PNG fashion making waves

By ELLEN TIAMU
IF you look around you on the streets of Port Moresby, you will see many more people starting to wear outfits that are professionally designed with prints to make us stand out from the rest of our Pacific Island wantoks. One can quickly discern the traditional Papua New Guinean designs such as the tapa from Oro and other such patterns as bilum patterns that vary from province to province.
There is every chance that one of these outfits, whether a shirt or dress, might be an artwork stemming from local company, Wantok Clothing.
Genevieve Igara-Falevai is the founder and designer of Wantok Clothing. She received the Stella Runway 2016 Designer of the Year Award which took her to Pacific Runway 2016 in Sydney, Australia – supported by the Australian High Commission. The emerging PNG designer won the opportunity that has taken her unique collection to the international stage, showcasing her Papua New Guinea designs at Pacific Runway 2016 in Sydney, Australia on 21 October last year.
She is also winner of the inaugural Stella Runway 2016 Designer of the Year Award. Last year clocked one year since Genevieve began her niche fashion design business.
But she has definitely made leaps and bounds although she describes the venture as “taking baby steps.
One of Wantok Clothing’s first major break-through was dressing PNG’s team to the Olympics. That was the first time a locally-owned company had made a big impression on the international front.
Wantok Clothing has also been prominent in dressing the Miss Papua New Guinea 2015 and 2016.
Just last month, Genevieve and her staff at Wantok clothing were visited by Australia’s Minister for International Development and the Pacific Senator, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells in at their Badili office where they impressed her with prints on fabric and T shirts. The small but talented PNG team who work with Genevieve consists of sewers, designers and printers who do everything by hand. They are as authentic as the designs and the label they work for. Designer and artist Henry Iyaro is the man in charge of artwork.
Here’s how a media release from the Australian High Commission described Genevieve upon her winning a trip to exhibit her wares at the Pacific Runway 2016 in Sydney.
An accidental fashion designer, Genevieve passed on a career in economics to follow her passion to create beautiful garments with a Papua New Guinean twist. Starting her label in 2015, Genevieve has been awarded Miss Pacific Islands Pageant Project Runway 2015 and 2016; Stella Runway 2016 Designer of the Year; and dresser for Miss Papua New Guinea 2015 and 2016.
The Australian High Commission is pleased to partner with Stella Magazine and Sydney-based Raffles College of Design and Commerce for the Stella Runway 2016 Designer of the Year Award, supporting Genevieve to participate in training in Sydney, as well as Pacific Runway 2016. Genevieve undertook a five-day business and fashion mentoring program with Raffles College of Design and Commerce in Sydney in October. She will also benefit from a twelve-month mentorship with the college on brand development. Stella Magazine photographed Genevieve’s collection in iconic Sydney locations which will be published in a future edition of the magazine.
Australia supports economic empowerment of women through the fashion industry, including initiatives such as the Pacific Project-Papua New Guinea, which aims to develop the bilum sector, working with bilum producer groups in Goroka and Mount Hagen in the Highlands Region.
With more and more people starting to take notice of their quality products, Wantok Clothing has opened a store in Vision City in Port Moresby.
The company is now looking ahead to Apec 2018, and who knows, we might just see their fashion products becoming part of the bilas when the time comes.