Aukaha | Emerging from her shell

Emerging from her shell

Nā, Anna Brankin

When her children left for two months on the tītī islands this season, Ōtepoti designer Amber Bridgman didn’t tell anyone what she planned to do with the rare stretch of free time. “I thought, ‘right, time to see if this old girl has still got it,’” Amber says. “I started working on a new collection, with no idea how it was going to turn out or if I’d even want to show it to anyone.” A few months later in early June, she was on the runway at Fiji Fashion Week in Suva, in front of international media including Harper’s Bazaar.

The collection – Te Ara a Kewa, named for her youngest son Kewa – was first dreamed up when Amber was staying in a friend’s house in Matavera in the Cook Islands, and the pieces were produced everywhere from Papamoa, the far north Moerewa, Rakiura, Ōraka, Wānaka and Ōtepoti. “I don’t know life without my children,” Amber
says. “The only thing I know how to do is design, weave and sew, and make cool things. So that’s what I did.”

Amber describes the past year as one of the hardest of her life, the kind that had her questioning everything – her relationships, her purpose, the career she’s dedicated 30 years of her life to. “Some people go to the gym or out for a run to process their emotions,” she says. “I have to be creative, every day. That’s how I heal, that’s how
I express my thoughts.”

The collection draws on the colour palette of a pāua, a decision that Amber says had multiple layers. “The pāua aesthetic has become quite exploited in our tourism industry, and I wanted to reclaim that and elevate it onto an international runway,” she says. “On top of that, my friends would describe me as the pāua, and with this collection, I’ve finally removed myself from the shell to reveal the beauty inside.” Having warned the organisers of Fiji Fashion Week to expect a collection in dark colours – “I told them, ‘I’m from Dunedin, we’re notorious for wearing black’” – what came down the runway instead was a wash of ocean blues, teals, fuchsia pinks and purples, with pops of kōwhai.

Amber’s signature style is reflected throughout the collection, a blend of toi Māori and haute couture; tāniko, korowai and hei-tiki pairing with chiffon pleating and bespoke tailoring to create something truly one of a kind. Stand out looks from the collection include a long, hand-printed pāua hooded jacket worn with black
trousers and a purple neck piece that represents the chains placed on indigenous peoples by colonisation. “My work always has a story,” Amber says. “I don’t want to scare people off by getting too political but there is always a hidden message. I do see fashion as a medium to explore my thoughts and my journey.”

A floor-length teal dress in chiffon pleats features the distinctive whakanihoniho, a pattern that Amber says she is always drawn to, and several other looks include handwoven tāniko. “So much of my work is influenced by the weaving principles that I learned many years ago,” she says. “My great-grandmother was a master weaver, and I was lucky enough to have my own practice refined by Nanny Roka Ngarimu-Cameron.”

This is reflected in the korowai that feature throughout the collection, from dresses paired with traditional short feathered cloaks, to a cropped yellow version that Amber created as something more contemporary. The finale piece was the most traditional: a fulllength black korowai with a white stripe, sweeping the runway as
the closing look. “I use a lot of traditional feathers – toroa, tītī, weka – which all connect to my whakapapa on the islands and at Ōtākou,” Amber says.

As well as painstakingly sewing and printing every piece herself, Amber also creates the adornments that accompany each look. This collection included the pewter hei-tiki she has been making limited runs of for several years now, as well as a new, much larger piece in bronze that is due for online release soon. Handcrafted pāua
necklaces and colourful, oversized piupiu necklaces that are as much garment as jewellery feature throughout. “When I was rushing to tie those on backstage I realised I had defaulted back to using the good old hui knot that I learned tying off muttonbirds on the islands back in the day.”

Amber is loud and proud about her commitment to sustainability, saying that around 95 percent of Te Ara a Kewa is upcycled, and that she bought only five metres of new fabric for the whole show. The rest came from decades of fabric hoarding, and what she describes as the “op shop gods” smiling upon her when hunting for the right colours and fabrics. “I don’t think you need money to make magic,” she says. “You can’t buy style with money, and I’d rather use fabric that’s otherwise going to waste than buy something new.”

Backstage in Suva, working largely alone in 42-degree heat with no air conditioning, Amber ended up dressing far more models than she’d planned for. She’d brought around 40 looks, expecting to only use 20, but more models kept arriving wanting to wear her work. It was only when she saw the models dressed that she remembers thinking, “wow, it’s working, I can actually still do this. These stunning Fijian models are bringing the garments to life.”

Fiji Fashion Week opened doors for Amber that she says previous international shows never quite did, and invitations to Sydney, Tahiti and New Zealand Fashion Week have already followed. In August, a selection of Amber’s pieces will feature at a pop-up at New Zealand Fashion week – a rare chance, she says, to finally let go of some of the one-off garments she’s been making and holding onto for years.

Amber Bridgeman (Kāi Tahu) is an Ōtepoti-based designer, traditional weaver and the founder of Kahuwai – a label she’s built over three decades around handmade, sustainable kākahu and the idea that what you wear should make you feel good. Alongside her runway work, she lectures at Otago Polytechnic’s fashion school and is a mahi toi kaiako at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ōtepoti, where she teaches raranga, korowai and piupiu. You can see more of her work, including her Wonder Wahine range, at kahuwai.co.nz.