Dr Bobby Luke unapologetically promotes Kaupapa Māori-led design at New Zealand Fashion Week
Dr Bobby Luke (Ngāti Ruanui), a Lecturer at Te Kura Hoahoa—School of Design Innovation, was part of the vanguard of Māori fashion designers who unapologetically promoted Kaupapa Māori-led design at New Zealand Fashion Week 2023, 29 August–2 September.
After his successful debut at New Zealand Fashion Week in 2019, Dr Luke returned with his new Campbell Luke collection Oranga Ngākau, comprising modern, culturally inspired womenswear.
A super 8 film by Bill Bycroft and a live kapa haka performance backdropped the collection’s showing at the Viaduct Events Centre in Tāmaki Makaurau—Auckland.
Models displayed Campbell Luke’s signature free-flowing and playful garments of linens, natural fibre fabrics, and luxury knits. Featuring full-bodied sleeves, quilted tops, and crochet maxi dresses seen through a kaupapa Māori lens, the collection challenged traditional Western design.
The designs were centralised around memories of an era when the simplest of activities delivered whanau (family) values, dignity and now nostalgia on a daily basis.
“I made many of the garments from repurposed materials that I inherited from family, and there are a couple of pieces I’ve reused to style into the show”, says Dr Luke.
The event was also an exploration of a recent personal loss situated within the emergence of Māori fashion design.
“This time at New Zealand Fashion Week I was acknowledging the loss of my brother and the grief that I’ve been going through. In the last scene, you saw Kai-Ora Tipene bring out her baby in this space of enlightenment. In the whole, the event was and Oranga Ngākau is a celebration of life and love.”
Before discovering his skill for fashion, he was interested in pursuing architecture.
“I really wanted to be an architect. I used to draw blueprints of the marae and buildings. I liked the technical aspect of architecture”, he says.
However, an internship for Dame Trelise Cooper while he was still in high school opened the door for him to discover fashion.
Dr Luke completed an undergraduate degree in fashion, where he studied the significance of the apron, before completing postgraduate studies in visual arts and completing a PhD in fashion design.
At Te Kura Hoahoa—School of Design Innovation, he teaches Mātauranga Design / Hoahoa ā-Mātauranga, which engages with Māori creativity and mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) in the production of both visual and material cultural design, as well as Design for Social Innovation Capstone where students can impact positive social, cultural, political, economic and/or environmental change, and Fashion Design Studio II / Taupuni Waihanga Kākahu II that focuses on the principles of fashion design.
Dr Luke says, “I emphasis collaboration and co-designing to build the students’ relationships that support their creative outputs because, if we don’t have relationships with others and ourselves, then our output doesn’t have any substance”.
Interested in Studying Design for Social Innovation or Fashion Design Technology at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington? Find out more about our Bachelor of Design Innovation (BDI) degree.