Passion for fashion
BAULEVU resident Arunesh Vimal Sami has always been interested in fashion, though at first it was simple as loving to sew in home economics class.After he completed high school, the need to earn an income took Arunesh on a detour away from fashion but the Nausori native stayed the course to fulfil his dream of working in fashion. Read More
LICE MOVONO
BAULEVU resident Arunesh Vimal Sami has always been interested in fashion, though at first it was simple as loving to sew in home economics class.
After she completed high school, the need to earn an income took Arunesh on a detour away from fashion but the Nausori native stayed the course to fulfil her dream of working in fashion.
Arunesh will today showcase a collection that is not easy to do, especially for an emerging designer.
Fiji Fashion Week (FJFW) managing director Ellen Whippy-Knight said while new designers took a modest approach with their debut collection, Arunesh was working hard and setting his sight on swimwear.
“This range of garments is very hard to do and firsttimers at FJFW usually don’t go into swimwear but we are excited about Arunesh’s work,” Ms Whippy-Knight said.
Though she is new to fashion designing, Arunesh or AVS as she is referred to in terms of her label, has worked in the industry for 13 years since completing Year 12 home economics at Baulevu High School.
”After school I started to work in a video shop but at the same time I was dancing and so I started to sew my dance costumes.
“After a few years I saw a vacancy ad for a machinist in a garment factory and so I worked there for eight years and then I became a supervisor and then promoted to be a pattern designer,” Arunesh said.
So good were her skills, Arunesh wanted to develop it further and she applied to study Applied Fashion Design and Technology at the Australia Pacific Training Coalition (APTC) where she graduated from in 2017. She soon joined the organisation as a fashion tutor and is now a trainer.
Self-titled AVS, her collection for FJFW will showcase at The Next Generation Show today at the Holiday Inn in Suva, a show which is completely free of charge.
“I am more confident and have gained more understanding on how to be part of Fiji Fashion Week. In previous years attending the shows and also modelling for some of the designers, gave me inspiration to showcase my talent and design,” Arunesh said.
Construction of her resort collection which has 10 pieces of both one-piece and two-piece swimwear for both men and women, is almost complete.
“My resort wear is a mixture of Pacific Island patterns designed to reflect the people, the land and the ocean. Putting on the outfit reflects the cultural background of every Pacific Islander and reminds us that voyaging and adapting to many different environments was a common practice that gives us the pride of respect, love and humility.”
Using stretch fabric which is comfortable and breathable to the wearer, Arunesh has worked with polyester to create his swimwear made almost entirely in purple and blue colours. Like other designers, her goal is to appeal to customers who frequent Fiji’s many resorts and beachfront tourist ventures and he is specifically designing for the 18 to 35 age group because he said “they love to go out for vacation”.
“There have been some challenges in this pandemic, because I was not able to get some of the stuff from overseas but I have used what I can find locally and so I want to promote local products anyway,” she said.
“Fiji Fashion Week platform is there for a long time and I have been to the shows for the past few years and since I came to know about fashion. This platform will give me the breakthrough of my dreams.”
Originally Published in the fijitimes on November 14 2020
