The Fashion Festival has Begun
The Bottega Gold Fijian Fashion Festival kicked off last night withthe Charity Gala dinner in aid of the Loloma Foundation at the home of the festival at the Grand Pacific Hotel, Suva.
Today is the first big day of the fashion festival.
Saturday there will three individual shows and 11 group shows.
The Bottega Gold Fijian Fashion Festival, is Fiji’s first industry owned, not for profit national trade and consumer fashion platform.
Fashion Council of Fiji president Faraz Ali said: “Our team is dedicated to the cause of ensuring that every fashion related business that is a part of the Festival grows as a result of the Festival. SME development in the creative sector is central to our focus, which is why our “Designer Mall” trade space and Fashion Lounge will be open to the general public on Friday and Saturday free of charge to allow consumers to engage directly with our fashion businesses.
“The Festival is committed to diversity and inclusivity, particularly in our model line up. We do not feel the need to reflect the standards of global runways (which are all different anyway), and instead are setting our own.
“We have to have the confidence to bring global eyes to us and our uniqueness.
“As such, we have a roster which includes standard size and plus size models, models of different gender expressions, and models with disabilities.
“We have chosen to be the global leader for diversity and we are excited to take up this role.”The Festival is also committed to excellence. The national platform should be an aspirational platform where designers go to grow their businesses. We have therefore carefully selected only the best Legendary, Blooming, and Budding talent to showcase their new season collections at the Festival, with a lineup including Fiji’s most elite fashion talent, as well as those we believe are soon to occupy that same territory of respect in the creative sector. The Festival will also for the first time in our region feature three individual designer shows. Hupefeld Hoerder, Aisea Konrote (Hefrani), and Zulfikar Ali (AZA) will transform the runway into a space that reflects their vision and aesthetic to present, again for the first time, full new season collections to be viewed by select audiences, and of course through live streaming. This is not only exciting for our Festival, but for our industry as a whole.
