Aaron Lit

Have you ever wondered how the beauty of our oceans can be turned into fashion? This week as part of our blue missions series we sat down with Aaron Lit who is the founder of MiaMira, a fashion line that celebrates the beauty and biodiversity of marine life.

SUBHEADING

Aarons journey began at a young age when he began scuba diving. He was introduced to an underwater world where fish walk the seabed with arms, slugs are toxically beautiful, and octopuses are the true masters of illusion. Blown away by the diversity and beauty of our oceans he soon became obsessed with documenting the creatures that he encountered. Carrying a small hand-held camera with him every time he dived, his mission was to share his underwater visions with others. His photography soon evolved from simple documentation to art. Back In 2015, he published a book on underwater photography – named Watercolor.

Throughout college, his interests developed into product design and social entrepreneurship. It was here that he combined his academic studies and passion for marine life to create MiaMira.

MiaMira is a fashion line that celebrates the beauty and diversity of life underwater through garments and accessories. Their philosophy stems from the belief that lack of exposure to the beauty of marine life results in an indifference towards protecting them. To tackle this challenge and showcase the true beauty of our oceans, MiaMira aims to raise awareness of the biodiversity of marine life, by spotlighting the variety of colours and patterns through their designs.

Creating associations between marine life, art, and beauty, MiaMira integrates two seemingly isolated fields that reinforce one another: fashion as a medium to raise awareness, and biodiversity as inspiration to motivate design.

Textile production is currently the second most polluting industry in terms of water consumption and contamination, toxic waste and chemical run-off. MiaMira promotes the use of eco-friendly fabrics through an emphasis on plant-based, deadstock, organic, and biodegradable textiles in their products. MiaMira advocates for the use of sustainable fabrics in the fashion industry and wishes to propagate the idea that conservation, not convenience, should hold priority in our lives.

Pieces in the collection from MiaMira: Red sea fan dress, coral doodles jacket, lionfish dress, featherstar jacket. Photos: Aaron Lit.

Since it’s official establishment in 2018, MiaMira has raised money for the Hong Kong Aquatic Life Conservation Fund (HKALCF), an educational non-profit serving Hong Kong and Southeast China. To date, they have sponsored over 100 students from low-income families in the region to participate in boating field trips where they have the opportunity to learn about marine wildlife. MiaMira has also garnered the support of multiple organizations and was the winner of the 2017 United Nations Youth Assembly Social Venture Challenge. Furthermore, the 2017 World Ocean Conference and James Cameron’s Avatar Alliance Project for innovation in conservation recognized their work.

MiaMira intends to establish a traditional intangible social impact and is currently exploring donation partnerships with sea turtle orphanages in Malaysia and Thailand, as well as beach clean-up organizations in Indonesia.

Blue Missions showcases marine organisations working to protect our oceans.

If you’ve enjoyed this article from Aaron Lit, look out for more Blue Missions blogs. Has MiaMira inspired you? Why not check out their website to see more of their designs.

Want to write for us? Check out our ‘Get Involved’ section.