Lindah Lepou

Linda Lepou Auckland based, multimedia artist, Lindah Lepou is an award winning fashion designer who coined the term, ‘Pacific Couture’ to illustrate a distinction between pacific ‘fashion clothing’ worn every day and pacific ‘fashion art’ (natural fibers) she creates and displays in museums, which has kept her in the forefront of the pacific fashion world since 1994. She has consistently produced ‘Fashion Art’ that has drawn from her rich family ‘Gafa’ (Genealogy), and unique NZ/Pacific lineage to create a distinctive body-of-work that maintains its own unique pacific identity and remains contemporary.

Currently, Lindah has been funded by Creative New Zealand to develop a new work that utilizes her other creative applications in Performance (Theater), Music, Film, and Photography that are inspired by three dominant ‘Aitu’ (Spirits/Ghosts) figures, from her family Gafa and prominent in Samoa’s history. This multimedia exhibition will be Lindah’s solo debut, to be presented at the City Gallery in Wellington, NZ from October-December 2012.

Lindah’s most recent work was commissioned by Te Papa Museum to design a work of art for their “UNVEILED” Exhibition: 200 Years of Wedding Fashion (V&A London), alongside international fashion royalty Charles Worth, Vivienne Westwood, Dior and Christian Lacroix. She was the only pacific designer invited to create and present a wedding gown in which she made out of white ‘Tapa’ (Siapo) cloth, and inspired by her great-grand mother, ‘Fa’agase’ from the first documentary ever made called, ‘Moana’ (of the South Seas) by American filmmaker, Robert Flaherty in 1926.

Villa Maria Cult Couture Fashion Awards 2011

‘Bushygaga’ (Flax), Supreme Winner

Villa Maria Cult Couture Fashion Awards 2009

‘Eco-Chic’” (Plastic), Supreme Winner

Westfield Style Pasifika Fashion Awards 2005

‘Cocomono’ (Coconut Shell), Supreme Winner