MIROMODA alum shows collection in Paris

It maybe a few weeks until its annual fashion design competition in June and Showcase at NZ Fashion Week in August, but celebrations of the tenth year of MIROMODA kicked off early with one of its alum showing at the Oxford Fashion Studio Paris on Monday.

Some of today’s noteable New Zealand designers have passed through the event in the past decade; put on by the Indigenous Māori Fashion Apparel Board (IMFAB) and featuring designers of Māori descent; but the showing of a collection by Singapore based Māori designer Tessa Bailey-Lont’s on the runway in Paris this week was a first.

Bailey-Lont was given a formal invitation to show her ‘Te Wao nui a Tané’ capsule range at the event as a direct result of her involvement in the 2018 MIROMODA Showcase at NZ Fashion Week, where she was a guest designer. “For Tessa’s talents to receive such international recognition is a fantastic acknowledgement of MIROMODA’s principles,” says founder Ata Te Kanawa. “The past ten years we have worked to raise the visibility of indigenous designers by providing a platform to showcase their high standards of quality, creativity and authenticity,” she says.

“The competition has offered an opportunity for over 150 Māori and guest designers of indigenous descent to get exceptional exposure,” says head judge and NZ Fashion Week founder, Dame Pieter Stewart. “It is very pleasing that our intention to jointly set up a platform for Māori designers 10 years ago has come successfully established a number of fantastic designers worthy of a place on catwalks here and around the world,” she says. “I am delighted it has provided a start for designers, labels and businesses within the global fashion industry,” she says.

Te Kanawa says that teaser videos of Bailey-Lont describing her design ethos against Paris backdrops will soon roll out across MIROMODA’s social media platforms, announcing the multinational theme for this year’s competition. Other clips will feature those based overseas who have had a connection to MIROMODA in the early stages of their design or modelling careers.

Eight winners and placeholders will be part of the 10th MIROMODA Showcase at NZ Fashion Week alongside an accomplished Korean guest designer.

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