CPL sponsors Port Moresby Fashion Week

10 Fijian models will join the fashion week.

Pacific fashion has a huge place in the international fashion industry so fashion designers in the region need to take ownership of their cultural expressions in order to develop lucrative economic opportunities for their traditional art.

The Chairman of CPL Group, Mahesh Patel, said fashion as retail business was important for any economy and Papua New Guinea was no different. He made the comments as he launched a partnership to stage the Port Moresby Fashion Week scheduled for Wednesday, November 27.

“As I understand it, Fashion Week’s in the Pacific have been a huge success largely because of the partnership and support of dynamic retail businesses who realize the value of a diversified economy and who support fast growing brands. CPLGroup is committed to adding value to our current portfolio so this partnership is a natural fit,” Mr Patel said.

“Fashion Week Ltd is committed to showcasing Pacific talent and they’re a proven success at promoting locally made fashion wear. We know this partnership will eventually lead to the same trend for Papua New Guinea.”

“CPL Group is proud to present for the first time in PNG, the Port Moresby Fashion Week.” The show will be held at the newly opened Cosmopolitan Club at Vision City in Waigani, itself anewlyopened entertainment phenomena for PNG.

Fiji Fashion Week Managing Director Ellen Whippy said her company was very proudto have one of PNG’s biggest retailer, the CPL group as its Naming Rights Sponsor,becauseof its history in PNG. Although FJFW is a Fiji based company, her organisation had since its inception been committed to raising the visibility of Pacific fashion instead of just Fijian. She said PNG was always going to be a natural next step.

“I jumped at the opportunity to take fashion week to PNG firstly because i knew there was already interest here due to a Fashion & Design Institute that was in Lae some years ago. The other reason is that what works for Fiji is a feature common to any Pacific country and that is, we are rich in our culture and traditional expressions of art. We have been carving beautiful traditional totems and motifs for thousands of years and so creativity and imagination is at the very fabric of our cultural identity, it is who we are. It is also what makes fashion a natural progression,” Mrs Whippy-Knight said.

“The biggest fashion houses of the world in Europe, the Americas and even in our neighbouring Pacific countries, are benefitting financially with their interpretations of our traditional expressions. This year alone, FJFW has been following and contributed to international debate about cultural misappropriation cases in at least three different instances. Now while these are cases of cultural misappropriation, the other side of the coin is that largely European communities appreciate Pacific art and traditional expressions beautiful.”

“It is up to us the people of the Pacific to own our traditional expressions of art and accept its beauty and make it an acceptable form of fashion wear for ourselves in our own countries.”

FJFW is positive that the success of POMFW will automatically mean economic opportunities for PNG, beginning with creative people who functioned mostly in the informal design sector.

“The shows generate interest and this in turn generates demand. The demand can either continue to be supplied by international fashion we can start to invest in local production so consumers can buy PNG made,” Mrs Whippy-Knight said.

POMFW will highlight the work of PNGIAN KALA, a fashion house run by local designer Sarah Todd who was the first PNG designer to feature at Fiji Fashion Week.

Her works will be shown alongside the works of MHCC FJFW winners, Riddhi Damodar (Best Emerging Designer), Andrew Powell & Lana Smith (Best Established Designer) and Hupfeld Hoerder (Pacific Designer of the Year. FJFW is also bringing across 10 other of Fiji’s top design works as well as the work of ElenaTavioni of the Cook Islands brand TAV Resort Wear.

Ten of Fiji’s top models join 40 PNG models in an FJFW effort to share some of the runway experience. POM Fashion Week is also supported and sponsored by Digicel Papua New Guinea, Post Courier, EMTV, PNG Nau FM and Legend FM, The Cosmpolitan Club, Stella Magazine, Theodist Printers, NiuPort Venture, Shat-Ma Clothing, Plush 56 Model Agency, Next of Kin andChair Shak.

FJFW Contact: lice@fijifashionweek.com.fj, Tel: +679 9951 891

Source: CPL Press Release