Annie Bonza (née Cole, born 17 March 1940) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

fashion designer and a pioneer of boutique fashion. Her signature 'doodle' style consists of braiding, ribbon, beading, embroidery and hand painting clothing with Māori and Polynesia influences. Her work has been exhibited at

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

and has won awards at the

Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards was a New Zealand fashion competition that ran from 1964 to 1998. It was the country's major competitive fashion event during this period. The Awards' open entry format offered an opportunity for new fashion ...

in 1971 and 1989.

Early life

Annie Bonza was born Annie Cole in

Te Kūiti Te Kūiti is a town in the north of the King Country region of the North Island of New Zealand. It lies at the junction of State Highways 3 and 30 and on the North Island Main Trunk railway, south of Hamilton. The town promotes itself as the ...

, New Zealand. At age 16, she moved to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

where she began a cutting and design apprenticeship at Chadwick and Bray, a large clothing manufacturer. In her time there she was exposed to pre-war patterns of Corneli lace which would go on to inspire her later work.

Career

Her first design job was at Pour Vous, a company which stocked department stores throughout New Zealand. Her designs gained her a high commendation at the British Golden Shears Awards. In 1964 she moved to Sydney to work at the salon of Robert White. The salon produced afternoon and cocktail wear. In Australia Bonza met Mike Brown who she would later marry and have a son with. Brown encouraged her to use her designs as a form of self-expression and to launch her own label 'Annie Bonza.' After her marriage ended she took on the name of the label as her own. Bonza returned to Auckland in 1966 where she set up one of the first Boutique stores in New Zealand, Boutique 202. By designing clothes for the dancers on the New Zealand Television show ''C'mon'' Bonza's work quickly became known throughout New Zealand. Her clothes were made distinctive by her use of braiding and writing on clothing. Bonza moved to the Cook Islands in the mid 1970s. She opened up a shop ‘Mekameka’ in Rarotonga. This store catered mostly to tourist but also sold

muumuu The muumuu or muumuu () is a loose dress of Hawaiian origin that hangs from the shoulder and is like a cross between a shirt and a robe. Like the aloha shirt, muumuu exports are often brilliantly colored with floral patterns of generic Polynes ...

to local women. While here she was inspired by

Tivaevae Tivaevae or tivaivai ( rar, tīvaevae) in the Cook Islands, tifaifai in French Polynesia, is a form of artistic quilting traditionally done by Polynesian women. The word literally means "patches", in reference to the pieces of material sewn togeth ...

patterns and techniques which would feature in her later work. She would return to Rarotonga again in 1996 to work on private commissions. Annie Bonza’s clothes have been worn by

Rangimārie Hetet Dame Rangimārie Hetet (née Hursthouse, 24 May 1892 – 14 June 1995) was a New Zealand Māori tohunga raranga (master weaver). She identified with the Ngati Maniapoto iwi. Early life Hetet was born in Oparure, King Country, New Zeala ...

, Dame Te Atairangikaahu and Adi Litia. At least one of Annie Bonza's dresses are in the collection of

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Aucklan ...

Awards and recognition

*1962 Highly Commended, Golden Shears Awards. *1971 Supreme Award winner, Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards. *1989 Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards.

Exhibitions

*2001, ''Dress Down Under: Award Winning Fashion 1970–2001'',

National Library of New Zealand The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...

. *2006, ''Annie Bonza: Fashion Explosion'',

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

. *2013, ''Home Sewn'', Dowse.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonza, Annie New Zealand fashion designers New Zealand women fashion designers 1940 births Living people People from Te Kūiti