celebrating our talented team - Sheena

Congratulations to our talented team member Sheena Richardson on earning a merit award at this year's Hokonui Fashion Design Awards. 

2023 marks the 35th anniversary of the Hokonui Fashion Design Awards - a significant achievement as the longest running fashion design awards of their type in New Zealand.  
 
Held in Gore in late July, the awards are firmly established as a key event on the national fashion calendar and continue to attract entries and interest from throughout New Zealand.  Since 1988, the awards have been a competitive platform for all amateur fashion designers to showcase their designs in front of well-regarded industry leaders. Over the previous years the judging panel has included Karen Walker, Nic Blanchet, Francis Hooper, Trelise Cooper, Kate Sylvester, Liz Findlay, Doris Du Pont and Margi Robertson (of NOM*d).

This year's judges were Vicky Taylor of Taylor Boutique, Liam Bowden - founder and creative director of Deadly Ponies, and Steve Dunstan of Huffer. With Hilary Barry as the night’s Mc 

A recent graduate of the Bachelor of Creative Industry with a major in Fashion Design from Toi Ohomai Institute Of Technology in Tauranga. Sheena won her merit award in the Open Glamour Section for her first submission to a fashion design competition.

Sheena’s entry, an elegant and feminine gown of champagne hued silk incorporated traditional hand sewn smocking techniques with a contemporary design and silhouette. The silk fabric sheena has used is deadstock fabric. Deadstock fabrics are unwanted or ‘leftover’ fabrics of the textile/fashion industry that would historically be distended for landfill. Using deadstock fabrics helps to reduce textile waste and aligns with Sheena’s passion for sustainable and conscious fashion.

To follow Sheena’s journey as an emerging fashion designer you can find her on Instagram @s.s.richardson