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Overview
This glorious red wedding dress was made to be seen, but not just at a wedding.
Daring design
Donna Philburn and her mother Kaye designed and made this dress for Coralie Warburton, Miss Counties Manukau 1999, to wear in that year’s Miss World New Zealand pageant. Ms Warburton went on to win the pageant (wearing the dress in the evening wear section) and competed at the Miss World contest in London later that year. The dress was eventually acquired by a bride of Ngati Ruanui descent for her wedding.
Kowhaiwhai (scroll painting on rafters)
The dress designers were inspired by Maori kowhaiwhai for the front panelling and the edge of the train, which they wanted to represent the 'ancestral, paternal and maternal'. The colour red followed a Pasifika theme in Donna Philburn’s work, and she wanted to explore a colour that was relatively unusual fora wedding dress at that time.