Designers impress in Sydney
Wiremu Ruka and Patsy-Anne Grace had long nurtured a dream – to wow the world of fashion. Now the dream is coming true. On October 21, the South Auckland duo represented New Zealand at the prestigious Pacific Runway Fashion in Sydney, Australia.
Pacific Runway Fashion was created to showcase creativity, innovation and originality from the entire Pacific region.
‘‘It was an explosion of talent over there, and we are thrilled to get international exposure,’’ Wiremu says.
‘‘The show gave us an opportunity to network, engage and build rapport within the fashion industry,’’ PatsyAnne adds.
Their road to success was paved with a lot of hard work. Wiremu, from Conifer Grove, and Manurewa-based Patsy-Anne were students of fashion design at East Tamaki-based Sewtec Fashion Academy. They met on the bus while commuting to class, earlier this year. It was the beginning of a rewarding business partnership.
‘‘At Sewtec we got the foundation skills to back up our passion,’’ they say. ‘‘A huge part of our success is due to our tutors.’’
Sewtec’s business mentoring programme helped them launch their Wallflower line. It was also at the academy’s end of school show Manukau e´n Vogue that they got noticed, and were invited to design the costume for Miss Earth New Zealand. As Sewtec students they also designed National Costumes for the Miss World New Zealand pageant.
After Sydney, the twosome plan to scale up their dreams.
‘‘We are thinking big now and plan to take Wallflower global,’’ Wiremu says.
Wiremu and Patsy-Anne have this piece of advice for those aspiring for a break in the careers: ‘‘Don’t let people tell you what you can or can’t do.
There are plenty of opportunities in the world of fashion – all you need is the drive to succeed.’’
www.sewtec.ac.nz, call 0508 327 872 or search for Sewtec on Facebook.
The academy offers no-strings, free trials on all its courses – so why not see if it’s a great fit for you?