence?
We can't get everything right every time! You can have the best of intentions, but the important thing is showing grace and humility when someone presents a different viewpoint. If we stay open and communicate with respect and love, we'll all learn and grow together.
Kia Kaha & Share the Love