Attendees enjoy a Dressed in Confidence programme. Image supplied.
Nora Swann has a life-long love of fashion and she understands how confidence comes from within and shines through in what you wear. She set up her Dressed in Confidence programmes in 2016 to help her local Pacific community and her courses have proven so popular that she’s kept expanding her team and garnered support from the Ministry of Social Development. Dressed in Confidence is a wellness programme that takes participants on a journey of self-discovery and confidence-building, with Nora’s students ranging from primary school children through to grandparents and everyone in between.
The recent participants of Dressed in Confidence’s programmes are able to attend Pacific Fusion Fashion Show (PFFS) this Saturday 28th May, which Nora is also the founder of. She launched PFFS as a platform for Pacific designers in 2016 and it has also enjoyed great success, returning for it’s sixth annual event this year.
We caught up with Nora to find out more about Dressed in Confidence, how her programmes work and what her goals are for them?
Tell us about why you set up Dressed in Confidence?
Dressed in Confidence was originally established as a social enterprise allowing me to give back to my community. A lot of what we teach in the programme is information that is usually inaccessible to the audiences we work with so it’s a great opportunity to equip our students with the programme content to further assist them with their career paths.
How is the Ministry of Social Development involved and what has their support meant to Dressed in Confidence?
The Ministry of Social Development has been supporting our Mana: Dressed in Confidence programme since 2018 and this particular programme works with Pacific/Maori youth beneficiaries aged 18-26 teaching them practical skills for employment readiness.
Without the support of MSD, we wouldn’t be able to run our full-fledged programme which includes Colour Consultations, Thrift Shop Challenge and professional photos for CVs and LinkedIn.
What are your Dressed in Confidence programmes and how do they work?
We have a number of bespoke programmes for the different audiences we work with. We started off in schools working with girls as young as eight and now our programme has been run in fashion and beauty as expected, as well as hospitality, construction, tertiary education, the business sector and the wider community. And we are continuing to have conversations with different industries where Pacific people have a presence.
We’re very flexible with our programmes however the core topics we cover are Health and Wellbeing, Practical Skills for Employment Readiness, Self-Confidence and Entrepreneurship.
Participants take part in one of Dressed in Confidence’s programmes.
Why is it important to build people’s confidence and how does fashion and personal style help you do that?
A lot of people don’t see the connection between wellbeing, personal style and art. As someone who grew up as an introvert most of my life, I found that fashion and personal style helped me express who I was as an individual. I feel it’s the rawest form of art that you carry with you day in-day out and it’s an opportunity for someone like me who used to be really shy to share their story. Most of what we teach via our DIC programmes are exercises that worked for me personally. If you were to ask anyone from my high school if they thought I’d be doing what I’m doing now, I’m sure most of them would be surprised as I was that girl that never participated in most school activities.
I am not a loud outwardly person, but I do have a very strong inner self-confidence that I am proud that I have nurtured and fostered since I was a young adult.
How does it feel to see your programme attendees learn new skills and benefit from being part of Dressed in Confidence?
Out of all my initiatives I run, the DIC programme I feel is the most satisfying as we work with kids as young as eight years old. Working in the creative sector, we use innovative methods to instil self-worth and confidence into our students and it’s been great to see the participants respond positively to our creative teachings. I have been very lucky to witness a lot of the student’s moments of self-realisation and self-discovery and it is a beautiful thing.
How is Dressed in Confidence working with Pacific Fusion Fashion Show this year?
We have a lot of our DIC students attending this year’s Pacific Fusion Fashion Show. Students who are on our Mana:DIC programme, students through our collaboration with LeVa AtuMai, students who are currently on our Re:Purpose/Use/Cycle programme, families from our Mama + Me programme and a whole lot of kids from our school programme. What all these students have in common is they have an interest in fashion so what better way to give them the ultimate fashion experience than through the Pacific Fusion Fashion Show.
I’d love to see more Pacific people consider fashion as a career option. It’s not a traditional pathway for Pacific peoples so it’s great that we can run our workshops with the help of Whitecliffe School of Art and Fashion as well as a lot of Pacific individuals who are already in the fashion industry.
What are your goals for Dressed in Confidence?
DIC recently became Charities Services registered due to the rapid growth of the programme and as the founder of the Dressed in Confidence programme, it was a hard decision to make however I believe it was the best decision for the programme moving forward.
We’re growing to the point where I feel we have now outgrown our space, so we’re now having these conversations earlier than expected. The short-term goal is to solidify our foundations, so our systems and processes are in place before we look into expansion.
Images supplied.