Laisiasa Raibevu Davetawalu, who designs under the label Elaradi, carries the hope of his local fashion community, who fundraised to send him to design school in Australia
The hopes of Fiji’s fledgling fashion industry sit on the slim shoulders of a 25-year-old from Muaninuku Village named Laisiasa Raibevu Davetawalu.
“Lai showed promise from the moment he debuted his first collection as a student designer,” says Hosanna Kabakoro, a fellow designer, who makes resort“Promise is something we see a lot of here, but that rarely gets the opportunity to grow beyond that potential.” Not that long ago Davetawalu was sketching designs and reading fashion magazines while other boys played rugby
A number of fashion industry insiders including Christine Evans, an Australian fashion designer then based in Suva, and Ellen Whippy-Knight, the indomitable founder of Fiji Fashion Week, noticed Davetawalu’s talent and took him under their wing. She has mounted annual runway shows since 2007 as a platform for emerging designers like Davetawalu to showcase their craft, and find buyers. As a result, a number of local designers – such as Samson Lee, Moira Solvalu and Michael Mausio, all of whom specialise in bold prints – have gone from showing at Fiji Fashion Week with no formal design training to developing viable, albeit small, businesses.