HUMANS OF ŌTAUTAHI: OLIVIA
“I made this dress for my school formal. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, it was cancelled.
“My grandma was a seamstress, and we spend a lot of time making things together. The dress took me a couple of weekends to make; my first day was spent at Grandma’s, cutting everything out and over-locking everything.
“The gold fabric was from my parents’ wedding. It was a gift to them, and they used it to make table runners. Mum was going to throw it out because it had been years and they hadn’t used it yet; I was like no, I want to make something. The idea for the dress came from a YouTube video ‘How To Make Your Own Prom Dress! (for beginners)’. I changed it up to be my own style, and I made the pattern and everything for myself.
“It was quite funny; after I decided I was going to make the gold dress I found out the theme was ‘Golden Hour’ and so I would’ve matched the theme.
“It was quite disappointing, but it could’ve been worse. I had a cancelled formal. There are people overseas that can’t even leave their house.
“School graduation, everyone likes to dress up, so I wore it for that. I felt very fancy. It was quite nice how it flowed as I walked across the stage.
“This year I am attending University of Canterbury majoring in English. I’m really looking forward to that; I have no idea what to expect.
“COVID is worrying, but I am really confident in the Government in keeping it under control and feel very lucky to live in New Zealand.
“Another current event that concerns me is climate change. It will be my generation that will be dealing with it, but again I’m sure we can work together and hopefully make a difference.”