By Tova O'Brien
The Wearable Arts Awards has been wowing audiences for 21 years now, and this year organisers are promising an event more spectacular than ever.
One hundred and sixty-five garments were shortlisted from around 300 entries this year, and with a good chunk of them coming in from overseas the competition is fierce.
Around 40,000 people are expected to see the show this year, bringing $10 million into the capital.
Tonight was the first of 10 shows at the TSB Arena, but tomorrow night is the biggie where the supreme winner, who takes home the accolade and the $25,000 prize packet, is announced.
Fashion, art, dance and aerial theatrics were all on stage for this year's awards.
The quality and quantity of competition this year proves tough times don't necessarily mean potato sacks.
"This show just seems to get bigger and brighter and better every year," says organiser Gabrielle Hervey, "and the idea of scaling it back would be a complete anathema to anybody who took part in it."
And those taking part don't seem to be able to get enough. More than half of this year's designers have entered in previous years, including three-time repeat offender Heather Wallace.
"It's, I think, one of the only ways that you have a chance to really indulge yourself and do exactly what your brain wants to do with an idea, which is really unusual and really exciting."
The costumes have to be able to endure rigorous choreography and close scrutiny by the judges.
"You can really see where costumes might either fall down because they're not very well put together, but in most cases this year I think the costumes are all absolutely unbelievable, the quality of fabrication is unreal," says judge Max Patte.
The awards moved to Wellington five years ago from its base in Nelson, and in that time more people have seen the show than in its first 15 years.
"I think because it is such a theatrical spectacular, it has something for everybody," says Hervey. "It's non-elitist, you don't have to intellectualise it, you sit down, the lights go back and it becomes this magical, emotional journey that you have throughout the whole night."
And some simple advice from decades past - less is more.
"Build it up and then you might need to strip it down, don't over accessorise and also think about it's actually wearable art, so it doesn't necessarily have to be a dress," says Patte.
Leaving the doors wide open for another round next year.
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