{"id":12810,"date":"2024-03-06T18:08:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T22:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/?p=12810"},"modified":"2024-03-11T15:13:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T19:13:32","slug":"tara-morton-fashion-and-diplomacy-perfect-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/2024\/03\/06\/tara-morton-fashion-and-diplomacy-perfect-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Tara Morton: Fashion and Diplomacy, Perfect Together"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Ambassador Tara Morton meeting with His Holiness Pope Francis. \u00a9 Vatican Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Talk about multi-tasking. Tara Morton (AAS, Fashion Design, \u201914) is New Zealand\u2019s \u00a0ambassador to Spain. She was recently appointed ambassador to the Holy See as well and was greeted by Pope Francis. Ambassador Morton is also accredited to Andorra, Malta, Morocco, and has had postings in New York, Cairo and Baghdad.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day is different,\u201d she says. \u201cThe team at the New Zealand Embassy in Madrid is incredible and it is genuinely lovely to come to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe represent New Zealand in Spain, seeking to strengthen the New Zealand-Spain relationship as well as relationships with other countries in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can be hosting an event to raise the profile of New Zealand food and wine and to celebrate the recent New Zealand-EU Free Trade Agreement. Or we can be meeting with Spanish officials to understand their perspectives on global issues, or helping a New Zealander in distress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ambassador and FIT alumna Tara Morton. \u00a9 Casa de S.M. el Rey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So what inspired the Ambassador to take time off for FIT?<\/p>\n

\u201cI have loved all kinds of design, particularly fashion,\u201d she said. \u201cI applied for fashion design school when I was 19 but decided to continue my studies in law, political science and languages. It was always at the back of my mind as a dream I wanted to pursue,” she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was posted to New Zealand\u2019s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York in 2010 and when that posting ended, I saw an opportunity to pursue the dream. I started taking night classes at FIT after long days at the UN. Then in late 2012, I applied for admission and was over the moon to be accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had wonderful professors and brilliant, talented classmates. These days I love watching my FIT classmates\u2019 design careers go from strength to strength.” – Ambassador Tara Morton\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At that point, she had been a diplomat for eight years. She took a sabbatical while her partner Nick was posted to the Permanent Mission in New York. (New Zealand\u2019s Permanent Mission to the United Nations is just a few long blocks from FIT):<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredible! It was also incredibly hard work!” says Ambassador Morton.<\/p>\n

“I started the degree thinking it would be a luxurious career break. I graduated with a real appreciation for what a person can get done in 24 hours and the realization that the so-called career break had been harder than law school,” says Ambassador Morton.<\/p>\n

“Ambassador Morton\u2019s story demonstrates the enormous value of an art and design education. She ultimately stayed with diplomacy but relies on her FIT training; she shows that creativity is a portable skill.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

“We are proud of Ambassador Morton. She, and all of our alumni, are ambassadors of FIT!” <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

– Dean Troy Richards, School of Art and Design<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI had wonderful professors and brilliant, talented classmates. These days I love watching my FIT classmates\u2019 design careers go from strength to strength,” she says.<\/p>\n

“On the last day of classes, I had my portfolio ready to go hunting for design internships when I got an offer to go to Cairo for 10 months to be New Zealand\u2019s acting Deputy Ambassador to Egypt. In addition to fashion design, this was a dream job for me. I enrolled in intensive Arabic and headed to Cairo a couple of months later.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIT gave Ambassador Morton \u201ca lifelong drive to see what is possible, a curiosity to look at a problem from all angles and \u2013- like any FIT student that has had to design and construct a garment overnight — an ability to break a mammoth task down into bite-sized chunks.<\/p>\n

“These skills are as invaluable in the world of diplomacy as they are in the world of fashion design.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Government of Andorra<\/p>\n

The dress code for diplomats varies in different countries and cultures as well, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealanders are known to be informal and this is also reflected in the way we dress. Spain on the other hand is a place where people dress up a fair amount so these cultural aspects translate into the diplomatic dress code. I wish I had kept a few more of the cocktail dresses I had for UN events in New York!<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that Spaniards have an appreciation for fine tailoring and dressing up. At the same time I love that New Zealanders express our culture through relaxed, informal clothing. I see culture influence all kinds of design in this way, from interior design and architecture to fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n

As seen on social media, Morton recently wore a Korowai for meeting with Felipe VI, the King of Spain. This ceremonial cloak is made by weavers from the M\u0101ori Ngai Tahu tribe.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The King of Spain, Felipe VI, receives the Ambassador Tara Deborah Morton at the Royal Palace in Madrid. The Ambassador wears a Korowai, a ceremonial Maori cloak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“It is a honor to wear one of the Foreign Ministry\u2019s treasured Korowai-K\u0101kahu when representing New Zealand in official ceremonies like the credentials ceremonies with His Majesty King Felipe, with Archbishop Joan Enric Vives Sicilia (the Co-Prince of Andorra), with President George Vella of Malta and with His Holiness Pope Francis.<\/p>\n

“The korowai provides a visible link to New Zealand\u2019s Maori heritage and our identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
\u00a9 Casa de S.M. el Rey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ah. Diplomatic compromises. Korowai traditionally include feathers and flax, but the Ministry\u2019s korowai use New Zealand wool. \u201cThat is so they can travel between our embassies more easily without raising biosecurity concerns,\u201d explains Ambassador Morton.<\/p>\n

The Ambassador is excited, she says, by innovative designs using New Zealand wool. These include moisture-wicking performance sportswear by New Zealand companies like Icebreaker<\/a>, to breathable [wool] sneakers from Allbirds<\/a>. \u201cSeeing labels like these using sustainable business practices is inspiring!\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about New Zealand trade and diplomacy visit:\u00a0New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade<\/a>, and on X: @MFATNZ<\/a><\/p>\n

To learn more about the Fashion Design AAS and BFA majors, go to: Fashion Design at FIT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All images used with permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Talk about multi-tasking. Tara Morton (AAS, Fashion Design, \u201914) is New Zealand\u2019s \u00a0ambassador to Spain. She was recently appointed ambassador to the Holy See as well and was greeted by Pope Francis. Ambassador Morton is also accredited to Andorra, Malta, Morocco, and has had postings in New York, Cairo and Baghdad. \u201cEvery day is different,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":285,"featured_media":12812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32004],"tags":[70759,70751,70761,70760,70765,70764,70752,70758,70754,70762,70755,70756,70763,70753,70757],"class_list":["post-12810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-school-of-art-and-design","tag-allbirds","tag-ambassador-tara-morton","tag-andorra","tag-archbishop-joan-enric-vives-sicilia","tag-baghdad","tag-cairo","tag-holy-see","tag-icebreaker","tag-korowai","tag-malta","tag-maori","tag-maori-ngai-tahu-tribe","tag-morocco","tag-new-zealand","tag-pope-francis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/files\/2024\/02\/GAwu1nSWkAEa93j.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p13xjz-3kC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/285"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/artanddesign\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}