‘Twas a night to remember

By DANIEL KUMBON
‘LAST night’s PNG Fashion Week extravaganza was mind boggling. It was a night of cultural renaissance, an awakening of another kind. Fashion has never been my forte but last night was a night to remember’.
I entered the above words in my diary on Sunday morning, Oct 13, after attending the memorable PNG Fashion Week’s grand finale named appropriately as the Awakening the night before.
It showcased the work of a handful of talented local designers at APEC Haus on the waterfront at Ela Beach in Port Moresby.
This major event, attended by Prime Minister James Marape and Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas was an opportunity for designers from the four regions to showcase the work of their gifted hands.
Their creations reflected some aspects of our culture diversity from each region and an opportunity to expose individual talent to the wider international audience involved in the billion-dollar fashion industry.
It never occurred to me that I would ever sit in the front row among very important people surrounded by elaborately dressed young men and women in the latest fashions who sat sipping wine at a premier fashion show.
I knew I was out of place here in my weather-worn traditional highlands cap, my favourite black collar shirt and matching trousers but I am not the self-conscious type. I was in my own element if one can call that fashion too.
This night was my first time to experience such an event and to provide moral support to a young Engan girl and her male counterpart whose textile designs she adopted to create distinct outfits on show here for the first time.
Coming from the highlands of Papua New Guinea, it never occurred to me that such classic fashion shows would ever be possible in PNG because I thought it was an isolated pastime involving fancy dresses and make-up for offbeat local women.
But this night, I discovered that the world of fashion is in a class of its own.
It is described basically as the style of wearing clothes, accessories and ornaments according to the ruling trends or one’s own individual preferences. Fashion in essence is the art of transforming a simple attire into one of elegance.
I understood a bit about the fashion industry and what it can do to transform young women after reading the book Desert Flower a copy of which I still keep in my collection
The book recounts the extraordinary story of Waris Dirie who ran away from her father when he tried to marry her off to an old man for a couple of camels as bride price.
She was only a small girl born to live a nomadic life in the deserts of Somalia. But Waris did not like to be forced into marriage and be the wife of an old man fit to be her father.
She escaped in the night and ran for several days without food across the desert wastelands to finally end up travelling the world as a highly-rated super model.
And on Saturday, I sat there through to the end of a fun-filled night starting from 6pm to 10:30 pm.
I discovered that fashion is an attractive billion-dollar industry that can employ hundreds of people and contribute towards economic development.
It can also keep PNG’s varied cultures alive through adaptation of unique design patterns on the fabrics from our unique cultural themes which could draw attention on the international fashion scene.
I was glad Marape and Sir Peter were there to see how the fashion industry can play a part in ‘taking back PNG to make it the richest black Christian nation on earth’.
In fact these same words from Marape’s war cry slogan were repeated by Ellen Whippy-Knight, managing director of Fiji Fashion Week who delivered the keynote address.
Whippy-Knight explained how Fiji Fashion Week has contributed to the economy and flourished despite negativity from naysayers when it was established in 2009.
She said PNG’s fashion industry could also grow and contribute towards nation-building because the country has the resources and can easily draw strength from its rich cultural diversity.
Whippy-Knight appealed to Prime Minister James Marape and his government to support PNG Fashion Week because the fashion industry was a big billion-dollar industry that was capable of absorbing thousands of young people leaving school every year.
The prime minister responded in the affirmative giving his assurance that his government would support such positive initiatives through the SMEs next year and onwards.
He said he did not come to deliver a speech but to enjoy the night which I am sure he did because he never left his seat right to the conclusion of this awesome night.
Then the music started to play and wave after wave of astute young men and women put life into intricate freshly designed garments from all four regions as they graced the catwalk.
A couple of days before, a taste of Russian culture too was displayed at the Vision City Mega Mall where models had been seen on the catwalk adorned in various styles of Russian attire as part of the week-long activities leading to this main event at Apec Haus.
Russia, like PNG has a diverse culture and world famous designers have always drawn inspiration from traditional folklore, handcrafts and architecture.
I realised that the fledgling fashion industry in PNG holds promise and the potential to instil confidence in young people to involve in worthwhile occupations like modelling, textile designing, sewing, painting, tailoring, retailing, catering, marketing and a whole lot of other occupations associated with the industry.
When the PNG Fashion awards were announced, the young girl from Enga, Telwan Lisa Arut won the top category – Best Emerging Designer of the year award.
Arut said she was not expecting to win because it was her first time to showcase her designs within a short space of time since graduating from a short course in fashion design.
“I was surprised when my name was called. I was also overjoyed to win to make my province proud. This is encouraging for a young female designer like me. I will grow from here,” she said.
“I hope more designers from Enga will be found. I know there are more talented fashion designers out there waiting to be discovered in my part of the world.”
It happened so quickly for Arut, beginning immediately after she completed a six-month training in fashion designing
She gained in-depth understanding of fabrics, designing, pattern making and the skills required to sew the pieces together to create the elaborate dresses that won her the top award.
In August this year, during the Enga Cultural Show festivities, her entry was selected by the PNG Fashion Week team who were in the province to scout for talent.
Stanley Peasaro whose textile designs Lisa had incorporated onto her fabrics was also selected to travel to Port Moresby for the inaugural PNG Fashion week showdown at Apec Haus.
And immediately she ended up the winner. This was also another successful night for PNG Fashion Week since it was established four years ago to promote raw talent in the country.
PNG Fashion Week Ltd is a 100 per cent nationally-owned fashion event company that focuses on providing innovative platforms to support sustainable growth and development of PNG’s fashion and creative industries
It was launched in 2016 with a mission to showcase Papua New Guinean culturally-inspired fashion and designs.
PNG Fashion Week has indeed instilled confidence in the young models who skillfully presented the creations of young girls like Lisa Arut and the other designers who travelled to the city to showcase their work.
I went away convinced that the fashion industry was able to absorb a lot of the thousands of young school leavers who graduate every year from secondary school but missed out on places in the few higher learning institutions in the country.
Two days after PNG Fashion Week staged the successful event, over 29,000 grade 12 students sat for their final national examinations on Monday, Oct 14.
It is hoped some will be absorbed into PNG’s growing fashion industry
And maybe one day somebody will rise to the top to grace the catwalks of Paris, London and New York.
If a nomad girl from Somalia could do it, is it not possible for a girl from Papua New Guinea?

• Daniel Kumbon is a freelance writer.