One of the girls in "Orbit"

By Sue Wendt

Slim, attractive Gail O’Flaherty (top left) is one of Fiji’s leading fashion designers. She’s only 18, but she has a mature, imaginative grasp of style and colour.

She was one of the three young designers who organised the “Fashion in Orbit” charity parade at the Isa Lei Hotel in May and now she’s tackling the most difficult task of all—starting her own business.

“At the moment I’m freelancing from home, but I’ve big plans for opening a boutique in Suva,” she said. “Eventually I hope to go overseas to study.

“I don’t design clothes with a feeling of Fiji. I design the sort of clothes that aren’t sold here. We have some very pretty and poised girls in Fiji and they prefer fashion with an international influence.”

And here are some examples of that influence. Above centre, Gail wears her own creation ... a beige Filipino-style blouse, featuring a lavishly-embroidered front panel and long, loosely-cuffed sleeves, perfectly teamed with slightly belled slacks of deep brown terylene. The high collar can be flipped down and worn in an open shirt style.

Above right, Helen Bentley models a softly feminine skirt of maroon velvet, teamed with a see-through blouse of ice-blue terylene, trimmed with the same velvet. Gail thinks there’s room in Fiji for fashion of this kind.

It’s a change, she says, from the omni-present flowered cottons.

Left, a headband of tarnished gold braid adds something of the Apache Look to this lime green outfit designed by Gail and modelled by Helen Bentley. The braid follows the outline of the jacket, including the arm-holes, and highlights the wide flare of the slacks.

Photos: Bal Ram.

Shortly before leaving the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony and his post there as Resident Commissioner, Mr. V. J. Andersen (centre) was pictured with (left) Mr. R. G. Roberts, Acting Assistant Resident Commissioner, and the Hon. Reuben K. Uatioa, Chief Elected Member of the CEIC House of Representatives.

It was a chance to compare notes for Fiji's talented leper a r t i st , Semisi Maya, when Japanese artist Hideri Goto, of Tokyo, called on him in Suva in June. Mr. Goto, 46, is painting his way around the Pacific.

The Band of the Fiji Military Forces is pretty proud of its latest acquisition—two splendid leopard skins, sent as a gift by Kenya's Minister for Defence, Dr. Njoroge Mungai. They're displayed by the FMF's Director of Music, Captain Kini Cava (left) and Drum Major Ratu Epeli Rayawa.

Mr. Patrick Seeto and Miss Ronda Chan were married recently at St. Joseph's Church, Boroko, Papua-New Guinea. Originally from Rabaul, the couple will make their home in Port Moresby.—Photo: Chin H. Meen.

Five-months-old Sandra Angela, of New Caledonia, with her proud grandfather, Fred Dunn, in Noumea.

Wendy Walker (left) and Julie de Costa, both of the Australian Ballet, are entertained by dancers of Tupusereia Village, Papua-New Guinea. The Australian Ballet recently toured P-NG.

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Thornburn relaxing at their home in Nikao, Cook Islands. Mr. Thornburn has replaced Mr. Tim Perry as Financial Secretary of the Cooks. Photo: Van Eijk and Meers.

When Mrs. Hammer DeRoburt, wife of the President of Nauru, was in NZ recently on a State visit with her husband, she visited this Children's Dental Clinic in Wellington.

Miss Maria Nilson, the first Papuan to become an Ansett air hostess, is presented with her wings by Sir Reginajd Ansett.