Fresh from Fiji Fashion Week, Dunedin designer Amber Bridgman is fizzing with enthusiasm for her work again, she tells Rebecca Fox.
Sitting on a plane to Fiji, Amber Bridgman kept sewing, just putting a few finishing touches on a garment due to head down the Fiji Fashion Week runway in a matter of days.
It kept her mind off the massive risk she was taking. Showing her first collection of work in more than three years to an international audience. The fact she had put the flight on Afterpay and thrown her meagre resources into the collection made on a broken sewing machine.
“I just dug deep and thought, come on old girl, wonder if you’ve still got it. I worked my arse off, I just created and made.’’
Back in the early 2020s she had headed for Europe with her family full of dreams to showcase “Kahuwai”, her fashion and traditional Māori arts label.
She had been invited to show at a Paris fashion show and London Pacific Fashion Week on the back of an invite to the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture in Hawaii which was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately, Europe was not the trip Bridgman expected. She suffered deep vein thrombosis and Queen Elizabeth II died during fashion week.
“London shut down and Paris went pear-shaped really fast and, you know, you reflect on that, you learn from it and you're very mindful about the next move that you make.’’
“I’m a very loyal Dunedin woman and it was pretty nerve-racking to open it but it was probably one of my proudest moments.’’
She was then due to show at Fiji Fashion Week but pulled out.
“I’d had a big trip and I didn’t stop; I pulled the plug because I just needed to catch my breath.”
Bridgman, who was also raising six children (now aged between 6 and 32 years), then had some health issues to deal with, including burnout, so decided to slow down and reconnect with her roots as she healed.
“I’d never taken time off from design, I’ve got a big studio at home, but I needed, like any artist or any creative, you need some time to reflect and think.’’
“I love teaching though, because when I teach a fashion school, I am inspired and it makes me probably regain some confidence that I lost along the way.’’
But recently her children went to spend time with their father’s family mutton-birding, leaving her with two months free.
“I thought, what am I going to do? Twiddle my thumbs for two months? I thought, well, I'm going to pick up that loose end that I cancelled, Fiji Fashion Week.”
The idea was to “dip our feet’’ onto an international runway again and see “if I was still good enough’’.
“I’m so glad I went because everything that was there, everything that Fiji Fashion Week offered me would just open the whole doorway to everything that I went to Paris and London for.”
Bridgman, who had kept her involvement in the week quiet from all but her closest family, showed in the premiere event for the week “Resort Luxe” showcasing Pacific glamour, couture and evening wear from 24 designers.
While she was supposed to show a 20-piece collection she took over about 35 pieces including a few pieces that did not get to show in London that she re-worked.
“I squeezed everything into a 30-kilo suitcase. I managed to show more than 20 garments. The models just kept rolling in because they could see that the level of work that I had sitting on the rack needed to be shown.’’
“So when you mix all those together something special, unique, is made.’’
It also gave her an opportunity to add colour to her designs, something she loves, getting inspiration from nature around her.
“I just wanted to put together a body of work that was different from what I’ve done. I’ve always been quite constricted in colour palettes that could come from a traditional space.’’
She found Fiji Fashion Week and its production team to be “outstanding’’. The director, based in Sydney, brings in experts from Australia to help pull it all together.
“So, to get to have those connections of the best photographers, the best makeup artists, the best production, I couldn’t fault one thing of the show.’’
Their similar cultural values also resonated with Bridgman. The models were professional and gracious, she says.
“All the models were calling me Aunty Amber and I’ve come away with great contacts, great new friends and a beautiful experience that I guess I needed.’’
“It was a privilege to even get to go back and for me it was tying up loose ends and a promise that I'd made to Fiji Fashion Week.’’
But it has opened doors she never thought would open again to showcase at fashion weeks in Australia, New York and Auckland but she is going to be very selective about what she takes on.
“I still have a young family, and money doesn’t grow on trees, so I’ll definitely be doing Melbourne in November, and I will be attending New Zealand Fashion Week.’’
There are also opportunities to be involved with design workshops with other indigenous creatives in the Pacific.
Bridgman is also hopeful of being able to manufacture her designs in Fiji once she has been able to build up some funds. She has also been asked to return to Fiji Fashion Week next year.
“I work in a very sustainable practice. I have to because of budget restraints and my ethos and my brand has always been about authentic, sustainable.”
She hopes her story helps others realise even if health or finances might make dreams seem far away, it is possible.
“Just go slow.’’
Amber Bridgman reacts in excitement as her first model goes out on to the runway.
Fiji Fashion Week
