Sensational fashions at wearable arts
Northcote fashion & textiles students showcased their amazing talents at the Eye on Nature Wearable Arts live fashion catwalk last week.
Laura Edney, Tyla Jenkins, Tayla Flowerday, Georgia Oades, Yomashee Wannaku Kankanamge, Lily Clendon, Sage Babbage, Linnear Tan Miller, Mia Sugimoto-Faulkner, and Chloe Mundell created sensational fashions from re-used fabrics, recycled materials, trash, and objects found in the environment.
Hosted by the Beautification Trust, the annual competition is open to Auckland primary, intermediate, and secondary school students. Students were challenged to create eco-friendly wearable art around the theme ‘Wellbeing – Taiao and Me’ – with $5,250 in cash prizes at stake.
Their creations were judged at the Eye on Nature Wearable Arts Fashion Show at the Due Drop Events Centre – giving our rangatahi the exciting experience of modelling their eco-friendly creations on a fashion runway in front of a live audience!
Photos courtesy of the Beautification Trust.
Beachside
Designer: Laura Edney
Model: Sierra Carruthers
Design Statement: My Garment relates to the theme because I use things from the beach which helps my well being and relates to well being. I use sustainable items like sea shells, egg carts, seaweed and more. I got the egg cartons from recycling and I got the seashells, seaweed and sand from a nearby beach. To put everything together i use a biodegradable glue which is made from flour and water that i used to stick everything together and I sew the seashells on the arms. I learnt some new skills like how to hand sew better and to make glue.
If Nature could Talk
Designers: Tyla Jenkins, Tayla Flowerday
Model: Tyla Jenkins
Design Statement: Our original piece relates to our wellbeing and mother natures. Sometimes we feel hurt, like no one is listening. Mother nature feels the same. When people litter we are hurting our environment. We are used leaves, sticks, flaxs and fabric that is reusable and safe to the environment. Things that don't hurt nature. This is “If Nature Could Talk”.
Environmental Headlines
Designer: Georgia Oades
Model: Emily Rowe
Design Statement: My design shows the theme of environment and wellbeing through its environmental headlines and how news can affect your wellbeing. It is made out of sustainable materials like cardboard, paper and recycled unbleached calico. Throughout making this design I learnt how to sew/the template to make a skirt as well as lacing.
Calmness in Land and Sea
Designer:
Model: Saranya Adikara
Our garment explores the theme of the land and sea, and the calmness we find in it. With the top half of our dress being the land and the bottom half being the water. With everything on our dress being hand made from scratch with all reused materials we learnt new skills and overcame challenges. Our garment features pool noodles in the skirt, old book pages as the body of the skirt, a newspaper headband and flowers, zip ties that had been previously used as boning in the corset, soda tabs as the eyelets on the corset, and all reused and old fabric found around our houses from past projects.
Hidden Beauty of Trash
Designer: Yomashee Wannaku Kankanamge
Model: Nethuli Rathnayaka
Designer Statement: My garment explores the hidden beauty in what’s considered “trash.” I use paper, plastic rubbish bags, shoelaces, and damaged or unusable clothing to show that nothing is ever truly useless. Everything has a purpose and meaning. After the show, materials will return to their rightful places—plastic to recycling, leaves to compost, fabric and laces to reuse. This connects to the theme Taiao and Me, as I wanted to reflect how people who question their worth often grow into the most beautiful souls. Like nature, we too are valuable, meaningful, and beautiful—no matter how broken or discarded we may seem.
The Ocean
Designers: Lily Clendon, Sage Babbage, Linnear Tan Miller, Mia Sugimoto-Faulkner, Chloe Mundell
Model: Lily Clendon
Design Statement: Our design is made to represent the ocean environment. It connects to the topic of wellbeing because the seaside and ocean is a place where many people feel peace and happiness. We used sustainable materials like second-hand fabric and items from the beach. It has a revealing feature resembling waves. This outfit made us think deeply about our feelings at the beach and how we affect the beach.
