To mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Auckland is welcoming a supersized fashion installation with a very personal message.
Every year in October, various pink products, activations and events aim to raise awareness about breast cancer, encourage early detection, support those affected by the disease and fund crucial research.
Tees for a Cure sees Kiwi designers and personalities create fund-raising tees for Breast Cancer Cure.
2026 has a bumper crop, ready to drop. To mark the occasion, a striking art installation and exhibition – a giant, neon-lit “dressing room” measuring almost 24 metres long and five metres high – is open to the public from Thursday October 1 until Monday, October 5.
The concept was chosen by creator Sarah Jayne Kavali for its deeply personal significance. A dressing room is a space where women often become more familiar with their bodies, but also one where they may first notice that something has changed. Following treatment, it can become a place to rediscover and reconnect with themselves.
“The Dressing Room takes that intimate ritual and makes it monumental, says artist Kavali. “The structure is enormous because the disease we’re confronting is enormous. At its heart, it’s about identity, restoration and the power of clothing to help us reconnect with ourselves, wherever we may be in life or in our journey.”
With 26 rooms inside the giant structure, its scaffold skeleton is lined with hundreds of T-shirts forming part of the façade and experience. Visitors can experience the t-shirt designers’ creativity, encounter stories from women affected by breast cancer, and walk out in one of the special tees.
For Kavali, the project also carries a deeply personal meaning.
“Three of the most exceptional women in my life have encountered breast cancer. I have seen intimately how vast its impact is, not only on the person diagnosed, but on everyone who loves them.”
This year’s tees will be available from the Dressing Room as well as pre-order from the Breast Cancer Cure website.
26 leading New Zealand fashion designers are involved in 2026, as well as a special guest design from Jaquie Brown. The Kiwi actor, personality and Breast Cancer Cure Ambassador recently shared her own experience after being diagnosed with breast cancer in April this year. Her tee features what she calls her mantra this year – ‘Adjust, then thrive.’
There are also designs from well-known labels such as Karen Walker, Kiri Nathan, Trelise Cooper, Kathryn Wilson, Federation, Kowtow, Moochi, NOM*d, Augustine and Zambesi.
See all the tees here.
Federation’s Jenny Joblin says the cause is one closer to her heart.
“We lost our mum to breast cancer when I was 17 and my brother was only 14, so being involved was an immediate yes for me.”
Joblin’s design carries the words “Pressure makes diamonds”, a message she says is deliberately about strength and hope. “Cancer puts people and families through the unimaginable, but the message also relates
to the pressures life can bring in so many different ways. Everyone has their own story and their own journey.”
Around 3,700 people are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in New Zealand. Breast Cancer Cure says the money raised through campaigns like Tees for a Cure helps New Zealand researchers continue work that could transform how the disease is prevented, detected and treated.
The Dressing Room
New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) – Te Wharau Foyer, 83 Wellesley Street West, Auckland CBD
Admission is free but bookings are required – book here.
Thursday 1 – Monday 5 October 2026.
Entry available every 15 minutes from 10am – 4pm. Last entry time is at 3:30pm.
