Mausio Grateful To Dress Regional Leaders

Garments worn by regional leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) meeting last week were from local designers who worked day and night to make their perfect crafts.

One of the designers was Michael Mausio from the House of Mausio in Suva.

Mr Mausio said they were privileged to be selected, especially when they bid their expression of interest four hours before the deadline.

“It’s not everyday designers are selected to dress some of the most influential people in our region,” he said.

“The exposure in itself was an overwhelming one for our team and the feedback was very up lifting.”

The opportunity they got were from six designs and fabric swatches they submitted for judging.

“We were asked to create simple cuts for both our male and female leaders, the designs which we developed were based on the host country’s primary motifs, which for Fiji were our Masi prints,” he said.

“The Fijian Masi Contemporary prints represents the Unity of respective Fijian Provinces and the Fijian people, we opted for a Blue Shading of the Masi Motifs instead of the traditional Black and Brown to highlight our Oceans and the fight against climate change which threatens our region.”

The masi prints were from 14 provinces and had been placed to give a strong message of unity.

“When designing we don’t just design to make things look good, we design to make things look good with meaning.”

Mr Mausio said the meeting provided the needed exposure both locally and internationally, especially when businesses like his were recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As a small business during the pandemic we were able to adapt very quickly: we were the first fashion house to start developing fabric masks, at the time we were ridiculed for making this,” he said.

“But we saw the need and kept developing and making them until WHO and MOH said that fabric face masks were essential, this created a boom in our production and supply."

“Our business survived and grew as we employed a few people who had lost their jobs at the time, and we grew our supply to other retailers.”

Advice For Other Designers

Mr Mausio is advising young designers to follow their passion and associate themselves with the right people to succeed.

“Anyone can be designer. In my 13 years in the industry, I have seen hundreds of designers come and go with the wind. This is a very tough industry, which requires people to not only have a good artistic vision, but also have a very good discipline and business-oriented approach.

“You can be the greatest designer but if you don’t have a good business mind or a good business support team you will just die off as fast as you start. The industry requires a lot of balance in several areas.”

He said many people stepped into the fashion industry seeking fame and fortune, however, they did not last too long if passion was not there.

Feedback: josefa.anand@fijisun.com.fj