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Overview
This hat is part of an outfit was made by Annie Bonza, a Wellington-born New Zealand fashion designer whose fashion career spans more than fifty years and three cities - Auckland, Sydney and Rarotonga.
Annie Bonza's fashions range from the offbeat to the elegant, her hallmarks being a love of decoration and a spectacular sense of colour.
This outfit was designed for a fashion shoot for Bride Groom, a New Zealand bridal magazine, in 1992. It is a very good example of an Annie Bonza 'Word Dress' - fashionable garments decorated with words and statements 'written' in braids of differing colours and widths. Annie made her 'Word' garments between the late 1980s and the early 1990s.
Catherine Ann Cole (later Annie Bonza) was born in Wellington in 1940 and grew up in Te Kuiti in New Zealand's North Island before moving to Auckland, to pursue a career in fashion.
Annie's professional career as a fashion designer officially began in 1956 when she undertook a three year apprenticeship with the Auckland-based gown manufacturer, Chadwick Bray. Following this she worked as a designer for another Auckland garment label, 'Pour Vous' before moving to Sydney in 1964 to extend her skills and try her luck in the fashion job market. She had been inspired to move after receiving a high commendation for her entry to New Zealand fashion competition 'The Golden Shears' in 1961.
In Sydney, Annie worked for designer Robert White and others before designing and selling hand painted clothing which she sold under the label, Annie Bonza, 'Bonza' being a nickname bestowed on Annie by Australian sculptor and friend, Robert Klippel.
By 1967, Annie had formally adopted the catchy surname Bonza and was living back in Auckland. There she opened a successful boutique in Jervois Road, followed by another in Theatre Lane, both popular with Auckland youth as well as celebrities such as Ray Columbus and 'The Chicks' (dancers on popular NZ music show, C'mon). In 1974 Bonza won her first major award, the 'After Five' section of the Benson Hedges Fashion Design Awards.
In 1974, after years of intensive activity, an exhausted Annie 'retired' to the country.
A Cook Island vacation three years later, in 1977, turned into a seven-year stay. Inspired by the colours and lifestyle of the tropics, Annie began designing again and established a series of small boutiques including one called Mekameka.
In 1984, Annie re-established herself in Auckland and, with a friend's financial backing from 1988, opened a successful boutique in Jervois Road, not far from her very first boutique. During the late 1980s and 1990s, Bonza's career and reputation blossomed - she received extensive media coverage, particularly in fashion spreads; she won the 'Perrier Lifestyle Award' at the 1989 Benson Hedges Fashion Design Awards, and received many high profile commissions.
In 1996, Annie Bonza surrendered again to the pull of the Cooks where she continues to live, working on private commissions and the occasional fashion event.