PACIFORA, Buluuy Mirrii and Australian Fashion Week
A Pacific Beauty Brand’s Role in the Opening Showcase
There is a particular kind of silence that falls over a runway the moment a collection transcends fashion — when fabric and story become inseparable, and the audience realises they are witnessing something that will be referenced for years to come.
That silence fell over Australian Fashion Week 2026 as Buluuy Mirrii took the opening showcase.
Led by Gomeroi designer Colleen Tighe-Johnson, the presentation drew immediate attention from Vogue Australia, Marie Claire Australia and fashion industry observers internationally. The collection moved between worlds — Indigenous storytelling, couture craftsmanship and contemporary luxury design converging into one of the most significant cultural moments an Australian runway has produced in recent memory.
For many in attendance, it was not merely a collection. It was evidence of a broader and irreversible shift — one in which heritage, creativity and cultural identity are no longer positioned at the periphery of modern luxury. They are its new centre.
And quietly, within the official gift bags distributed to guests throughout the showcase, another story was unfolding.
Among the carefully curated contents were products from PACIFORA — a newly launched Pacific beauty brand founded by Sydney-born Fijian entrepreneur, media personality and international titleholder Nadine Roberts. A brand that did not arrive by accident. A brand that had been built, methodically and deliberately, for exactly this kind of moment.
For Roberts, whose family roots trace back to Qalikarua Village on the island of Matuku in Fiji’s Lau Group, the inclusion carried a weight that went well beyond product placement.
“This moment represents much more than product placement. It reflects the growing recognition of Pacific creativity, Pacific entrepreneurship and the incredible opportunities emerging throughout Fiji and the wider region.”
Unlike many brands that enter luxury spaces through large-scale corporate infrastructure, PACIFORA was developed through founder investment, long-term planning and the cultivation of authentic strategic partnerships.
Roberts believes that meaningful credibility is earned — not acquired.
“I’ve always believed that if you’re asking people to believe in your vision, you first have to demonstrate that you’re willing to invest in it yourself. Reputation, consistency and relationships matter. Every milestone is built through years of work that often goes unseen.”
The Importance of Strategic Partnerships
Among those who have supported the broader vision is respected Australian businessman Andrew Rouse — recognised within Australian business and investment circles and associated with Forbes Australia business communities.
During Miss Global Fiji’s Australian activation, Rouse and his family generously provided access to their private residence for official editorial photography and media production. The gesture was representative of something Roberts has long understood: that the most consequential support in business rarely arrives through formal channels. It arrives through trust.
“As a first-year founder, support like this means a great deal. It demonstrates confidence not only in a brand, but in the wider vision behind it. I am extremely grateful for the support we have received from respected business leaders who understand long-term value creation.”
PACIFORA: A Modern Pacific Beauty House
PACIFORA was developed around a distinctly Pacific luxury identity — one rooted in Fiji’s natural beauty, oceanic landscapes and a contemporary global aesthetic that is entirely its own.
The launch collection centres on two hero products formulated to meet the standards of the global clean beauty sector while carrying a provenance no European or North American competitor can replicate.
Luti Lash Mascara
• 0% Paraben
• 0% Mineral Oil
• 0% Fragrance
• Cruelty Free Finished Product
• Lightweight Formula
• Volumizing
• Lengthening
• Lash Building Technology
Lusi Glow Serum
• 0% Paraben
• 0% Mineral Oil
• 0% Fragrance
• 0% Synthetic Dyes
• Suitable For All Skin Types
• Cruelty Free Finished Product
• Lightweight Formula
• Helps Even Skin Tone Appearance
• Dark Spot Treatment
• Long Lasting Hydration
• Moisturising
The products position PACIFORA firmly within the rapidly expanding global clean beauty sector — while establishing a luxury identity that is uniquely, unapologetically Pacific.
Miss Global Fiji: A New Approach to International Representation
PACIFORA’s emergence has occurred in parallel with another defining chapter in Roberts’ career — her acquisition and leadership of the Miss Global Fiji franchise.
Following her own participation at Miss Global 2025 across Cambodia and Thailand, Roberts assumed ownership of the national franchise and redirected its mandate. Where traditional pageant models focus narrowly on the competition cycle, Roberts elected to place greater emphasis on tourism visibility, international engagement and cultural diplomacy.
Today, Miss Global continues expanding internationally under the stewardship of TPN Global — one of Thailand’s most influential pageant and entertainment companies. The organisation now oversees both Miss Global and Mister Global properties, a dual-gender model shared by only a small number of major international pageant organisations worldwide.
Industry analysts frequently note that organisations successfully operating both male and female international competitions tend to develop stronger commercial ecosystems, broader sponsorship opportunities and significantly expanded audience reach.
The reigning Miss Global 2025, Nguyen Dinh Nhu Van of Vietnam, continues serving as a global ambassador for the organisation as international expansion remains a central strategic priority. Nhu Van was among the distinguished attendees present at Australian Fashion Week 2026 — a moment that underscored the deepening relationship between Miss Global’s international operations and the broader activations being led by Roberts and the PACIFORA brand.
Nhu Van’s presence at the showcase followed a significant earlier chapter in the partnership. From the 5th to the 8th of May, Roberts personally hosted the reigning titleholder in Fiji as part of her official international tour — a visit that included cultural immersion, editorial photography and high-level meetings designed to strengthen the visibility of Fiji within the Miss Global ecosystem.
[ IMAGE — Nguyen Dinh Nhu Van Hosted by Nadine Roberts in Fiji, May 5–8 | International Tour ]
“Hosting Nhu Van in Fiji was an incredibly meaningful moment for our franchise and for the country. To welcome the reigning Miss Global to our shores, to share our culture, our people and our natural beauty with her — and then to stand alongside her again at Australian Fashion Week just weeks later — speaks to the continuity and depth of what we are building. These are not isolated events. They are chapters in a much larger story.”
The Fiji visit and subsequent Australian Fashion Week reunion demonstrated something increasingly rare in international pageantry: a franchise director who is not merely managing a title, but actively building an international platform that generates sustained exposure for her country at every stage of the cycle.
Bulou Miraciah Rarasea: Miss Global Fiji 2026 and a Chiefly Homecoming
[ IMAGE — Bulou Miraciah Shikayla Rarasea, Miss Global Fiji 2026 | Official Portrait | Ref: \@miraciahrarasea ]
At the heart of Miss Global Fiji’s next chapter stands Bulou Miraciah Shikayla Rarasea — the newly crowned Miss Global Fiji 2026. An Australian-Fijian model based in Sydney and represented by Viviens Model Management and Carla Zampatti, Rarasea brings with her not only the poise and professional standing required to represent Fiji on the international stage, but a lineage that connects directly to the chiefly traditions of the nation.
Rarasea carries the hereditary title of Bulou — a designation within the Fijian chiefly system that denotes aristocratic rank and is conferred through direct lineage. Her grandfather, Ratu Tutai Rarasea, is a respected chief whose standing within the traditional Fijian hierarchy reflects a legacy of leadership, cultural custodianship and service that stretches back generations.
[ IMAGE — Ratu Tutai Rarasea with Miss Global 2025 Nguyen Dinh Nhu Van | Crowning Ceremony, St Joachim Church, Lidcombe | Ref: Facetune_07-06-2026 ]
Ratu Tutai’s presence at the official crowning ceremony was one of the most emotionally significant moments of the entire Miss Global Fiji activation. Photographed standing alongside the reigning Miss Global 2025, Nhu Van, against a backdrop of traditional Fijian tapa cloth, the image captures something that no amount of branding or marketing could manufacture — the convergence of heritage, tradition and a new generation’s ambition, held together by a grandfather’s pride and a chief’s blessing.
The Crowning at St Joachim Church
On the 10th of May 2026, an intimate and deeply significant crowning ceremony took place at St Joachim Church in Lidcombe, Sydney. In the presence of Ratu Tutai Rarasea, Reverend Father Epeli, the reigning Miss Global 2025 Nguyen Dinh Nhu Van, and National Director Nadine Roberts, Bulou Miraciah Shikayla Rarasea was officially crowned Miss Global Fiji 2026.
The ceremony was deliberately designed to honour Fijian heritage, leadership and cultural unity within a setting that reflected both spiritual reverence and cultural tradition. Nhu Van herself placed the crown — a gesture that symbolised the continuity of international sisterhood across the Miss Global network and the formal passing of responsibility from one chapter of the franchise to the next.
[ IMAGE — Crowning Ceremony: Nhu Van Crowning Miraciah Rarasea, Miss Global Fiji 2026 | St Joachim Church, Lidcombe ]
“The crowning at St Joachim Church was everything we envisioned. It was intimate, respectful and deeply connected to who we are as Fijian people. To have Ratu Tutai there, to have Father Epeli’s blessing, to have Nhu Van pass the crown in a space that honoured both our faith and our culture — there was a gravity to that moment that I will never forget.”
A Family Reunion Written by Destiny
What no one had fully anticipated, however, was the discovery that unfolded during the crowning preparations. As Roberts and Rarasea explored their respective genealogies, it became clear that their chiefly bloodlines were not merely parallel — they were connected. The two women, brought together through the Miss Global Fiji franchise, were in fact family.
Roberts, whose chiefly lineage traces to Qalikarua Village on Matuku Island in the Lau Group and the Rarasea line of Kadavu, and Rarasea, whose grandfather Ratu Tutai Rarasea carries the chiefly line forward from the same ancestral roots, found themselves standing not simply as franchise director and delegate, but as relatives reunited through a journey that neither had planned but both immediately recognised as significant.
“When we realised the connection, there was a stillness in the room. This was not a coincidence. In our culture, we believe that the vei lomani — the bonds of kinship — will always find their way home. Miraciah and I were brought together by pageantry, but we were connected long before either of us knew it. That is not something you plan. That is something that is meant to be.”
For Ratu Tutai, the moment carried its own weight. To witness his granddaughter crowned as Miss Global Fiji — and to discover that the woman leading the franchise shared his family’s chiefly bloodline — was an acknowledgement that transcended competition. It was a recognition that the values of service, cultural pride and leadership that the chiefly system has preserved for centuries were being carried forward, in new forms, by a new generation of Fijian women.
[ IMAGE — Ratu Tutai Rarasea, Nadine Roberts, Miraciah Rarasea and Nhu Van — Family and Legacy ]
The result of Roberts’ recalibrated approach to the franchise has been an initiative designed to bring sustained global attention directly to Fiji — while simultaneously creating meaningful opportunities for local partnerships and genuine economic participation. The crowning of Miraciah Rarasea, with its chiefly heritage and its unexpected family reunion, has become the defining narrative of Miss Global Fiji’s emergence as an organisation that honours where it comes from while building toward where it intends to go.
The Creative Partnerships Behind the Vision
[ IMAGE 08 — Terri Smith, Nadine Roberts and Miraciah Rarasea — Australian Fashion Week Activation | Ref: \@terri_creatives ]
At the centre of this first major international activation has been Terri Smith, Founder and Creative Director of Terri Creative Services & Management.
Smith is an award-winning Sydney-based photographer, videographer and creative director whose work spans portraiture, fashion editorials, reels and brand storytelling. In 2024, she was recognised as the winner of the NSW Pacific Women in Business Award — an honour that reflects both the quality of her creative output and her contribution to Pacific-led enterprise within Australia.
Working closely alongside Roberts and Miss Global Fiji 2026 representative Miraciah Rarasea, Smith has been instrumental in shaping the visual identity, creative direction and execution of Miss Global Fiji’s Australian initiatives. Her experience bridging fashion, branding, creative production and editorial development has helped connect the worlds of luxury fashion, media and Pacific storytelling with rare authenticity. Her documentation of the St Joachim Church crowning ceremony and the broader Australian activation has produced a visual archive of genuine cultural and editorial significance.
Through Terri Creative Services & Management and her connection to Limuri, Smith has become a foundational creative partner — one who understands that Pacific narratives require both sophistication and cultural integrity to resonate internationally.
“None of these achievements happen through one person alone. Terri has been instrumental in helping bring our vision to life. Her professionalism, creativity and commitment — recognised through her Pacific Women in Business Award — have helped establish a strong foundation for what we hope will become a long-term international platform.”
Why Fiji Matters to Global Investors
[ IMAGE 09 — Aerial Photography: Nadi, Denarau and Western Fiji ]
The emergence of brands such as PACIFORA does not occur in isolation. It arrives during a period of accelerating international attention on Fiji — and on the Pacific as a whole.
Across tourism, aviation, infrastructure, hospitality and strategic partnerships, Fiji has spent the past decade steadily strengthening its position as one of the Pacific’s most connected and commercially sophisticated economies. That trajectory is now drawing the attention of investors and multinationals across Asia, North America, Europe and the wider Indo-Pacific.
Major diplomatic engagement involving Australia, New Zealand, the United States, India and regional Pacific partners has further reinforced Fiji’s growing significance within Oceania — not merely as a destination, but as a strategic node in the region’s emerging economic architecture.
International investment continues flowing into tourism infrastructure, hospitality developments, aviation expansion and broader economic growth initiatives. The pipeline is deep and, by most indicators, accelerating.
Fiji Airways: Connecting the Pacific to the World
[ IMAGE 10 — Fiji Airways Airbus Fleet ]
At the centre of Fiji’s connectivity story sits Fiji Airways — one of the Pacific’s most strategically important carriers and the airline that makes Fiji’s role as a global gateway not merely aspirational but operational.
The airline maintains direct international services across Australia, New Zealand, North America, Asia and the Pacific Islands, connecting Nadi with Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, Honolulu, Vancouver, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Auckland, Christchurch, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.
For investors, tourism operators and international businesses, this network is not incidental. It is infrastructure. It positions Fiji as one of the most strategically accessible destinations in the entire Oceania region — a gateway between Asia-Pacific, North America and the South Pacific that grows more significant with each passing year.
The Pacific’s Next Chapter
[ IMAGE 11 — Nadine Roberts Editorial Portrait: Pacific Luxury & Enterprise ]
For Roberts, PACIFORA represents something larger than a beauty brand. It is a statement of intention — one that connects her personally to Fiji’s future and to the belief that Pacific-owned enterprise deserves to sit at the table of global luxury, not merely adjacent to it.
As investment, tourism, aviation and international engagement continue expanding throughout the region, Roberts holds a clear conviction: local enterprise, local creativity and local ownership must grow alongside that momentum — not as beneficiaries of it, but as its architects.
The objective is not simply to participate in Fiji’s growth story.
It is to contribute to it.
From Qalikarua Village in Matuku to Australian Fashion Week. From international pageantry to entrepreneurship. From the Lau Group to the luxury gift bags of Sydney’s most watched runway. From hosting the reigning Miss Global in Fiji to discovering a family connection she never expected. From a crowning ceremony blessed by a chief and a priest to a platform that carries the Pacific’s voice to the world. The journey reflects something larger than one woman’s ambition — it reflects the broader evolution taking place across Fiji itself.
A nation increasingly recognised not only for its natural beauty, but for its connectivity, cultural influence, entrepreneurial talent and its expanding role within the Pacific economy.
The presence of PACIFORA at the Buluuy Mirrii opening showcase at Australian Fashion Week 2026 represents an important milestone for the brand.
More importantly, it reflects the opportunities now emerging for Pacific-owned enterprises — as Fiji continues strengthening its position within an increasingly connected, and increasingly attentive, world.