LIFE-Con Pacific Season 7 was no doubt the talk of last week as designers, participants and the art and fashion industry not only here in Samoa but also from Australia, Fiji and Tonga, all came together to be part of the two-day event, which was held on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 November.

The youth-led event has made waves over the last 7 years being the platform that focuses on promoting and celebrating Samoa and the Pacific’s fashion and art events and Season 7 catered for that and more. There was the continued elevation of the concept and its steady commitment to its vision of sustaining this approach in the hope of not only celebrating all these talents and creativity but also contributing to the preservation of our heritage into the future.

LIFE-Con Pacific Season 7, after a six-week-long intensive marketing campaign again took to the runway a very high-end display of almost 200 pieces – which are the newest fashion collections by nine designers based in Samoa, Australia, Fiji and Tonga. Also proudly displayed and exhibited at the event on both days, were close to 50 amazing artwork and pieces by five gifted artists that were part of the event.

LIFE-Con Pacific has been hailed as Samoa’s premier fashion and art event over the years and last week, the creators together with all partners, stakeholders and the fashion and art industry in Samoa and some from around the Pacific – culminated its Season 7 all sharing that vision with almost 500 people that attended both days.

Officially opened by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Afioga Toelupe Poumulinuku Onesemo spoke briefly about the significant contribution of the platform in not only promoting our local talents and knowledge but also sharing the challenges of keeping initiatives as this, ongoing. With his personal experience in being part of LIFE-Con Pacific Season 5 in 2022, he realised first-hand the technical support and positive contribution of the event to small and emerging businesses. These are in the form of high-level marketing and advertising approaches the platform utilises. In particular, it is the partnership between small businesses and LIFE-Con whereby they get exposure and mileage through high-end and theoretically based advertising content. These open doors to the potential of emerging and new businesses and strengthen the branding for bigger and more established businesses and establishments.

Season 7 brought to its Finale Showcase at Sheraton, nine designers, five from Samoa, Ily’s Clothing Boutique, LuckyMax, Mama Janes Fashion, Nelly Samoa and Rimani Samoa, two from Fiji, KuiViti Pacific and Niurua Creative, one from Australia, Elora Reign and Le-Ata Fashion which operates both in Samoa and Tonga.

Close to 200 fashion pieces were showcased and also sold, as part of the event this year was to highlight the sales component of the event by encouraging and motivating designers to have incredible specials and deals available during the event.

One of the highlights of Season 7, was the Art Exhibition element of the event, whereby 5 incredible and emerging artists were exhibiting more than 30 artworks which captured a lot of attention from the audience over the 2 days. These talented young artists demonstrated their God-given talents and also their resilience to today’s world through the paintings and carvings they worked on and showcased. The incredible artists are Irae Tanuvasa, Paese Paletasala, Elvina Tuiletufuga, Lua Tasi and Nisi Tongia. These artists were sourced by LIFE-Con, some came through in response to the event marketing campaign and others were referred to the Committee by the Visual Artists of Samoa Association VAOSA.

LIFE-Con being an inclusive event continued having in its Models Register, people with disability, all males, and females as well as faafafine – something the event has had at its core since its inception in 2017. The theme this year was “transforming the creative industry through youth lenses” is reassurance the event continues to pride itself on being a youth-led and youth-driven activity and platform taking the lead in promoting talents, skills and creative knowledge and skills in our creative industry.

Leiataualesā Kevin Lucky is the managing director for LIFE-Con Pacific.