Glitz, glamour as local designers show off their work

By Nefertiti Matatia 11 November 2017, 12:00AM

Stunning, beautiful and elegant.

Those are some of the words which describes the work of three designers who showcased their work at Taumeasina Island Resort on Thursday night.

Models displaying the work of Afa Ah Loo, Dane Mulinu’u Fabricius (D.M.F.) and Taupule Taufao’s Arilei Couture lit up the catwalk as guests marvelled at the creativity of the designers.

For Afa Ah Loo, he tells the Sunday Samoan that designing clothes is about passion. Which means designs should reflect the personality of the owner.

He believes every piece displayed comes from the heart because they all have a different story.

The 30-year-old, who has become one of the biggest names in Samoa and abroad, displayed two of his collections.

With his first collection, he wanted to let people know that women are beautiful even if they are wearing pants. 

“Being beautiful does not only mean you will need to wear a dress.” 

He added he chose floral designs for the suits and some of the dresses because Polynesians love floral and it represented us as islanders and he wanted to use that to his advantage.

 “We mostly think that woman would look beautiful only in wearing a dress but no that is not it; they could still wear pants and turn out beautiful,” he said.

His last collection showed the challenges he overcame. 

Afa said people were always surprised that he was a designer and even though he does not look like a designer, he hopes that his work will speak for itself.

“My second collection is about my journey. When I first started, people didn’t really believe in me. I still did my work and let my work speak for itself and then people started to believe in me." 

“If you see the colour of my pieces it starts from a very dark colour to a bright colour. It represents me becoming better at what I do and people believing in me.”

Afa is calling out to young designers to know that it does not matter if you are from an island or you live under a rock, it should not stop you from doing anything. 

He is certain that all you will need is your mind and a dream which could take you anywhere.

Afa said so many people told him he was from an island and he could not make it anywhere, but he was a living proof of a young designer that started from the islands.

He displayed his creations in America last year and he has also now been selected to represent Samoa in the Commonwealth in London to showcase his work.

Every designer is inspired by something that touches the core which sets them apart from every other designer. 

For Afa, there is no better inspiration than the woman who brought him into this world.

“I am inspired by my mother; she passed on four years ago. She has always been a fashionable lady. She has always liked the glittery stuff. So I thought to myself why not pay tribute to her by something that she loves doing; fashion,” he said.

Afa says he is still a work in progress; there is more learning to do, more growing to do. 

He said we should learn about life and learn to create new things to inspire people to be better or create something to make women look beautiful. 

Afa knows for a fact that we can never graduate from learning, we always learn something new every single day.

There were two other talented fashion designers who were able to show their as well on this night, they were Dane Fabricius and Taupule Tuifao the mother of our past Miss Samoa Ariana Tuifao.

All the designers were grateful to the support of their families and friends, also to those who came out to witness their work.

Afa is happy that even though it was a last minute show, they managed to pull it off together.

By Nefertiti Matatia 11 November 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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