Kristine Crabb

Kristine Mary Crabb (born 10 October 1978) is a New Zealand fashion designer and artist. She is known for her Karangahape Road boutique Rip Shit and Bust which ran from 2001 to 2003, and for her fashion label Miss Crabb which ran from 2004 to 2019. In 2020 she launched Gloria, described by Crabb as a wide-ranging creative project.

Crabb's designs have been worn by notable New Zealand women including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Lorde, Bic Runga and Anika Moa, as well as by other local and international artists, political leaders and musicians and broadcasters.

Crabb's career and work is characterised by its close connection to art, and throughout her career she has undertaken numerous collaborations with notable visual artists, filmmakers and musicians including Richard Orjis, Florian Habicht, and Ruth Buchanan.

Personal life Crabb lives and works in inner-city Auckland, New Zealand. She has three children with the artist Andrew Barber. Crabb has often noted that her grandmother was a great inspiration for her life and work. An aviator, Gloria Crabb was the second woman to fly the Tasman after Jean Batton. and started making clothes as a teenager In 1996 she commenced study at Whanganui Polytechnic and graduated in 2000. experimentation and subversion, and romanticism. The experimental store-cum-studio sold one-off pieces Non was also stocked in boutiques in New Zealand and Australia.

At the time Karangahape Road was a centre for counter-culture in New Zealand and was notorious as Auckland's red-light district. Rip Shit and Bust was also characterised by cultural subversion, and through making and selling one-off pieces Crabb was able to experiment.

In 2003 the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki invited Rip Shit and Bust to present a show.

Miss Crabb In 2004 Crabb established her eponymous label Miss Crabb, which ran until 2019.

An internationally renowned fashion label Miss Crabb began as an art and business project, conceived as an alternative way of making and wearing clothes and as a response to what Crabb viewed as restricting conventions of the fashion industry. Originally, the Miss Crabb studio was above the retail store, and was later moved to a location nearby in Ponsonby. Often cut in silk, this method resulted in clothes that could be tied, draped and wrapped in numerous ways, creating a distinct volume and garments with fluid, changeable silhouettes. Many Miss Crabb dresses were one-size and suitable for diverse bodies; sizing ranged upwards of size 18, and included clothes suitable for full-term pregnancy, nursing, and postnatal bodies.

In 2017 the filmmakers Florian Habicht and Teresa Peters directed and starred in a film for the "Romantica" collection. Later collaborations included projects with artist Areez Katki, with photographers Andrei Blidarean and Oliver Guyon, and with artist Anna Sisson and DJ Creamy Mami.

Gloria In 2019 Crabb announced her next project Gloria, described by Crabb as "a dedication to my divine grandmother, her strength and love of life, curiosity and beauty."

Gloria is conceived by Crabb as a wide ranging creative project, and will include a perfume collaboration with New Zealand perfumer Tiffany Witehira of Curionoir.