Pirongia fashion designer provides women curvy-friendly garments

Pirongia fashion designer Alecia Kana.

A fashion designer based in Pirongia is on a venture to start her own label to provide women with baby-bump and curvy-friendly garments without sacrificing style or quality.

Alecia Kana describes herself as a self-taught fashion designer and has been designing clothing since 2013. Before this she also worked as a low profile stylist.

Alongside designing her own garments, Alecia also imports plus-size labels from the United States and sells them on her website, Curvy Mama, to give Kiwi mums or mums-to-be more accessibility to suitable and fashionable garments.

"When I was pregnant it was really hard to find fashionable and affordable clothes," Alecia says. "There wasn't much of a range in New Zealand."

She is currently working on her label, Akana, and will release it at the Pacific Fusion Fashion Show.

Alecia has been selected as a one of 13 international designers to present at the show in October.

The collection she will show at the event is called Tai ki Tai and is inspired by New Zealand's coasts and her own genealogy.

"Tai ki Tai means coast to coast and the collection draws inspiration from my connections to the West Coast of Waikato (Ngaati Mahuta ki Tai) and the Tauranga Moana Matakana Island region (Ngaiterangi)," Alecia says.

The show is at Ambury Park in Auckland and sees designers from Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and the US compete.

Alecia hopes the show will broaden her reach and help her learn more about working in the fashion industry.

"Eventually I'd like to market my label internationally and ultimately one day I'd like to be showcasing at overseas fashion shows."