Jordan Tay (seated) is the Resene Colour of Fashion winner for 2021. Image supplied.
The Resene Colour of Fashion winner has been announced for 2021 with Jordan Tay taking out the prize. The Whitecliffe Fashion Tech student receives cash and fabric vouchers to the value of $1000 from Resene. Jordan’s winning design will join the work of his 15 classmates from Whitecliffe Fashion Tech in the Resene Colour of Fashion 2021 collection that will take to the runway at the rescheduled NZ Fashion Week in February 2022.
Jordan is delighted about his win, “It was the scariest couple of weeks, Resene Fashion of Colour being my first ever showcased piece to the world. I’m just honoured to have been able to work alongside my classmates and see their creations come to life on the day,” he says.
Jordan says his design in paint colour Resene Smashing is like a paintbrush stroke: “bold and strong to start with, then tailing off with a flick.”
Watching his parents redesign and rebuild their family home in 2001 as a six year old, Jordan was keen to help and that early interest in design eventually led to him studying at Whitecliffe Fashion Tech. His early memory of exposed, shredded timber became the inspiration for Jordan’s winning deconstructed red pantsuit. His design reimagines the wooden framing and exposed wires of his family home under construction in the jacket, and strong linear foundations in the pants.
“Having a know-how, can-do family, renovations were always going on around me. With our house being built in 1910 and my parents love for redesigning, our house and property changed constantly,” adds Jordan.
Whitecliffe Fashion Tech lecturer, Susan Barter, says the strength of Jordan’s winning design was the synthesis of fashion and architecture “combined with a whimsical twist.”
“Jordan’s interpretation was executed with technical proficiency, extending his learning and understanding of tailoring. Jordan set himself a challenge, created a high bar and I believe exceeded those expectations – smashing it!” says Susan.
As part of their pathway to graduation, each year the undergrads in their final year at Whitecliffe Fashion Tech in Auckland and Wellington are tasked to design, make and present a work of contemporary fashion in silk, in an array of Resene paint colours. The work is presented to a panel of judges including Dame Pieter Stewart, founder of NZ Fashion Week, RUBY General Manager Emily Miller-Sharma, Val Marshall-Smith founder of NZ Fashion Tech (now Whitecliffe Fashion Tech) and Resene marketing manager Karen Warman.
For Resene, 2021 is a milestone year as it’s the brand’s 75th anniversary and it’s also the 20th year of NZ Fashion Week. With than in mind the judges were looking for designs that were super-current but were also pleased to see thoughtful design elements from 1946 – the year Resene began.
The Resene Colour of Fashion project has showcased the work of 220 fashion students since it began eight years ago. The highly visible platform given to the students is on the strength of the partnership between New Zealand’s leading paint and fashion education companies.
Restrictions permitting, the 16 finalists will lead Whitecliffe Fashion Tech’s graduate runway show in December where Jordan’s win will be formally celebrated.