Cullen Keating

“The Turanga (Foundation) is where all great beauty is established. The Turanga of the Ngahere (Forest) lays in the roots of the trees. Successfully encompassing something like the role of the veins in the body, the roots of the Ngahere are what hold the life blood of the Mother that is Nature.

The life blood of the Ngahere is represented through the Awa (River) of the Forest. The Awa holds the life blood that feeds the Ngahere and all her creatures. It’s what gives her the vibrancy, colour and life we have the privilege of witnessing.

My design aims to celebrate the Ngahere and our all-encompassing mother. The Turanga of my design is set in the trousers, using random tucks in alternating directions I aim to mimic the roots of the Ngahere. Moving up the body, we encounter the shirt. The shirt also displays the random tuck technique however this time inversed. The inversed technique represents the Awa of the Forest (river). On the back of the shirt, we also witness the use of pin tucks aimed to represent a waterfall. In our Ngahere, water (represented as the lifeblood) begins its journey at the top of the hills and travels downwards enriching the forest below. Hence, the inverse tucks on the shirt flow like a river down the roads of the forest/trousers of the look.”

Resene Whitecliffe Colour of Fashion clothing - 2023

Photography by Jonathan Kraettli

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