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Senorita AweSUMO - Eco Fashion Week Australia

#PEAKPLASTIQUE - Senorita AweSUMO - Eco Fashion Week Australia Nov 23 – 29 2017

Senorita AweSUMO is taking New Zealand to Eco Fashion Week Australia happening in Perth November 23 – 29th 2017.

#peakplastique is a conversation with the global community about product stewardship. We have hit peak plastique on a global scale. Plastic wrapping the earth and suffocating our oceans. Our animals are being trapped in nets and feeding plastic to their young because they cannot differentiate between it and food. Recycling is no longer a solution to the problem. We have to get it off our streets and away from our products. We are at the point where we need to design plastic out of our lives and rethink what's possible! We have the technology and the intelligence to do this! Consuming consciously is a no brainer when you witness the damage we have done to this earth. Our coral reefs are dying, we have over fished our stocks, our marine life eat plastic, its warmer and wilder, our rivers are ruined, covered in farm effluent and chemicals, will we STOP!?!!

Creating a regenerative system is an apparent NEED for us to survive, to leave something better for future generations, it's hard to imagine what that might actually look like as we live in the NOW, but it is the NOW that matters the most, a critical point where we have used more than we have available. Earth overshoot day was August 2nd 2017 and is getting earlier every year.

As a human I feel a huge responsibility to the earth and the (sea creatures) that cant defend themselves against our pollution. We have a moral objective to make better choices for the planet not as consumers but producers, they are the ones peddling the product so the ownership lies solely with them as the creator. Product Stewardship and end of life responsibility can be taken care of with a cradle to cradle method. It is proven to work and available as technology now, we just need to invest in it. I want the feelings of guilt and shame as a consumer to be feelings of love and happiness as I work to revolutionise the way we utilise our resources.

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As I am indigenous to New Zealand I also hold with me a great taonga of responsibility to Papatuanuku. I travel my city and collect its wasted resource, cleaning up the streets and encouraging others to do the same. I don't even take a collection bag with me as I will find one on my travels, assimilating to its new habitat. It is truelly unacceptable behaviour how we misinterpret the concept of away, there is no away! Away is filling our land with chemically laden toxic materials to create a stronger brew and people are profiting off this idea. This is unacceptable!

This is what Senorita AweSUMO brings to Eco Fashion Week Australia straight from the streets of Otepoti, Aotearoa. A tactile look into what we throw away and how we value our resources. A disruption of what's normal and a commitment to all humans that kaitiakitanga is the most important mahi we must undertake NOW!!

Senorita AweSUMO is the sole representative from Aotearoa to attend EFWA and identifies as Ngai Tahu, Pakeha and Clan Gordon. Senorita AweSUMO holds the privilege of taking her ancestor Motoitoi with her on the journey.

Senorita AweSUMO has collaborated with the Otago Museum on this project as follows.

Otago Museum waste to grace Perth catwalk

The Otago Museum has joined forces with Dunedin-based Zerowaste Textile Practitioner Fiona Clements on her latest collection for ethical fashion brand Senorita AweSUMO destined for Perth Eco Fashion Week in November.

With designs aiming to mitigate environmental harm from modern fashion production, the Senorita AweSUMO collection encourages conscious consumption by spreading awareness and offering an environmentally-friendly fashion choice.

The Museum has supplied exhibition materials used in the Who Cared? Otago Nurses in WWI exhibition, developed and delivered in collaboration with the Otago Polytechnic Bachelor of Design (Communication) students, which closed earlier this year.

This fashion-forward partnership was the fruit of creative discussions between the Museum’s Head of Design Craig Scott and Clements, who have both completed a Bachelor of Design at Otago Polytechnic and met at the 2016 Un-School of Disruptive Design Fellowship in Melbourne.

“The materials showcased in the Who Cared? Otago Nurses in WWI exhibition didn’t have a use within the Museum after it closed, so it was a no-brainer that these were donated to Fiona to incorporate into her upcoming collection rather than see them go to waste,” says Scott.

“The Museum takes pride in our commitment to environmental sustainability, having been recognised again this year for the work we are doing through receiving Qualmark Enviro Award – Gold status. We also saw this as a unique way of teaming up with local talent to make a positive and socially responsible impact within our community.”

Clements is equally pleased to partner with a Dunedin institution to deliver her ethical garment concepts on an international stage. “I am really excited to be working closely with Craig and the Museum on my latest collection,” says Clements.

“Utilising textile resources that would have otherwise been discarded is a way for designers like me to serve our community in response to waste problems; I see working with local organisations like the Museum as another opportunity to highlight these issues, as well as providing a creative solution.”

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