Ethical fashion puts on show

Jodie Woods from Tonic& Cloth dressing one of her models backstage at NZFW 2018.

A group of six New Zealand designers due to show their collections in New Zealand Fashion Week's (NZFW) newly created Sustainability Show, have gone back to the drawing boards to develop their own fashion show after NZFW was cancelled.

Napier born and raised Ana Wilkinson-Gee, who started fashion label Holi Boli while living in rural India with her husband and three children, is behind the scheme.

"The collective of ethical social enterprises from the Sustainable Show are pooling resources, strength and audacity to showcase our collections that we have all put so much work into, that in turn puts food on the table for our staff and their families. In line with slow, ethical fashion, it will be a carefully curated, limited numbers event tailored to a wider audience," Ana says.

Holi Boli was scheduled to show alongside five other entrepreneurial NZ designers in the Sustainability Show, kicking off NZFW in August last year. Due to Covid restrictions, NZFW was postponed to this month.

"As small producers we rely on shows to lift our profiles so we can share our brand with a wider audience, grow and get our clothes in stores."

The impact of the postponement and rescheduling of the show meant that designers were sent back to the drawing boards to design and make all new tall-sized samples for a new wintery collection suitable for showing near the end of summer/February, Ana says.

"Our small social enterprise businesses are driven by a common purpose: to bring positive change and empowerment to women through ethical fashion. With our own ethical production houses in places like India and Cambodia, we are used to navigating difficult circumstance in order to keep our seamstresses empowered with fair wages and dignified employment. One advantage of being a small business is that we are nimble and we can pivot."

Napier fashion store Two Lippy Ladies stock the Holi Boli label and were the first retailer to give them it's big break in 2015, Ana says.

Two Lippy Ladies owners Natalie O'Donnell and Karla Lewis were also former school mates of Ana's at Tamatea High School in the early 90s and were scheduled to go to NZFW and see Holi Boli on the runway.

"They have helped us grow from a baby company with just a few seamstresses, to now providing employment to 21 ladies. The Napier shop has heart, quietly and faithfully working for years to empower the Holi Boli seamstresses in our village in India. They have helped Holi Boli to get to where it is today, a trusted and experienced ethical fashion brand, invited to showcase at New Zealand's biggest fashion industry event."

Ana believes Two Lippy Laddies has helped change the lives of many young women in their village, who otherwise had very little opportunity to develop their sense of self worth and identity. "I have been able to offer safe and dignified employment to my sewing class graduates because Two Lippy Ladies continue to buy our dresses, year after year."

The team has secured a venue for the show this Wednesday, February 9, in Clevedon, overlooking the Hauraki Gulf. The event will be streamed a few days later.

"We've been very busy sorting photographers, videographers and hair and makeup artists to help with the shoot. It's all go."

Ana says part of their ethos is about collaboration instead of competition, with her dream to have an inclusive and healthy fashion industry where beauty is spirit, not size.

"We're excited to bring joy when it is much needed. We want to see a relatable and diverse case of models of different shapes, age and ethnicity. It is empowering for women to see someone like us on the runway. We, women, have been oppressed by unrealistic ideals of what beauty is."

• For more information check out Holi Boli on social media.