Dunedin graduates to make NZ Fashion Week debut

Dunedin graduates to make NZ Fashion Week debut

Three Otago Polytechnic fashion graduates will make their New Zealand Fashion Week debut in August, after being selected for the event’s inaugural Graduate Show.

Otago Polytechnic Bachelor of Design (Fashion) graduates Ariane Bray, Kenya Quin and Julia Palm will show their fashion-forward collections before some of the industry’s most influential players, including established designers, fashion media and buyers.

The Graduate Show has been conceived as a way to support another pathway of success for up-and-coming New Zealand designers. Its date and time is yet to be announced by New Zealand Fashion Week

Otago Polytechnic’s Academic Leader: Fashion, Margo Barton, says the three selected designers each have distinct and compelling points of view.

“These designers were selected as the top three graduate collections from the class of 2015. Each has a different aesthetic and vision and a common commitment to sustainable fashion design processes,” she says. “I’m impressed with them all, and I’m excited to see where their careers will take them and how they could evolve the fashion design industry.”

Ariane Bray’s eponymous label approaches fashion as a medium for storytelling. The designer, who was raised in the UK, manipulates textiles to create unconventional silhouettes and employs a rich colour palette. Through her designing, Ariane challenges traditional ideals of femininity and WINIFRED by Kenya Quin values function and wearability in women’s wear, attributes identified by retail giant Glassons when it offered the designer a high-profile internship in 2015. Her collection incorporates embroidery, raw edges and soft, calming hues, as a response to the prevalence of mental illness in the creative industries.

Sweden-born Julia Palm’s JPALM label mines her personal history, which includes experiences with the occult and involvement in New Zealand’s punk culture. Its bold aesthetic features human hair woven through garments, speaking of sentiment and preservation.

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