Art Deco 2026: Your Guide to "Where’s the Party?"
Details
✨The 2026 Art Deco Festival Napier will be bursting with glamour, music, and pure 1930s magic. From glitzy soirées, vintage car parades and open-air concerts to swing dancing, and fine dining, it will be a joy to behold.
✨Whether you’re dressing to the nines or soaking up the spectacle streetside, the festival promises five unforgettable days of style, celebration, and fun.
History:
Napier and Hawke's Bay's world-renowned collection of Art Deco buildings owes its existence to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated the Hawke’s Bay region in February 1931, killing 256 and injuring thousands more. It remains New Zealand’s deadliest natural disaster.
The Art Deco Trust came out of a group formed in 1985 to protect the unique 1930s buildings that for 50 years had been unrecognised, undervalued and were under threat of demolition.
Hidden Gem: This festival promises unique and wonderful experiences. There will be so much to do and see, whether it’s admiring the vintage cars, dining decadently, enjoying high tea, dancing the night away or just taking in the fabulous fashion.
Scroll through the program:
https://www.artdecofestival.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ADF26-PROGRAMME-Dv2.pdf
Purchase tickets:
https://www.iticket.co.nz/go-to/art-deco-2026
Our individual gatherings will be posted, each separately.
What is Art Deco?
The style we now call Art Deco originated in Europe in the early years of the 20th Century, and its heyday was from 1920-1940. It became widely known following the great Exposition des Arts Modernes Decoratifs et Industriels, held in Paris in 1925 and from which its name was ultimately derived. By the late 1930s it was in its streamlined phase and after World War 2, the International Style, devoid of all decoration, held sway. In the late 1960s, interest in the Art Deco style was rekindled and this interest has continued to grow.
Art Deco expressed all the vigour and optimism of the roaring twenties, and the idealism and escapism of the grim thirties. Its decorative themes are:
Sunbursts and fountains – representing the dawn of a new modern age.
The Skyscraper shape – symbolic of the 20th century.
Symbols of speed, power and flight – the exciting new developments in transport and communications.
Geometric shapes – representing the machine and technology which it was thought would solve all our problems.
The new woman – revelling in her recently won social freedoms.
Breaking the rules – cacophonous jazz, short skirts and hair, shocking dances.
Ancient cultures – for oddly enough, there was a fascination with the civilisations of Egypt and central America.
All of these themes are represented on the buildings of Napier, most of which are still standing today and are lovingly cared for by their owners.
Frequently Asked Questions: