Fashion student's spun out on India

Sumner Elliott-Moore (right) with a model in her outfit created from a hand spun silk sari from India. Photo / Supplied

Sumner Elliott-Moore will learn first hand how silk saris are spun on traditional weaves on a life changing trip to India later this year.

She will join 19 other students from New Zealand who have earned scholarships to expand their learning about fabric technology and off-shore manufacturing at the Bannari Amman Institute of Technology (BIT) in Sathyamangalam, India.

The award, the Prime Minister's Scholarships for Asia, gives the students a five week opportunity to travel to the region for international study.

Ms Elliott-Moore, a NZ Fashion Tech student is particularly excited about seeing how silk saris are traditionally spun and giving the ancient tradition a go herself, after working with a sari for a project this year.

Fifty silk saris were created by families of weavers working with ancient looms in their homes in a southern Indian sari village called, Doddampalayam, just outside of Sathyamangala last year. The saris were then sent to New Zealand for fashion students to create garments from.

"To see where they are actually made and putting that knowledge in front of my eyes will be amazing," she said.

"I will be putting that knowledge into perspective, seeing it first hand.

"It's one thing learning it in class but to go and see it and get that knowledge down."

Ms Elliott-Moore, 19, applied for the scholarship because the trip would also be a great opportunity to learn more about off-shore management in fashion.

She is also keen to learn more about the Indian culture and traditions.

This is the last year of her diploma which she undertook in the fashion school's Auckland based campus. She will graduate four days before she leaves for India.

During her course she undertook six months of sewing, six months of pattern making and then a year of the diploma putting the skills she learnt in the first year into practice, she said.

The former Mount Maunganui College student said she had always had an interest in fashion since she was a little girl.

"Me and mum would go shopping and I'd put on a little fashion show when we got home from when I was about 7, so it has always been there."

After leaving school she loved the idea of making her clothes herself without having to visit numerous shops and boutiques to find what she was looking for.

However, Ms Elliott-Moore was most interested in getting into fashion planning rather than fashion designing when she graduated, she said.

NZ Fashion Tech

NZ Fashion Tech is New Zealand's leading educator in the fashion and sewn products industries. An award winning fashion and garment technology college, registered and
accredited with the NZ Qualifications Authority (NZQA) www.nzqa.govt.nz