Overwhelming interest in young fashion wear
COMMUNITY interest in fashion wear for young people remains one of the most popular parts of Fiji Fashion Week (FJFW) with shows always sold out and entries from young designers exceeding that of the adult parts of the May event.
On the weekend, more than 300 children between the ages of 5-10 years old tried out to model at the May 22 Children’s Wear Show.
FJFW event co-ordinator Onisimo Moi said the crew were overwhelmed with the interest and rush to be part of the modelling pool and so an extra audition session had to be scheduled.
“It is so exciting that by the time we got there, there were already about 100 children there and I guess it’s because we missed one year. But by lunch time when the number tripled, we realised people are quite interested in fashion wear for young people here,” Moi said.
“Young people, and children it seems, drive a lot of the fashion interest here and we know it will be the same situation when entries close on April 16 for the Student Designer competition.”
Moi said they hoped more students from around the country would enter the high school competition because some of the most innovative and dynamic designers in FJFW had been nurtured through that program.
“We have Laisiasa Davetawalu, who is currently pursuing his final year in a top fashion school, who first joined FJFW as a student designer from Sigatoka Methodist High School. In 2019, our emerging designer winner was Kess Baleirara who entered from Tailevu North College when she was in high school.”
The two events, Children’s Wear Show and the Student Designer Show of FJFW 2021 with Palmolive will take place on Saturday, May 22, to begin the main week of events.
Given the lockdowns of 2020, FJFW had to drop some of its events in order to be able to sustainably put on a show for the Emerging and Established designer portions of the global event later in the year. The student designer show was then cancelled for 2020, but the last time children were part of FJFW was in 2020.
Ellen Whippy-Knight, FJFW managing director said the overwhelming response this year indicated community support for the event, a result that the fashion events company had worked hard to cultivate.
“We partner with the Ministry of Education who have graciously given us access into high schools for a decade now and it gives us the entry points to identify parts of the design subjects in the school curriculum,” Ms Whippy-Knight said.
“While many of our interventions with young people have been at high school, we also work hard to work towards a global fashion quality that is also conscious of what is appropriate for young people in our communities.”
Hefrani label designer Aisea Konrote is one of nine established designers scheduled to show a collection at the Children’s Wear Show.
“Over the years, I had in mind to produce a children’s collection. At first it was just a thought but that thought changed drastically when I saw the number of children coming for the model audition. The enthusiasm and looks of glee and confidence these children had prompted me that it was time for Hefrani to launch its children’s wear,” Konrote said.
Entitled “O’ Lante”, a Rotuman word used to express affection to children also means “my dearest” and will include church and party wear as well as evening wear for children constructed mostly out of pastel coloured fabrics.
The Student Designer Show is open to high school students nationwide who must enter four complete outfits on models of their choosing and it’s free.
For more information on tickets at all FJFW x Palmolive 2021 shows, email tickets@fijifashionweek.com.fj , info@fijifashionweek.com.fj or telephone 7088898