UCOL Whanganui is celebrating the efforts of Bachelor of Design and Arts students, Hannah Philpot, Jenna Wakeling, Roman Sarki, and Georgia Walklin, who each had collection entries in the Hokonui Fashion Awards this last weekend of July.
Creative & Arts Academic Portfolio Manager, Stephanie West, says the foursome should be incredibly proud of themselves.
“There was some incredibly
tough competition in the Hokonui Fashion Awards this year, especially in the collection category. With over 250 entries, while our team have a wee taste of disappointment today, they have really outdone themselves. Their time management skills have had to be impeccable, their completed looks were incredible, and we really couldn’t be prouder!”
Sitting down with the group fresh after the Awards’ weekend, there was a sense of relief, pride, and a hint of fulfilled exhaustion.
So, what led them to this moment and where did it all begin for them? Hannah’s grandmother sewed when she was a child with Hannah right there beside her, getting her first sewing machine (which she still uses) at 11. “Barbie was a big fashion inspiration for me too, her clothing was awesome, I remember drawing her and creating my own outfits for her,” she explains.
Georgia also sewed as a child, but it was renovating a van with her husband which had a hugely positive impact on her mental health, which ignited the spark to have her enrol with UCOL.
Jenna began sewing over 10 years ago now when she had her first child, a daughter. “I’d make toys, dolls and decorative things for her room, so that was probably the start of it for me. A few years after that, I got into event styling and making props, which reinvigorated my inspiration as I want to get into costume design.”
Roman, a Bhutanese-Nepalese immigrant, had a friend in Nepal who knew the word fashion in English when they were kids – just hearing the word itself was what kickstarted his design journey. “I just gravitated to it, this idea of being a fashion designer. I tried it at Awatapu College, but I hadn’t been expecting the practical aspect of actually constructing the garments, as I thought it was designing them on paper. Then I went to Design School, but never properly fell in love with fashion design until I joined UCOL.”
With all four entering the collection section of the Awards, each ākonga created three different outfits – all cohesive with the same foundation concept, but each different.
The concepts themselves were wide-ranging, from the stages of a young girl growing into a woman using the image of a lily to reflect this blossoming, to
Chhaupadi – the now illegal Nepalese practice of banishing young girls when they begin menstruating. Roman illustrated the effect of this practice through the weight and sheer amount of fabric to demonstrate the heaviness that is carried because of the practice. “They still do this in some Nepalese villages, with girls having died because of it. Talking with my mother really inspired me to shed light on it.”
(Georgia Walkin's designs)
(Roman Sarki's designs)
Hannah’s collection was based on the evolution of stripes and how they have previously been a sign of an outcast – think jesters in medieval times – and how that has changed over time. While Jenna’s collection centred on the premise of what a goddess of fashion would look like, now that we as consumers have taken fashion and skewed it with the fast fashion industry. This included glittering gold and black to show the impact of fast fashion, along with an excess of embellishments, particularly unconventional zip use.
(Left: Hannah Philpot's designs | Right: Jenna Wakeling's designs)
As with any creative process, there are highs and lows within the journey. For all four, pattern drafting took out the hardest part of the process, often having to edit and re-edit the toile (think draft version of the final garment).
The highlights for the group ranged from getting to experiment with hand dying a huge amount of fabric with very minimal control of how it came out and having it look incredible, to having all the costumes come together and seeing it on the models before sending the outfits down to the awards, to actually seeing them on the runway.
These ākonga are in their third year of the degree, while Georgia has completed her qualification and is awaiting her graduation ceremony. So, when asked what’s next for each of them, Hannah and Roman would like to start their own businesses, while Georgia
already runs her own. For Jenna, she’s got a dream of costume making, but with more time left at UCOL, she is open to what that could look like. All four are aware of how competitive the industry is, so each has a pinch of realism in their answers as they talk about volunteering, finding internship opportunities, and juggling that with family too.
To anyone considering fashion as an option, they say the tutors at UCOL are amazing, but in order to thrive, they recommend coming with basic knowledge of sewing, amazing time management skills, and the ability to stay true to your values and style.