Night full of glamour
FIJI Fashion Week’s Resort Luxe Show took the crowd on an ocean voyage meant just for fashion and glamour assaulting the eyes with endless shades of colours, fabric and sequins.
While the models may not have smiled yet, the mood was fierce with their flamboyant walks and it could not be mistaken that these designers spent months after post-COVID months to convince the crowd that fashion had a deeper meaning.
One of Australia’s most celebrated designers, Akira Isogawa, kick-started the show with his retrospective archive collection with vibrant palettes of red, pink and white coupled with natural plants.
Isogawa said the designs told a story of his journey as a designer and the growth he had achieved in the fashion industry.
“My collection was about the retrospective of nearly 30 years because I started my own brand back in the early 90s in Sydney,” Mr Isogawa said.
“I’ve got actually a large selection of archive collection, so I brought actually some garments from my own collection which I have designed and produced in the past.”
He said he was impressed by the integration and authenticity of Fijian culture by local designers with their adornments and weavings.
Campbell Luke by New-Zealand designer Bobby Campbell, was the next stunner as models sauntered with plain white and black vintage dresses that took you back to the 70s and 80s paired with local Fijian sandals that you’d see school children wear.
Local brand 8 Mountains by Moira Solvalu, who has been part of FJFW for 14 years, said her collection highlighted the new direction her company was headed by including swimwear.
“Our first two outfits you saw swimwear come out. My son’s a swimmer and I was inspired to move in that direction,” she said.
“We’re a brand that also has fashion and we have a sustainable side where we do reusable products and now we’ve gone into active wear.”
Known for its signature hand prints of island concepts and incorporation of culture with western fabrics, Hupfeld Hoerder’s designs offered a sense of luxury with practically synced together.
With a twist here and a cut-out there, a mixture of colours combined in each piece made it look sophisticated, but the unique piece was saved for the last.
Fijian model Remi Naqali, who has had assignments at Australia and Los Angeles Fashion weeks, wore the piece gracefully with its long approximately 2-metre train, an interesting headpiece and a signature swirled circle bow.
From designers Letila Mitchell, the collaborative Kalokalo brand, Tracey Farrington, Anton Conway Wye, Florence Fineanganofo, Epeli Tuibeqa and Laisiasa Davetawalu, the night was thrown by the abundance of fiery creativity displayed and adding to the mood were the beats from Rako Pasefika.
The show ended on a high note indeed, with opera voices filling the gymnasium with songs “All I ask of you” originally performed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and “Funculi funcula” composed by Luigi Denza in 1880.
Now scratch the biased notion of fashion and get a picture of the designer’s authenticity and we have a Fiji Fashion trademark that works and might just be the next in-thing for international markets.