Bachelor of Fashion (Design and Technology) graduate Laura Black brings her own creative twist to her fashion designs through her love of cosplay. Animation, movies, comics, anime and anything in that realm is a passion Laura has had for a long time and it carved out her pathway to study at Southern Institute of Technology (SIT).
Originally hailing from a farm in Cambridge, she has experienced working and living in a rural environment but had no real sewing experience before beginning her course. In fact, Laura hadn’t really been looking at studying at SIT, but a chance encounter with the SIT stall at Auckland’s Armageddon Expo convinced her to sign up, so she could learn how to sew and develop her pattern making skills in order to indulge her cosplay hobby.
With no real idea what she was signing up for, Laura was pleasantly surprised with the friendships she made, the confidence built and the success she enjoyed. While the course work was pretty full on while working on her Collection, Laura maintains that the tutors are always willing to help out where they can and the environment is a supportive one, with classmates “a pleasure to be around”.
Something a farm girl from Cambridge would never have entertained a few years ago, Laura entered and won the Fantasia Award at the Hokonui Fashion Design Awards in 2016. “I would never have thought of entering anything like that and now that I have, I have something I can pop on my resume.”
With her future now wide open, Laura is hoping to move to Wellington and get a job at Weta Workshop or the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Any job that will allow her to make costumes and she will be happy.
“In a lot of ways SIT helped show me what I was capable of. I’ve never been very confident in my abilities, but now I feel as though I’m able to apply for any job I’m interested in.”
Having suggested the Bachelor of Fashion to a couple of her cosplay friends, we can look forward to seeing some more fabulous costumes evolve from creative minds at SIT.