The Long Road to Sharp Casual
To spend time with Paddy Gower is to be swept up in a sort of kinetic honesty. For years, Paddy was the face of the New Zealand Press Gallery; a world of marble halls, rapid-fire questioning, and the unrelenting rigidity of the political suit. We meet him on a brisk morning, the kind of day that demands layers and a certain amount of grit. He’s moved away from the "tornado" look of his early TV days toward something he calls “sharp casual.” It’s a uniform for a man who is no longer just reporting the news, but living it.
"My style has come a long way," Paddy says, reflecting on his entry into the public gaze. "I came out of nowhere and onto TV and used to look like I stepped out of a tornado! I’ve definitely upped my game over the years; a combination of plain necessity to look halfway decent that has evolved into a passion for fashion."
The conversation turns to the duality of his wardrobe. This is a man who has been seen by the nation in everything from high-thread-count wool to high-visibility Lycra for his cycling pursuits. It raises the question: who is the real Paddy, style-wise?
"I like the term ‘Paddy style’," he says. "I always like to look sharp. I would define my look as ‘sharp casual.’ This means: nice shoes (always boots), well-cut dress jeans, tailored shirts, and a stylish blazer. I can wear this anywhere and do anything in it."
That versatility was tested recently during the filming of his latest project, Paddy Gower Has Issues. We had the pleasure of styling him for the show, a process that required a bridge between the clinical atmosphere of a television studio and the unpredictable weather of "the field."
"Rembrandt simply had everything on the shop shelf that I needed," he says thinking back to the process. "A big range of stylish, stand-out suits for work in the studio that make me pop on screen, but also a great casual range of jeans, jerseys, and jackets that I could wear when I am out and about across New Zealand."
Having spent a decade at Parliament, Gower is something of an accidental expert on the architecture of a suit. He’s worn more than most, and his criteria for quality have become razor-sharp. "I worked at Parliament for ten years, wore a suit every single day. Then in TV presenting, I have worn a lot. For me, it is all about the fit. If it doesn’t fit, it will never work. I’ve had plenty of nice fitting 'off the shelf' suits, but if it fits well, I will wear it until it is worn out. You know the first time you put it on."
The transition hasn't just been about the cut of a lapel, but about the weight of the moment. Paddy has witnessed power, scandal, and profound vulnerability, and he is acutely aware of how his visual presentation affects the stories he tells.
"If the Prime Minister quits, you’ve got to look right. Same goes for the March 15 terror attack, it’s about respect," he says, his voice dropping an octave. "And if you are doing interviews with vulnerable people for a documentary, you want to be casual, but not too casual. You never want the clothes to outshine the story. It’s always about being understated."
The road to "sharp casual" is, of course, littered with aesthetic potholes. In the spirit of Rembrandt’s appreciation for the patina of a life lived, we ask if there’s a piece he’d rethink. "I wore a safari-style short-sleeved shirt to report live from India once," he admits. "I’m not sure that it worked."
His current wardrobe is a conscious decoupling from his political past. "I only have two suits these days," he notes. "I tried to expunge Parliament from my life; that meant all those suits went to the Op Shop. Some people got some very styley bargains".
Ultimately, for Paddy, clothing has moved beyond mere utility and into the realm of storytelling. It’s a way to communicate a point of view before a single word is spoken. "Style is your story. You are telling a story about yourself. It is part of your personal brand. It gives you authenticity."
He pauses, "And authenticity is key. It's the one detail, in clothes or character, that I believe never goes out of fashion."
