Embracing change
Fashion writer and former graduate Katie Day uncovers the stories behind the collections of this year’s Otago Polytechnic graduating fashion design class.
THE students from the Otago Polytechnic’s graduating fashion design class have reached the pinnacle of their studies during a year like no other.
Home spaces were transformed into design studios and the buzz of the classroom was reduced to the hum of a laptop as learning moved online for the duration of Covid19 lockdown.
The students channelled their design strengths of creative problemsolving and perseverance, adapting their theoretical and handson studies to various learning environments and reconsidering their position as emerging designers in a rapidly changing fashion system.
Overcoming every obstacle thrown at them, they have produced meaningful, innovative and technically comprehensive collections that contemplate and reflect elements of society, interwoven with their individual design philosophies.
Upcoming fashion design graduates Jamie Horsefield, Taylor Pumphrey and Jacinta Boock reveal the inspiration behind their 2020 debut collections.
For more emerging design, Otago Polytechnic’s ‘‘DEBREIF’’ exhibition showcases a curated selection of design created by graduating students across the polytechnic’s design disciplines, which includes communication, fashion and product design.