Faaeteete le sainia o pepa

Mana (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 12, 25 December 1977, Page 3

Faaeteete le sainia o pepa

Ua iai ni ali’i ua feoa’i solo i le faatauina atu o ni oloa i aiga taitasi. O nei oloa ua iai lavalava, mea taumafa ma isi lava mea faapena. Ua lipotia mai e nisi ua iai nisi tagata ua latou faia ni aitalafu mai nei tagata faatau oloa ma ua sainia ai e i latou ni pepa ua ■ le malamalama iai. Mulimuli ane ua tapa mai nei faatau oloa i le totogi o a latou oloa faaopoopo iai ma seisi tau sa natia i le taimi na sainia le feagaiga. O lea la e lapata’i atu ai i le mamalu o le au faitau ina ia faaeteete lava i le soona saini o ni pepa e tuuina mai e so’o se faatau oloa ia te oe. Fesili lelei iai pe iai ma seisi tau e le o ta'ua i le taimi o le sainiga. Ae o le mea e tatau pea o na fai, o le saili o se tasi e malamalama lelei i le faaupuina o le feagaiga.

Mona Bailey owns a unique clothes shop in Karangahape Rd. called “Fiafia Avon. Large and Lovely Fashions”. Her shop caters for large women. Mona states that designers. manufacturers and fashion trends do not provide the type of clothing to compliment large women. “We all want to lose weight so that we can fit the slinky clothes advertised everywhere, however we diet to nearly starving point, but we are ostracised because of our shape”. To Pacific Island women, SIZE IS STATUS. . .unfortunately in this new society being BIG is like having LEPROSY. Some women feel suicidal when they come into Mona's shop, but with expert advice.she can clothe these women in very stunning outfits at a reasonable price. Mona says that women send her boxes of chocolates, grateful for her encouragement e.g. “if you feel slim you look slim" . . . Clothes should emphasise one’s character . . . Big People are Happy People". Mona is not keen on making up special orders as she believes large women had a right to be catered for, and that women of any size should be able to buy off the peg. “In every fashion page, we fat people are not included, Cleopatra was fat and so was Queen Victoria. It has also been noted that there are people in every walk of life who are “overweight". Designers are geared towards creating clothes for the Twiggys, “Why don’t we be ourselves here in N.Z." She continues "we have Maori and Samoan designs . . . there should be more screen printing with Polynesian flavour, to encourage our women to be proud again of their heritage in the clothes they can wear. Mona holds fashion parades to fund raise but only for charitable organisations. Mona concludes that she is a proud Samoan, a proud N.Z.er slowly becoming a