One of the first Māori artists to gain a PhD in fashion says his whakapapa is a “super power” that gives him the extra edge in his creative endeavours.
At 30, ‘prac-academic’ Bobby Campbell Luke combines form and fashion in style. He’s worked for European designers overseas, lectures in fashion and design at Victoria University, and next month will show his new collection at New Zealand Fashion Week.
He says he owes his interest in fashion design to hanging out with his nannies and aunties in the kitchen at the back of his marae in Hawera.
“I was drawn to the narratives and the anecdotal moments in the kitchen. The kind of conversations I would hear were very interesting. In my creative practice, I try to translate and respond to this experience, which comforted me as a child. It was the root where I started my fashion practice.”
Photo: Bobby Campbell Luke
Luke (Ngāti Ruanui), was a whangai child, a form of Māori adoption where a child is given to a member within the whānau to raise. He was close to his mother, Alison Luke, who raised him in Auckland and her south Taranaki hometown of Hawera.
Luke says she was a “hui hopper”, who took him to many hui and cultural gatherings around the country. He describes her love and support as “being clocked in her korowai”.
As a child, he was more interested in drawing buildings than sewing garments.
“I don’t have that romanticised narrative of watching my mother put on makeup and anticipating what she will put on to wear for the day. For me, I really wanted to be an architect. I used to draw blueprints of the marae and buildings. I liked the technical aspect of architecture.”
Luke got his start in fashion when he worked as an intern for Dame Trelise Cooper while he was still in high school. He was ambitious and determined, spending nearly four years sweeping the floors before he got to be involved in the design aspect of the business.
“It was the best experience that I had. I was young, I had the energy and said yes to everything, I really wanted it. I knew that I had a door open for me.”
As a takatāpui (rainbow) child, Luke felt a sense of belonging around the strong Māori women who protected him.
“It was a safe space for me. It fostered my thinking around how I would operate in a fashion world,” he says.
During his undergraduate degree in fashion at AUT, Luke studied the significance of the apron.
“Seeing my aunties wearing an apron wasn’t just a symbol of the kitchen and a practical movement like peeling the spuds. For me, it was a symbol of safety and knowledge.”
Fabrics and items that had a profound effect on his childhood, such as his grandmother’s curtains or blankets, have a huge influence on his work.
“My work has so many nuances. I’m interested in telling a story and how things can be presented rather than just a cut-and-sew kind of thing.”
His pathway to fashion stemmed from his love for the visual arts and film after he realised that his favourite artists combined multiple mediums to create their work.
“The artists that I started looking at had a fashion component, like Lady Gaga. Rather at looking at what she did, I was looking at behind the scenes of the films that she made, and that drove me into fashion.”
Photo: Bobby Campbell Luke
That passion led to years of academic study in fashion and visual arts, leading to a PhD in fashion and design. He’s also completed internships in Amsterdam and Zurich.
His fashion designs were first noticed at the Miromoda group show at New Zealand Fashion Week when he was 22. His garments are known to acknowledge the past and are heavily influenced by the impact of colonisation and the narratives from his whakapapa.
Luke is currently juggling his fulltime university role with preparing for his second New Zealand Fashion Week show in August.
The theme of his new collection pays tribute to his younger brother, who committed suicide age 27. Luke says working on the show has helped him process his grief.
“I lost it when he left us. I’m normally an assured person. I was telling people that I was fine but I wasn’t,” he says.
“Engaging in a creative practice and doing something that I love is a way for me to heal. The new show is how I’m responding to everything that has happened and highlighting the importance of mental health and wellbeing.”
