Pacific style catching buyers' eyes

By IRENE CHAPPLE

According to effervescent pop star Robbie Williams, the Maori tattoo he has emblazoned across his shoulders not only reflects his success, but it reminds him of his battle against drink and drugs.

"It's gorgeous and it's a prayer," Williams said after he had it done, "protecting me from myself."

That was in 1999, and the publicity focused interest on the art of the Pacific.

Williams' reasons may be specific to a rock star, but they show the selling power of Pacific style.

Stan Wolfgramm, the Tongan/Cook Island/German New Zealander who produces and directs Westfield Style Pasifika, says a Pacific influence is becoming increasingly prominent in New Zealand art.

And during L'Oreal Fashion Week, Pacific style is helping promote some young New Zealand designers.

Verbal feedback is still the only evidence of the success of specifically Pacific designs internationally.

But Kim Fraser, of the Auckland-based fashionincubator, believes New Zealand could tap a lucrative global niche market.

The incubator, which is this week launching two scholarships aimed at supporting Pacific Island and Maori designers, promotes young designers locally and overseas.

"There are a lot more layers to Pacific design," says Wolfgramm, who says it is reflected in colours, textures and a story behind the art.

"Other stuff has one layer and that may just be the dollar. We provide a soul ... we do intellectualise a lot.

"You put Pacific design on a table and [a buyer] will go 'that's different', then you explain what's behind it and they go 'wow'. Something that rolls out of a factory doesn't have that emotional content."

And having a Pacific style is not just about being brown, he says.

"It means the relationships, the surrounding environment, a perspective of shape and design and fabric."

Charleen Oliver, who has featured in the Westfield Style Pasifika fashion shows, is a designer of German, English and Samoan descent.

The multi-award winning artist, whose label Oliver was launched in 1998, works with paua, shell, tapa cloth and natural fibres such as wool.

She produces her clothes in New Zealand, prefers all the materials to be sourced locally and says she is targeting a niche, high-end market.

Oliver says the Pacific influence came naturally to her, but struggles to describe it: "It's an attitude".

"It's very much up to the individual. It is anything that represents the Pacific ... but we do have a Pacific uniqueness."

The feedback from international buyers has been positive, says Oliver, who is at present working with fashionincubator to ready her label for export.

Pacific-inspired design could add a hefty chunk of export income to around $41 million that is now earned by New Zealand's high-end fashion, says Fraser.

Clothes such as Oliver's would remain in the high end market, with production kept low - she produced just 24 garments last year and says that she is not interested in mass production.

The items retail for between $300 and $1000.

Fraser says the high end of the fashion market is ideal for such clothes.

"I would probably not want to go mainstream," she says.

"When these things go mainstream the eyes get picked out of them.

"I think there's a huge market and if you keep them premium, that's the point of difference."