One more day to go before the 2023 FASHION FOR PEACE runway show will take place at the Stanley Hotel in Port Moresby hosted by PNG Fashion and Design Week Limited. Since its establishment in 2016, this will be the first time that this year’s runway has collaborated with the Creative Arts and Design students and lecturers from the University of Papua New Guinea with the aim of promoting the need for greater recognition and opportunities for youths who graduate from this course into the real world. Speaking at a press conference this week held at Stanley Hotel, Founder and Director of PNG Fashion and Design Week, Mrs. Janet Sios, said all preparations have been made and are now awaiting tomorrow night for when the show will take place. Sios welcomed all designers, including student designers, established and emerging ones to this year’s runway and to the platform. “We have been going at it for eight years now and every year we run this event mainly to continue the work that we started and bring about awareness and advocacy for the industry in the country.” As this is the first time that PNG Fashion and Design Week has announced its collaboration with the UPNG students, Sios has expressed how exciting this year will be as she has already seen great potential from the students themselves during a runway show they hosted back in June just for the students. “We are happy to partner with the University students as we went through the Student Representative Council (SRC) at UPNG and hosted a runway just for the students on the 29th of June at the campus which opened up our eyes to the potential of the students that they could tap into such an industry.” “We teamed up with the students because we felt that the creative arts students need to be aware of what we are doing in the industry, creating a culture creative industry in PNG.” “We have many cultures and traditions and so we want to carry out awareness in bringing this industry forward.” For this year’s lineup, a total of fourteen designers will be taking part including seven student designers, six established and three emerging designers who all will be portraying their collections based on the theme, Fashion for Peace. Sios expressed that the theme was a very serious topic that they selected as there are many serious issues that the country is currently facing. “Our country is going through a lot and therefore we feel that such a platform can be a powerful tool to bring forth the message of positivity.” “We’ve challenged the designers to create their designs to reflect the various aspects of peace; no to tribal fights, no to domestic violence, no to many things that affect us in a negative way but embrace our country if we all choose to have a peaceful PNG.” Sios further encouraged all other youths out there to come forward and join the sector if they think they know what it takes to be a videographer, a photographer or someone who can be able to sew to get into the industry and make money out of it which is the message they have been advocating for the last eight years. Meanwhile, Sios thanked the hardworking committee and everyone else who had worked hard into putting together a show in which they are now looking forward to.