My Account
A mutual love of sewing and vintage fashion ensured that Juanita Hernańdez of Ōrewa and Wainui’s Sandra Strickland became firm friends, after meeting at the Hibiscus Rodders Beach Festival Miss Hibiscus competition in 2020 (Sandra came second and Juanita third).
“We can shop up a serious storm at local op shops, where we find many vintage treasures – things like jewellery, patterns, gloves and hats,” Juanita says.
Between them, the pair have won various vintage pageants throughout the North Island. And the biggest of these is now ahead of them – they (and Miss Rita Rose) will represent Auckland at the first Miss Vintage Australasian pageant on September 24 in Canterbury.
It is part of Vintage Fest, which will include a carnival, market, rock ‘n’ roll music and classic/vintage cars. With Australian contestants out of the picture due to Covid-19, there will be 10 women in the finals, from all over New Zealand.
The competition has three sections – daywear, summer wear and formal wear. Sewing machines have run hot as Sandra and Juanita make all their own pageant outfits.
Sandra says her challenge was sewing an evening dress for the first time, while Juanita has made everything – “from hats to shoes”.
“For me, it’s about showing off my sewing,” Juanita says. Sandra says entering pageants is a real confidence booster. She first got into it through membership of the Rodders car club – her 1951 Cadillac Coupe DeVille is her pride and joy.
“Vintage pageants have been at more and more car shows,” Sandra says. “I saw others doing it and thought ‘why not’? It’s not easy getting up on stage and showing off your outfit, but it is lots of fun and you meet some lovely people.”
