Kieran Bradley Lotz

“I inspire you to take a journey through my garment, celebrating freedom and daring to take opportunities. We’ve all heard the saying ‘the sky is the limit’ but when does saying become doing?

The concept behind my design was heavily influenced by the literal and metaphoric idea from the name of the same colour, Resene Skylight, as well as my past experiences. This garment highlights the juxtapositions between strength and vulnerability when being faced with freedom, making us question what we would do if given the opportunity, which further embodies a sense of heightened anticipation.

I was inspired to play with the idea of someone being trapped in a house and only having the skylight as an escape. This is then compared to our mind and body being trapped by fear or doubts but yet we all still have the ability to get through it. There's power in the ability to walk through the ‘gate’ and leave it all behind and take control over your own freedom. Only through my experiences did I learn how important freedom is. Since I was a young child I never felt as if I was good enough, always worrying what others thought of me and never stated my opinion. I shut myself in, in fear of doing wrong. Only through strength and support was I able to break through and stride unapologetically. To this day I’ve been seizing opportunities and so each student at Whitecliffe has done for the last decade of this project. Celebrating their freedom of creative expression.

To symbolise the skylight, I leant into the literal visual of a skylight, designing pieces of the garment. This reveals more of the body having their sense of vulnerability of the person not being able to hide. With the contrast of multiple pleats and architectural shapes adorning the garments giving structures and strength drawing you in. I want this garment to inspire others to now shy away from the freedom of being your true self and to live life like there are no limits.

I know we all have gates to overcome and it is always the first step that scares us. But the question is, will you take yours?”

Resene Whitecliffe Colour of Fashion clothing - 2023

Photography by Jonathan Kraettli

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