Maui time

Being a mother, artist, model, design school graduate and an entrepreneur can be stressful. Add upcoming Fashion Designer to the soup and you’ve got Tessa Bailey-Lont. She showed her first solo art exhibition at Te Papa on Saturday 20 March…

Tick – Tock – Tick – Tock…

Time flies. I’m already late. I grab my camera, extra batteries, memory cards… On my out of the door, I realize I’ve forgotten my notepad and a pen, and on my new high heeled shoe boots, I run back inside to grab it.

Finally in the car, I complain about the traffic, the slow drivers.

Stressed, and out of breath, I burst into Te Papa, while applying more lip gloss. Did I need more? Just a habit… I run up to level 4, to the Te Hono ki Hawaiki marae. I slump down on a chair on the first row and finally I take a deep breath and relax. The show is starting.

Being a mother, artist, model, design school graduate and an entrepreneur can be stressful. Add upcoming Fashion Designer to the soup and you’ve got Tessa Bailey-Lont.

Stress, stress, stress… Exactly what made the young designer Tessa Bailey-Lont create this new collection which she was showing at her first solo art exhibition at Te Papa, in Wellington, on Saturday 20 March.

Tessa said her days were going to quickly and as a traditional Maori story of Maui and the Sun teaches us to slow down, Tessa wanted to mediate the same with her new collection. The Maui and the Sun Fashion Show was a reminder to us all to slow down and seize the day. Something Tessa had to remind herself of when her days seemed to be passing by too quickly, and which inspired her to create this great collection of clothing.

Tessa had definitely thought of everything. From the pattern in the garments, to the pace in which the models were walking. The models were in no hurry to get to the end of the runway and it amused me a little, but also gave the whole show a feeling of calmness.

For this show, Tessa used her own past as an industrial designer, and mixed it with fashion, contemporary art and traditional Maori history, patterns and design.

She designed all the patterns herself and they were then sent off to Auckland where industrial weaving machines created her fabric. The patterns were very much inspired by classical Maori patterns, however, the garments showed Tessa’s playfulness, new thinking and her Maori roots, all in one.

Before the show, I had read that dance would be integrating with the fashion on the runway. Previous experiences of this didn’t impress me. However, the dance in today’s show seemed to flow seamlessly with the rest. As the story of Maui and the Sun was read out to us, dance symbolised the sun and each piece of clothing shown to us, pushed the story forward and related to everyday life and Tessa’s personal expression. Tessa told us that every garment symbolised a significant event in the traditional Maori story of How Maui slowed the Sun.

Below: A short, cobalt blue dress for when there’s more time to play, the days are longer and we’re more relaxed.

A black leather top symbolised the dark ages. Long, dresses in amazing, traditional Maori inspired patterns and earthy, de-saturated colors symbolising the decision for capturing the sun. A short, vibrant red dress in a silky material symbolised the lava, or the red hot of the sun.

Below: a dancer symbolises the sun.

An interesting, short black dress, with hand woven ropes sewn together to make a string of a dress represented the ropes, which Maui and his men used to catch the sun. It was a stunning dress, just like all the pieces of Tessa’s collection.

As the story proceeded, so did the cut of the clothes. From more conventional dresses and long skirts, to 1960’s inspired working suits and leisure pants and elegant jackets for the family orientated woman.
Every piece had its place in history and the Maori story.

Tessa excelled in both dresses, pants, skirts and jackets and showed us that she’s got a talent for fashion. After the show I went to look at the clothes up close, and in the time span of 5 minutes, Tessa had 2 women asking to buy one of the dresses. Now, let us hope she gets a seamstress on board to start making her clothes.

I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot more of Tessa in the future. In her own, good time, of course.

Words and photos by Tine Worén, 20 March 2010.