July 31, 2014
MP’s dress sense inspiring
The curator of an exhibition of fashion designed by the late Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan says her use of Maori motifs paved the way for others.
The show opens in September at the Hawkes Bay Museum Theatre Gallery, which has been gifted a selection of clothing by the family.
Lucy Hammonds says Mrs Tirikatene-Sullivan did her fashion work in parallel with her role as MP for Southern Maori and New Zealand’s first Maori woman cabinet minister.
She got some of the leading Maori contemporary artists to create designs for her fabrics, and used the motifs in a completely different way than earlier designers.
"In the mid part of the 20th century there were designers using Maori motifs but they weren't using them in that deeply powerful statement way that Whetu was. She stood out as an elegant and fabulous and confident strong young woman, and continues to be so," she says.
Lucy Hammonds says many of Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan’s designs seem timeless, and a dress with a Sandy Adsett design she had made when she went to parliament in 1967 was still being worn by her more than 30 years later.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH LUCY HAMMONDS CLICK ON THE LINK
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