AUE Line
Meet Fashion Designer & Artistic Director of Aue Dance Company - Vivian Arthur Aue.
My Name is Vivian Arthur Aue. I’m 25 Years old and my blood lines are connected to the Cook Islands. My father is John Kaokao Aue and he comes from Titikaveka and Mauke. My mother is Ngametua Aue and she comes from Nikao. I was born in Auckland and I grew up in Onehunga but now I stay in Manurewa. I am a lecturer in Performing Arts at Manukau Institute of Technology.
I am also the Artistic Director of AUĒ Dance Company here in Auckland and Fiji. Another passion of mine is fashion and I recently launched my own fashion label AUĒ LINE in November 2018, with my sister Puretu Aue. So now we are emerging Pasifika fashion designers ready to showcase more creations in 2019.
You recently showcased your designs in a Cook Islands Fashion Show. Did you have a theme for your designs and where did you get inspiration for them?
The Cook Islands Fashion show was called Aku Yanga and was held at the Mangere Arts Centre in November 2018.
Our collection is called ‘AKETEREI’ - which is my mothers given Mauke name by a papa tumu korero when she married my father. The theme and concepts behind our collection are the strong and significant female figures in my life from my mother, grandmothers, sisters, aunties, cousins and friends.
Their presence, their soul, power, their mana, beauty and grace in how they hold themselves throughout life is what inspires this collection to come alive. So it’s a real precious collection which was created from the heart and soul.
How long have you been designing or been interested in the fashion industry and what was your pathway to get to this point?
I was invited to showcase a collection in Aku Yanga by Paul Hagai, the creator of the fashion show and we went from there. So Aku Yanga was the first platform for me to showcase my passion of fashion designing.
2018 was the first year I began my journey as a fashion designer and it’s been a great journey so far. My sister and I have always been interested in the creation and designing of Cook Islands Traditional Rakei (Costumes).
We designed the costumes for One Tree Hill College Cook Islands Group for Polyfest 2018 and we loved it. We are again in the processing of creating costumes for One Tree Hill College Cook Islands Group 2019 and we are so excited to showcase what we have created.
Do you have any favourite designers that you look up to?
Yes I look up to Mohammed Ashi (Middle Eastern Designer), Zerina Akers and all of the fashions designers who create for Beyonce.
Do you have anything else coming up that we can look out for?
Yes we in the process of creating a 50 piece collection for the Bottega Fijian Fashion Festival 2019 in Suva Fiji. So we are looking forward to this amazing opportunity.
.
We also have a new Pacific contemporary dance show which opens on the 27th of Feb and runs through until the 2nd of March. The show is called OIRE | VILLAGE and is an ALL female movement response to the structure of each individual dancers village back home in the islands. We are portraying themes of womanhood, the female figure, discrimination, myths, rituals and ceremonies from each individuals village. We open a discussion of how we as a cohort can create a refurbished village in 2019 here in Aotearoa. What does that look like? Sound like? Taste like? Smell like? And how can we create peace and harmony? Or can we not?
Details on where you can buy tickets on the poster below -
If people would like to purchase your outfits how can they do that and do you custom design for people as well?
Yes. You can email us at , contact us on Instagram @auedanceco_aueline or on Facebook @AUĒ to purchase any of our garments. Yes we custom design garments for anyone who would love to wear our vibrant and original creations.
