NZSTYLE: Fashion Trendsetter or “Hella Creepy”?

The launch of NZSTYLE (@nzstyled) on TikTok has caused a stir in Pōneke. 

The account premises itself on spotlighting the best dressed people in Wellington, but its method for doing so has drawn criticism from some. 

The account does not ask the people it films for permission. Instead, it captures subjects from a distance without their knowledge. 

This has proven to be controversial, with one TikTok commenter noting that it is “hella creepy” for the account to be filming without the explicit consent of the subject.

Public opinion on the account is split. While some commenters write that they “hope to be in one of these” and have made it “a goal to feature” on the account, others have said that they’re horrified that they will “be caught lackin”. 

Some viewers also note that the outfits NZSTYLE captures aren’t representative of real Wellington fashion and are instead “giving […] grandparents and suits”. 

Wellingtonians that spoke to Salient shared similar thoughts, with one commenting that it is “exciting to see if there’s anyone that I know” on the account, and that she would “quite like to be on the account, but only when I’m wearing a cool outfit” —not when she is “walking to the supermarket looking like I’m wearing a trash bag”.

A VUW student who was featured on the account said that he would have been “uncomfortable if [he was filmed] in some other circumstance”, but was happy that the account “caught me in a good fit”. He added that “it was kind of exciting having a little moment of TikTok fame”.

Professor Nicole Moreham—who specialises in privacy and media law—told Salient that, while  the account’s videos are perfectly legal, it is a mild version of uncomfortable practices on social media. 

Moreham notes that the content the account makes tends to be “celebrating [its subjects] rather than shaming them in any way”.

She contrasts this against other media—especially that which creates spectacle out of traumatic moments—which also relies on images captured in public spaces. 

Professor Moreham reminds audiences “how important it is, as consumers of this content and as the makers of [this type of] content, to think about what impact we might be having on the subjects without realising.”