Fashion Festival Reinforces Commitment To Industry
“The Festival is also owned by industry and we want to be reactive and responsive to the wants and needs of the Fashion and broader Creative Industries so that the Festival remains relevant and current."
Friday 22 March 2019 | 09:00
Models Jorja Naidu (Bottega Fijian Fashion Festival Public Relations manager), Phillipa Steele (Model Manager and international model), and Tera Narayan. Photo: Ilai Jikoiono
The Bottega Fijian Fashion Festival hopes to implement change year after year so that the market recognises its commitment moving into the future.
These were the words of Faraz Ali, the chairperson of the Fashion Council of Fiji and Bottega Fijian Fashion Festival during the Designer and Industry Party at Shenanigans Nightclub last Saturday.
The party was invite-only, filled with guests involved in the Fijian creative industries: fashion designers, artists, models, photographers, makeup artists, hair stylists, stylists, bloggers and the media.
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“We now have MSMEs operating in the Creative and Cultural sector that are directly or indirectly related to fashion. I am proud to say that these are some of the most successful enterprises in that space,” he said.
“The Festival is also owned by industry and we want to be reactive and responsive to the wants and needs of the Fashion and broader Creative Industries so that the Festival remains relevant and current.
“We want to implement change year after year so that the market also begins to recognise our industry as one that truly looks to the future and doesn’t just talk about it.”
The function was primarily to showcase the Bottega Fijian Fashion Festival’s detailed plans for the year, and to invite feedback from the industry to better Fiji’s only not for profit, industry owned, consumer and industry fashion platform.
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Hanisi Hodge, the Sales and Logistics manager, proposed the new Design Mall plan.
This is trade space within the venue for broader SMEs that constitute the creative industries to display their products and services.
This is a place where designers can sell their latest collection fresh off the runway, live entertainment, and food.
It is also to encourage connections between designers and artisans, and the market.
Phillipa Steele, the model manager and international model, said she was grateful to be back in the country and pass on the knowledge she had gained from abroad.
She reinforced her support of the Fijian Fashion Festival’s vision of having a diverse and inclusive range of models used in the show.
Edited by Ranoba Baoa
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