Session 58 summary
Epeli is based out in Fiji Islands and the name of his brand is Kuiviti which translates to ‘Fijian’in the Fijian language and one of the reasons he named his brand as such was because he also feels like his brand is also a movement- how he wants to inspire young people to wear his indigenous clothes, wear his indigenous prints with pride. A lot of the culture back in the day was passed on through oral history; like there is a lot of story sharing and a lot of his culture was preserved in the act of dance, carvings and handicraft making. For Epeli, being a young person in this nation and also wanting to be a part of that process of preserving his culture, bending to fashion and arts to help guide him in that sense. So, most of his work is about preserving the Fijian culture through fashion- through music or dance. With fashion he can incorporate all those things into one body. When there is a fashion show, he use traditional music. He has traditional dancing and also traditional contemporary designs on the runway.
He has been doing fashion for little over 10 years now and he is so happy with the journey that he has taken along the way. There have been ups and downs but he is glad because he as an indigenous person perseveres through the face of adversity and pushes on no matter what it is. A bit of his design is inspired by his wish to encapsulate the balance between modern designs without losing his cultural identity in his work. So, he always wants to go for the edginess of a style that would propel his work to be similar or to match what’s on the international stage at present times but also not lose his cultural identity. He has seen some Indian designers that went to Fiji and he met up with some like, John Mitra. Epeli loves his work and how he matches the Indian prints and the Indian embroidery but at the same time it looks very international. Epeli feels that there are people who are doing what he is doing and he is not alone in it. Those kinds of moments when one brushes shoulders, don’t even talk about their designs but just stay in the same space with garments and maybe feel comforted with the idea of designers who are doing the same thing as him.
Every time before taking on a task Epeligoes back to his myths and legends, and do research work with the legends he will promote or highlight in the collection that he would be showcasing at a particular time. So, it’s like a legend or tradition or an art-form that is from back in the day that he can preserve or showcase on the runway. One thing that the Fijians believe is that when they walk into the future they walk backwards, i.e. they have their backs to the future and they journey into the future with their backs turned. It is mainly because the ancestors believed that one cannot see the future so they have their backs turned and the only thing one can see is the past, so they learn from the past- draw things like inspiration from the past to help guide them into the future. Long time ago when Epeli was a boy, his grandmother shared with him that “if you want to move ahead in life you have to look into the past, you have to hold on to the past teachings”. So, even now the Fijians are living on the teachings of their ancestors, that is their guide, it is their compass into the future. That was one of the guiding Epeli’s grandmother gave him which helps his design work.
Masi cloth
Masi is also called Tapa and it is made from the bark of the mulberry tree. The tree is stripped on the bark, then the bark is beaten to a pulp and then it is put together- join the pieces together. Traditionally Fijian traditional clothing consists of three pieces of Masi. Since Masi can range from 12X2 Feet or 10X2, so it is wrapped around a person in three layers. For young women they just do one layer but when they get married it would be a longer layer and based on how one wears the masi. How a person places the pieces of it, shows their status in society, their status in the village like whether they are a chief or a commoner. Also certain colors of masi will indicate certain status in the village or in the society. After the masi is beaten and put together(it’s always a small strip at first), they start with small strips and then joined together to form bigger pieces. Sometimes masi is used as a gift and it is one of Fijian’s most treasured possessions. It is not only used for clothing, it is also used for house decorations and it is what the chief sits on. Some stories back in the day talked about how when the chief’s daughter used to go out to play, the people would never let her set foot on the ground by spreading yards and yards of masi on the village green for her to play on. So, masi is a sort of respected form of clothing for the Fijian people. It is divided into colors-whites and browns; when it is smoked it gets a brown color and it is dyed from an ink extracted from the mangrove tree. Back in the day they would stencil their designs on the leaves and then stencil the prints onto the masi. The texture of masi is like thick paper.
About the Speaker
Epeli Tuibeqa
fashion Designer
founder, KuiViti Couture
Suva, Fiji Islands
Epeli Tuibeqa is a well-known Fijian fashion designer and creative mind behind fashion couture label Kuiviti. Epeli studied Accounting and Auditing at Fiji National University and is a performer with the Oceania Dance Theatre at the University of the South Pacific. Epeli is also a performer who says that he does not limit his creativity and encourages other young artists to try new things that will get them out of their comfort zone.
