When you think Hamilton, haute couture may not spring immediately to mind for everyone.

But it's been where designer Jacqueline Roper (Jax to her friends) has blossomed -a creative journey that's often gone off the beaten track.

Roper's entwinement of indigenous culture and haute couture was a memorable feature in the latest edition of the Hamilton Arts Festival, with her botanically themed Into The Bloom show - no ordinary fashion strut. Rather than a catwalk, her artistic and authentic designs were on display on a garden path, albeit a luxury one.

A collection of supersized flowers on nature’s canvas, (the female body) were on display with 31 designs including an ombré kõwhai, an emerald dandelion, a 3D pansy- every outfit a posy of colour, frill, drape and detail. Set amongst a living backdrop of olive trees, grape vines, fig leaves and fountains, shimmering in the midsummer afternoon heat the audience were transported from provincial New Zealand to the Italian Renaissance. 

Roper (Te Āti Awa) has turned Jacqueline Anne Couture into more than just a creative outlet but a connection to her tīpuna.

The collection draws inspiration from Roper’s childhood memories of her grandparents’ garden, as well as her grandmother’s mastery of tāniko (traditional Māori weaving). A number of pieces on display incorporate tāniko designs in cuffs, collars or bodices, with a modern twist. The designs give the illusion of fine weaving, but are actually the result of thousands of tiny glass beads. 

“My grandmother used to weave, and I always wanted to put weaving into my couture. I just found Māori weaving amazing so I studied it for three years, and then I had a thought. 

"Tāniko looks like tiny little beads - what if I did the tāniko designs to come back as beads? Where in the world are you going to see our indigenous culture transferred as haute couture? That was my vision. I thought, 'I’m never going to be a master weaver like those amazing, talented Māori weavers that have been doing it forever'. 

"It’s not for everyone, because there’s traditionalists out there that hate [the art form] being changed. But Māori were always innovators - they were always going to the next thing. You can’t stop somebody of Māori heritage from taking it on to a new form - if it’s able to be taken on to a new form - because we all evolve. We have to evolve.” 

Roper has been creating couture for as long as she can remember - before she was even aware of it.

“I didn’t know it was fashion design - I used to make clothes for my Barbie dolls. Then when I was getting older, I asked Mum to get me a sewing machine. Mum made clothes for us as kids, and I wanted to know how to sew. 

"We couldn’t afford much...so I would make my own clothes. I’d ask ‘can I go and buy some fabric’, and ‘can I make it?’ 

"I went to a few school dances at high school and I’d made my own outfits. It was funny because people started saying that I looked cool. And it just went from there.” 

She continued designing and honing her craft, studying fashion design at tertiary level and racking up decades of experience in the fashion industry with the likes of action sports, active wear, street wear fashion. Roper had dreams of one day having her own fashion label, but wasn’t sure which direction to take.

It was an experience in 2018 where she found her niche. Just like at high school, Roper drew attention from the crowd when she won Te Rapa’s Fashion in the Fields. 

“I went to the races one day and I won Best Dressed. People started asking me, 'Where did you get your outfit?' And I said 'Oh, I made it'. And they said, 'Can you make some for us?' That's how the brand started. 

“I love high fashion, haute couture. When I went to the races and got familiar with the girls that dress up for the races, I realised I’d found my people. Because I want the hat, the shoes, the handbag, the head-to-toe match - which is why you see millinery in my collection, on the runway. You don’t get many designers in New Zealand that do that, they don’t know how to team it. But it polishes the outfit.” 

Those women who spotted her talent that day at Te Rapa have become repeat customers. Some were in the crowd at the Hamilton Art Festival's Couture in the Gardens, where each of the one-off pieces were available to purchase. 

Although fashion is her passion, it doesn't necessarily pay Roper’s bills. Selling a pant-suit the week before the event saved the day, covering a few thousand dollars of shortfall.

“It’s impossible to make a living from it," she muses. "I have to work a full-time job to make money to do this. This is my passion. If I could make a living out of it, I would be doing it full time. But unfortunately, New Zealand is too small. 

"I can pick up custom business, but it’s really hard and not many people know me. That’s another reason I wanted to do the runway collection in the Gardens - to have something to showcase to people. I have to thank Hamilton Gardens for helping, because financially it would be impossible for me to put that on by myself.

“Unfortunately fashion design doesn’t come under arts grant funding. It doesn’t come under any kind of arts funding. It’s a weird, kind of grey area…it’s hard to explain- these are not normal clothes. This is another level. 

"I have a habit of selling the ones that are hardest to make, with the most ridiculous detail. I sell those more than the basic ones. They are all one-of-a-kind, none of these designs will ever be repeated. 

"Fashion is my canvas. If you don’t get it, you’re never going to get it - but hopefully people appreciate the artistry that went in to it.”

This year’s show ended with a wedding dress, referencing grand traditions of haute couture, where bridal wear is presented as finale of the designer’s runway collection. 

But this is hopefully just the beginning for Roper’s designs gracing garden paths as catwalks. She’s got her eye on another of Hamilton Gardens’ 18 award-winning gardens for next year - stepping back in time to Europe in the Middle Ages in the new Medieval Garden. 

It might not be an easy event to pull off, but Roper is used to overcoming challenge with creative brilliance, in her life as well as in fashion. 

“If you tell me something can’t be done, I’m the type of person that will do it anyway”.