Neil Gussey, one of Aotearoa’s most eminent fashion and beauty photographers – and former sometime snapper for Verve – has now added documentary maker to his creative bow.
After the cinematic release of his feature-length documentary, The Rise and Fall of Miss New Zealand, last year, the documentary has a new home in our homes on the small screens from this month.
“It’s quite a niche movie, not really one that would appeal to everyone, so it’s exciting that it’s going to be on TV,” says Neil.
The film, which started out as a podcast project during lockdown (“I had nothing to do as a fashion photographer during covid!”) focuses on a “time before supermodels” when beauty pageants “attracted more viewers than Diana marrying Prince Charles”, and also charts their decline into the 21st century.
“The ‘fall’ part only meant that it was taken off TV, but they were worried there were going to be stories of scandal. But the movie is a celebration of their careers and of that time when the whole country knew who they were: the most beautiful girls in New Zealand, or maybe even the world!”
“Modelling hadn’t really taken off,” recalls Neil. “Everyone thought that the winners were the most beautiful girls in the world. It seems kind of ridiculous now, but it was such a big deal back then.”
Were all of the women keen to be involved?
“The three main ones I needed were Loraine Downes, Elaine Miscall Daley, and Delyse Nottle, because Lorraine won Miss Universe, Elaine got second, and Delyse placed third. They were the three best results that New Zealand had ever had, so I knew that they were the other ones that the public knew. The rest of them were made up through the years right up until the recent day, including Holly Cassidy who met Donald Trump when he was running Miss Universe in Russia.”
Why did you think it was important to make the film?
“Delyse is one of my best friends. When I started back in the late 80s, I worked with a lot of them as models. During that time, the pageants started becoming really unfashionable, and kind of disappeared from the public consciousness for 20 years. They were still going, but everyone had lost interest. And I remembered as a kid what a big deal they were, and then I met them, and they became my friends. So, I thought it was a good story to tell.”
Neil compares the competitions’ downfall to the likes Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model, all wildly popular in their day, before dying off and finding new audiences online. Though the women were keen to be involved, Neil reveals that some did have reservations about the implications of the title, Rise and Fall.
Trips down memory lane are always emotional, and so it was for these women, some of whom had to look back 60 years.
“It’s akin to examining a time capsule of a certain area, from the 60s through to the 90s,” says Neil. “It was moving for them, but they enjoyed it, and they loved seeing the premiere at Capitol Cinema. The all turned up, dressed up, and Capitol remarked that it was the rowdiest premiere they’d ever had!”
Neil is also about to start work on a new double feature film project that centres around the 90s. The first part will be a comedy documentary interviewing key figures about where they nightclubbed, ate, and drank during that decade, and the second part will tell the story of New Zealand supermodel Kylie Bax.
“I’d always kind of rejected the idea of the 90s, because it doesn’t feel that long ago, but it’s actually 30 years! So, I thought now’s the right time to look back at the decade with a smile. And Kylie was New Zealand’s most famous model ever, she did 13 Vogue covers, and campaigns for Chanel, but because it was before the internet, a lot of people don’t know who she is.”
Titled The Great 90s Rewind and Bax and Beyond, the double bill is set for release early next year.
“I thought a double feature would be quite cool because that’s what they did in the old days, with a break at half time,” says Neil. “It’s something no one else does anymore, and its fitting of the retro theme.”
Catch The Rise and Fall of Miss New Zealand on 12 July at 8:30pm on Rialto Sky 39.
